WUNRN
Al Arabiya News
YEMEN - WOMEN HARASSED FOR NOT
WEARING FULL FACE VEIL
By Al Arabiya – 01 May 2012
Al-Qaeda
militants in southern Yemen have begun to harass women who do not wear the veil
with Bikya Masr reporting on one instance of physical abuse as militants forced
a woman to don the full face veil in Aden.
The group, known as Ansar al-Sharia, believes a woman should follow the example
of the Prophet’s wives and be fully covered, including her face.
Women in
“How can they dare attack girls and women who do not wear the veil? It is a
personal choice, which should not be imposed on anyone,” school teacher Anessa
Abdelaalem was quoted by Bikya Masr as saying.
Ansar al-Sharia has also been accused by local authorities of throwing acid on
several girls “for refusing to bow to their demands.”
Deep rooted problem
Harassment
is not limited to
The Arab world’s first woman to receive a Nobel Prize, Tawwakul Karman, is
Yemeni.
But women remain marginalized and have little recourse to justice when it comes
to harassment.
A 20-year-old woman from Ibb, who only gave her name as Zainab, complained of
being harassed by a police officer in Taez, according to a report Monday in
Yemen Times.
When she shouted at him in the hope that he would be intimidated or she would
attract attention of people around her, she was arrested by the police man for
indecent behavior.
The issue is not effectively dealt with by law enforcers as a result of which
women do not report incidents.
An official from the interior ministry, Lieutenant Haifa Hussein told the
Yemeni paper that although a phone line for complaints has been set up, few
people call in due to fears of being stigmatized.
Yemenis will go to the polls in 2014 to vote in the first independent
elections. Women activists are pushing for a law that will guarantee them 30
percent representation in parliament – a move they hope will help them
challenge traditional norms from a legal perspective.