Yemeni Women Archive Highlights Women’s Struggles During Yemen’s Civil War

More than 4,000 violations ranging from murder to torture to disappearances were registered against Yemeni women between 2014 and 2020, and the archive aims to document the unique challenges that Yemeni women face and to tell their stories

The Yemeni civil war has been raging for nine years and has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, and Yemeni women are among the population worst affected. More than 4,000 violations against Yemeni women by the various warring parties were registered by the Geneva-based SAM Organization for Rights and Liberties from the beginning of the conflict in September 2014 up to the end of 2020. Those violations included arrests, murders, disappearances, torture, and injuries.

Documenting the unique challenges of marginalization and exclusion that Yemeni women face is the focus of the Yemeni Women Archive, a special project by women in Yemen and abroad. In 2022, Yemen-based writer and advocate Gehad Gar and Netherlands-based educator and author Saba Hamzah co-founded the archive, with the goal of telling the stories of Yemeni women.

“This initiative seeks to produce and keep content about Yemeni women that is made by Yemeni women, in addition to preserving content that discusses women in Yemen,” Hamzah told The Media Line. She added that the archive offers various programs to support women inside and outside Yemen, aiming to “create space for recovery [and] shed light on women’s issues.”

 After receiving death threats in response to her work in human rights advocacy, 28-year-old Yemeni journalist Abeer Mohsen was forced to flee Yemen together with her family in 2022.

Intisar Abdul-Jabbar was arrested repeatedly by the Houthi movement Ansar Allah because her family was part of an opposing political party. She eventually fled to southern Yemen, which is under the control of the Internationally Recognized Government.

Today, Yemeni women need advocacy and support from everybody to address the issues they face

Abdul-Jabbar told The Media Line that Yemeni women suffered from marginalization and deprivation of education and social care even before the war broke out. However, the conflict has exacerbated the situation.

“Following the war, things became much worse. Yemeni women were being arrested, killed, and deprived of their most basic rights,” she said. “The impact of these practices will be grave for women and the community as a whole. Today, Yemeni women need advocacy and support from everybody to address the issues they face.”

The Yemeni Women Archive is working to document the specific knowledge and experiences of Yemeni women. It collects and features stories, texts, novels, pictures, and visual arts created by Yemeni women, in addition to reports and news stories published about Yemeni women. The documentation is done digitally and on paper, later to be displayed either physically in galleries inside and outside Yemen, or digitally online. 

The archive has received many requests to participate and share stories. Gar told The Media Line that the initiative prompts Yemeni women to tell their stories using their unique skills.

“Yemeni women are living in difficult circumstances and lack safe spaces,” she said. “This initiative is a catalyst for Yemeni women to discover and develop their abilities.”

Women in Yemen need initiatives and projects that contribute in reshaping their identity and informing them of their rights

And Hamzah added, “Women in Yemen need initiatives and projects that contribute to reshaping their identity and informing them of their rights.”

Documenting their experiences can empower Yemeni women to express themselves, share their experiences and suffering, and help them show the critical roles played by women in the community as well as preserve their identity and culture.

Painter Asia Al-Dhubhani, along with other artists, contributed to the archive by transforming Yemeni women’s stories into visual arts or murals to be featured in galleries or on social media platforms.

“This has been a beautiful experience. I sensed the responsibility of transforming a written text and a human experience into a visual piece of art that is loaded with those emotions,” Al-Dhubhani told The Media Line.

Al-Dhubhani, who has dwarfism and paraplegia and creates all her art with one hand, added that the archive was very supportive of her as a woman with disabilities, in the context of a society with a very narrow view of people with disabilities.

Hamzah said that the archive hopes to bring Yemeni women’s voices to a broader audience by featuring their work around Europe and holding workshops, seminars, and exhibitions.

“The archive [has] increased its audience’s awareness of the difficult circumstances Yemeni women are suffering from,” she said.

Gar added, “This [initiative] is widely supported by Yemeni women and others who are interested in Yemeni women. The archive is a seed for international and local partnerships with other similar bodies.”

Gar said that identifying Yemeni women’s experiences and how they have changed during this period of war presents the foundation for achieving social justice, “which plays a critical role in achieving permanent peace in Yemen.”

This initiative could contribute to documenting Yemeni women’s journeys while seeking to achieve social justice and to establish permanent peace in Yemen

Human rights activist Yaman Jamal added that the current political and economic situation has exacerbated women’s issues in Yemen.

“Many of the women-centered [organizations] in Yemen were politicized,” he told The Media Line. “This initiative could contribute to documenting Yemeni women’s journeys while seeking to achieve social justice and to establish permanent peace in Yemen.”

He said that the women’s experiences could be used to draft policies and create programs aiming at improving women’s lives in Yemen, as well as to raise awareness and educate the public on women’s rights and gender equality in Yemen.

The archive will greatly contribute to actualizing and featuring Yemeni women’s roles during the war

Wedad Al-Qadi, an associate professor of political sociology at Sanaa University, told The Media Line that the archive would have a positive impact.

“The archive will greatly contribute to actualizing and featuring Yemeni women’s roles during the war,” he said, and added that the initiative will aid Yemeni women significantly by providing psychosocial support and safe spaces to process their experiences.

“The archive initiative will help Yemeni women to express their identities by participating in art and cultural projects, as well as share their suffering during the current conflict in Yemen such as economic hardships, domestic violence, and other social issues, with the aim of documenting women’s experiences in this period of time,” he said.