Yemen: Promoting Yemeni Women’s Political Participation through Media Tools

MEPI

Yemeni women have been successful in removing many legal obstacles to their political advancement. However, they still have a long way to go in terms of overcoming social barriers that pose a serious challenge to their integration in the public sphere. Moreover, gender stereotyping often undermines women’s capacity to lead by misrepresenting their genuine talents and aptitudes. In Yemen, the burden often lies on civic groups to collaborate and deliver information that breaks down cultural biases against women and eradicates discriminatory practices. One such group in Yemen, the Awam Development and Cultural Institution, a non-governmental not-for-profit organization, organized a media awareness campaign, supported by the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) local grants program. The project used audio and audiovisual tools to alleviate misguided perceptions on women and encourage their representation in upcoming parliamentary elections.


“This project is for the sake of women in a society that believes in women as effective participants in political decision making”, Thoraya Dimaj, Executive Director of Awam, commented to local press. As part of the MEPI-funded project, Awam partnered with a local TV production company to produce a documentary film on Yemeni women’s achievements in various fields, and a comedy sketch portraying socio-cultural factors that block women’s political advancement. In addition, Awam invited Sanaa University students to participate in a contest to produce an original script for a 30-second public service announcement (PSA). The script delivered a message of awareness and urge for change and action to eliminate social inequality and raise women’s status in the political field. Out of 60 PSA scripts, eight were chosen to have the most compelling messages, out of which one was awarded to a female student for producing the greatest script.

“The importance of announcing the women’s political empowerment script winner is that it will encourage the delivery of a media awareness message that targets all sectors of society through various media tools”, commented Ms. Dimaj. She added that the winning script will be broadcast on local radio stations, and the other scripts will be edited and also broadcast. The documentary on women’s achievements is expected to be completed in May 2009.

Activities of this MEPI lcoal grant project were covered extensively in Yemeni local press including 14October, SabaNews, and Mareb Press.