Of ambition, opportunity and pretence The Politics of Gender in Yemen Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Politics, International Relations and Economics Nadia Al-Sakkaf September 2019 Declaration I confirm that this is my own work and the use of all material from other sources has been properly and fully acknowledged. Nadia Al-Sakkaf 2 Abstract Yemen has continuously been one of the worst places worldwide in terms of women’s rights in education, health, and the economy, according to international development indicators. It is puzzling that this is the country’s reality despite the fact that during the last two decades, Yemen witnessed a surge of high-level appointments of women in key decision-making positions, the creation of several women-related national institutions, and the implementation of various women’s empowerment policies. This research attempts to address this puzzle by investigating the failure of women’s empowerment policies in Yemen between 2006 and 2014 in health, education, and the economy, from the perspectives of the women leaders themselves, who are at the forefront of the women’s empowerment efforts in the country. To demonstrate their failure, I first review the state’s gender policies, using policy mapping, to identify trends and measure their success drawing on existing policy evaluation approaches. Next, I present empirical findings collected through a mixed- method approach, which notably include descriptive-statistical analysis of surveys and qualitative examination of elite interviews. This research investigates feedback from leading Yemeni women, who are the main drivers behind gender equality in Yemen, and who were directly involved in women’s empowerment efforts in the researched time frame. Using women’s empowerment’s agency-structure framework, I investigate the relevance of: lack of capacity of women leaders, political and economic instability, and the culture of political support, to policy success. I argue that all three factors contributed to the failure of women’s empowerment policies through sub- mechanisms, however, the culture of political support – or lack thereof, had the highest explanatory power of the three factors. This research departs from existing scholarly work on Yemeni women’s empowerment in that it focuses on the experiences of the women leaders as champions of the empowerment agenda, while also acknowledging the importance of the socio-political context in which they operated. This research provides gender policy makers with insights into the practical implications of gender policies in conservative societies such as Yemen, by addressing sustainability and impact of women’s empowerment efforts. 3 Acknowledgement It is done at last. The journey of this research has been a professional and emotional rollercoaster with a steep learning curve. Although I know that I will miss working on it, I am glad it is finally done. Accompanying me on this journey were the brave Yemeni feminist pioneers whom this research is about, and to whom this piece of work is dedicated. They have my eternal gratitude for holding the torch for Yemeni women to dare to dream of gaining their rights and living in a fair society. This research would not have been possible without the support of my supervisors Martin Binder and Christina Hellmich. Martin for his ability to make sense out of my nonsense and guide me until the very end of this PhD journey. And Christina for her inspiration and passion for Yemen and women’s rights, she is the very reason why I came here and did this project in the first place. Most gratitude goes to the University of Reading and all the people who were involved in the decision to grant me the Full Prize Studentship, without which I would not have been able to be here and rub shoulders with esteemed academics, while attempting to leave my mark in the scholarly literature. I am grateful to my sister Haifa, and my brothers Walid and Raidan and their amazing families who have inspired me and continued to believe in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. You all have been an inspiration to me and a continuation of our parents’ great legacy (may their souls rest in peace). I am sure my father and mother are looking down on me from heaven and feeling very proud. I am eternally grateful to my in-laws family in Amman, who kept calling me Dr. Nadia Al-Sakkaf, from the first day I enrolled as a PhD student; now you can say it for real. I hope I have made you proud. I am also thankful to my friends in Reading and Swindon, who provided me with care, love and support. Your presence in my life has made everything easier, thank you. I am also indebted to all my friends who helped me perfect my writing and took time and effort to give me feedback. You know who you are, and you know how grateful I am. 4 But the most debt I have, is to the love of my life, Khair aldin Al-Nsour, my husband and the father of my two beautiful children Aya and Omar. Khair, your support, encouragement and advice has been always the reason I soldiered on, and even on days when I was frustrated and depressed you were there to get me back on track, one way or the other. My two kids Aya and Omar, I hope that I have given you an example of what it is like to have a big dream and work hard to achieve it, and while I am celebrating my success with you today, I know that soon enough you will be celebrating your successes with me. Alhamdulillah. It is by the Grace of God that I have been able to accomplish this project, and I pray that He will guide me in my journey and my quest to engage in work that would contribute to equality, one word at a time. 5 Table of Contents Contents Declaration ................................................................................................................................. 2 Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgement ..................................................................................................................... 4 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter I: ................................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 9 1. The context: The status of women in the Republic of Yemen ....................................... 9 2. Research goals and hypotheses ................................................................................... 16 3. Empowerment as a concept ........................................................................................ 19 4. Research design ........................................................................................................... 22 5. Importance and contribution to scholarly research .................................................... 25 6. Key research findings ................................................................................................... 28 7. Structure of the Thesis ................................................................................................. 32 Chapter II: ................................................................................................................................ 35 Literature Review: .................................................................................................................... 35 Empowerment from a gender perspective ................................................................................ 35 1. Introduction to the chapter ......................................................................................... 35 2. Background and context .............................................................................................. 38 2.1 Yemeni women’s movement ............................................................................... 40 3. The concept of power .................................................................................................. 51 4. Power and gender roles ............................................................................................... 53 4.1. Women power ..................................................................................................... 55 4.2. Defining women’s empowerment ....................................................................... 57 5. Gender, politics and the state ...................................................................................... 64 6. Women’s empowerment in terms of agency and structure ....................................... 71 7. Capacity, instability, and political support ................................................................... 75 7.1. Capacity ................................................................................................................ 75 7.2. Instability .............................................................................................................. 77 7.3. The culture of political support ............................................................................ 81 8. Yemeni women in the empowerment literature ......................................................... 95 6 Chapter III: ............................................................................................................................