Q&A: How women are surviving as Yemen enters its fourth year of war

NEW YORK — Humanitarian needs continue to mount in Yemen as the Arab nation entered its fourth year of deadly civil war in March. Another cholera outbreak is on the horizon as the country enters its rainy season, the World Health Organization and UNICEF have warned. The rapid spread of the water-borne disease infected more than 1 million people last year and killed more than 2,230. And the number of civilians in need of assistance grew by 1 million from June 2017 to January 2018, now topping 22.2 million. There is an immense need for funding; on April 3, the United Nations will host a high-level pledging event to close the $2.7 billion gap on its humanitarian work in Yemen. The conflict has thrust many women into the unfamiliar role of serving as breadwinners for families fractured by the ongoing fighting, explains Yemeni Suha Basharen, a gender specialist with the international relief organization CARE. She spoke with Devex in a recent phone interview on the ongoing humanitarian situation and the changing role of women in her country. Basharen also spoke to the realities of carrying out aid work as a Yemeni in Yemen, where humanitarians aren’t spared the realities of war. Hospitals and other civilian centers have repeatedly been the target of air strikes, and the challenges can be particularly complicated for local aid workers. More of the field work can fall on their shoulders, as they often hold an advantage over foreigners to access to places that require a permit for entry. The work also takes on a deeply personal meaning when conducted in your home country, as Basharen explains. This interview has been lightly condensed and edited for clarity. How would you describe the situation there now, in both Sana’a and Aden, where you and your family live? It is a war zone. You can expect everything. Of course, the humanitarian situation, the living conditions are really deteriorating. People are finding more and more difficulty getting [the] means of daily life, because some people are not receiving their salaries, especially government servants. Prices are increasing every day and the inflation rate is really crazy. The daily life is not easy, providing your family with food. And I’m talking about people who have a stable income, like a monthly income from a salary. Is it possible to do basic things easily — going to a store or market and buying food? Food is everywhere — it is about affordability. Some of my friends, before the war, were working and living well enough. Their monthly expenses would be $1,000. But because their business got destroyed or stopped because of the conflict, now they are living for less than $100 a month. Imagine the people who were living with $10 a month, how they are living now. Outside it looks like we are living our lives. We go to the market, we wake up and then our kids go to school. But when you dig deep and start living in Yemen, you feel like every day is a struggle. Sana’a has not had electricity for three years now. We rely on solar energy. In other areas, they don’t have solar panels and don’t have private electricity companies. What is it like for you as a Yemeni working for CARE? Are you able to move around the country freely? Before, as a Yemeni, I had the right to go around. Now, I have to get permission to go around for my work. And for the foreigners it is different. Before, they could get permission. Now they can get permission, but it is a bit difficult. “The main thing Yemeni women are losing is social capital. In Yemen, we usually depend on our families, or our neighbors. Yemeni women have found they don’t have this network.” --— Suha Basharen, a gender specialist with CARE It’s easier if you are Yemeni to move around. Because I am a gender specialist I go [and travel] every quarter. Sometimes I go and do focus groups with some beneficiaries, but most of my interaction is with the staff, the volunteers that work for CARE and then with villages. I don’t want to name areas, but for certain areas you need permits. Sometimes you can get the permit in one day, in two days, in one week, in one month. What are the biggest issues you see women are facing right now in Yemen? Do you find they have less access to food, or some services? Most Yemeni women are illiterate. The illiteracy rate before the war was very high, especially in rural areas. Seventy-five percent of the Yemeni population used to live in a rural area, where access to education and basic services is usually limited. When the conflict broke out, women found that they have to be responsible for their families, because either the men went to fight, or were killed, or injured. Women find themselves with this challenge that they have to stand up to take this role, when they were not prepared to. The main thing Yemeni women are losing is social capital. In Yemen, we usually depend on our families, or our neighbors. Yemeni women have found they don’t have this network. I think the loss of this social network is shocking for Yemeni women. But it is amazing how you see women coming with different ideas. In cities and in rural areas, they try to come up with a way to just provide their families with support. Of course, displaced women are finding this to be a challenge because suddenly they are literally on the outside. Women used to be in their houses, protected, and now all means of protection — her house, her father, her husband, or her brothers — are not there. Is it common that women are now, for the first time, thinking about how to provide for themselves? The coping mechanism of Yemeni people is amazing. They stand and they try to find a way. In every corner you see women are making pastries and cakes and you see the advertisements everywhere. They came up with all kinds of ways. They make cosmetic materials, like body lotions. They sell it to their families, to their friends. Do you find it is especially difficult to work with fellow Yemeni people, given the connection you might feel with them? As a feminist working on gender, and trying to support women wherever I can in this situation, I am very related to my work and to my people. It is my country and my work. This is my life. Some of our colleagues, foreigners who come here, are passionate about Yemen and want to help. It is different, in a sense, that I can move more than them. But in general, whoever comes here and sees the situation can only see passionate [work and people]. Yemen is a nice country. People are very kind. Hospitality here is very important. Even the poorest people will try to bring you to their home and give you whatever they have. What is most challenging for women when thinking about access for their businesses, or to different aid services? Some women have an issue of mobility. The landscape of Yemen is very rough. Also, some people are living in high mountains and it will be difficult for women to move or to get access easily. Some of the women are finding that illiteracy will not be a burden, as much, because all they need to know is the information and here people spread information easily. If anyone gets information that, “This organization provides support in such and such area,” the information will spread easily. But you can see that there are multilayered challenges, because gender-based violence is there, women are still facing violence and discrimination in their communities. What I sometimes see is women have their own initiatives trying to bring peace in their communities. They are trying to come up with small initiatives to protect their sons or their men from joining the conflict. These women, if they are supported, can be peace builders in their areas. It sounds like in some ways you have some optimism about how people are faring in the conflict. Yes and no. When I go to the field it is very depressing, and when you read the reports it is also depressing. The reality of life in Yemen is really difficult. But when you see these individual initiatives, you see how people are coming up with coping mechanisms and you get inspired, and you feel like there is still hope we will rise up from the ashes, as they say. The biggest asset in Yemen is solidarity between people. This war has to stop. There is no other solution for the situation unless the conflict stops. The more conflict occurs in new places it means displacement, it means an increase of humanitarian needs, life-saving interventions. Until when will we keep giving people life-saving means?