“Blogging and Social Media’s Impact on Yemeni Women”

Historically known as the home of Queen Sheba, Yemen is one of the least developed countries in the world. Over the last decade Yemen has faced persistent terrorism threats, a bloody civil war, and growing al-Qaeda presence. This is all occurring as the poverty level is skyrocketing and the conditions for the Yemenis are deteriorating.  For women, life in Yemen is a continual challenge considering that more than 65% of women cannot read or write, compared to 30% of men. Yemeni law also does not regulate a minimum marriage age for women, meaning that many brides are young adolescence. Once married, a woman must obey her husband and obtain his permission to simply leave the house. And for those women who are not married, they may find themselves in prison for crimes including smoking or having a date with a boy.

A critical struggle of Yemeni women is finding an outlet for them to express themselves. In a culture where women are seen and not heard, speaking one’s mind could lead to a lengthy prison sentence or abuse. This pursuit for a voice for Yemeni women is what lead the non-profit Rising Voices to launch the ‘Empowerment of Women Activists in Media Techniques’ (EWAMT) Program in Yemen in 2009. This day-long workshop lead by Ghaida’a al-Absi trains Yemeni women on how new media works and how to utilize citizen journalism for activism.  The EWAMT project was described by Ghaida’a al-Absi as a way to “obtain the Yemeni Activists in Civil and political Society in the capital city of Yemen, the skills of creating blogs as a new mass media to express their points of view, and how to use the blogs in publicizing the social affairs.”

The classes which are conducted for women politicians, activists, and human right workers have trained 112 female bloggers in only ten workshops. The classes cover how to create and publicize a blog in blogger, the steps to advocating their issues through blogging, and how to use Youtube, Facebook, and other social media platforms.

When the class is finished, the women take their new knowledge and blog on freedom, terrorism, women’s rights, dreams and aspirations, and numerous other topics that are driving a dedicated audience to each of their websites. Through their blogs, additional women are learning about the EWAMT program and are being introduced to new media and the impact of citizen journalism.

Although there is a semi-popular notion that citizen journalism cannot be trusted, there is no greater expert into Yemeni life then the women who must live through it every day. The EWAMT project and others like it are playing a vital role in evening the playing field for women around the world. To read more about the EWAMT Project and the other work of Rising Voices visit http://rising.globalvoicesonline.org/.