Crimes against women up in Yemen

Sana'a: As many as 130 Yemeni women were killed in 2,694 incidences of violence and sexual assaults on females during 2007, according to an official report.

A total of 970 women, including 345 under 18 years of age, were injured as a result of those attacks, said the report released by the Ministry of Interior on Tuesday.

The report, prepared by the Centre for Studies and Researches of Gender at Sana'a University, studied on the incidences and causes of violence against women.

The main cause of violence against women is due to the tradition of early marriage, the report said adding that Yemen was yet to criminalise the act of child marriages.

The report also cited poverty, illiteracy and age-old barbaric customs as some other reasons behind the violence.

Among all the marriages held in 2006 and 2007, about 52 per cent of Yemeni girls and about 7 per cent of boys were under the age of 15, it said.

About 70 per cent of the child marriages took place in rural areas where about 75 per cent of the 22 million population of Yemen reside.

The university report also revealed that the age gap between the wife and the husband was very big in those marriages. In many cases the age of the husband was about 50 years more than the wife.

Struggle

A number of civil society organisations concerned with women's issues has been struggling to raise women's participation in the political, economic, social, cultural and sporting arenas.

But they still face a lot of obstacles, mainly due to the poor social standing of women, when compared with women in other Arab countries.

Women form only 17 per cent of the staff in public and private sector companies. They have nominal presence in the political parties, according to recent statistics.