The Politics of Yemen are in an uncertain state due to the Houthi takeover in Yemen. An armed group known as the Houthis or Ansar Allah seized control of the Northern Yemeni government and announced it would dissolve parliament, as well as install a "presidential council", "transitional national council", and "supreme revolutionary council" to govern the country for an interim period. However, the deposed president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, has declared he is still in office and is working to establish a rival government in Aden.
South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, was a state that existed from 1967 to 1990 as the only communist state in the Middle East and the Arab world. It was made up of the southern and eastern Governorates of the present-day Republic of Yemen, including the island of Socotra. It was bordered by North Yemen to the North-West, Saudi Arabia to the North, and Oman to the East.
The General Union of Syrian Women (GUSW) was founded in 1967 with Saud al Abdallah serving as the original president. It aimed to mobilize women while developing their education, political activism, and skills that helped women become more effective members in socio-economic settings. While Syrian women have historically held more rights when compared to the rest of the Arab world, the GUSW is working to put an end the isolation and marginalization of Syrian women as well as involve women to become more of an effective population in society. This movement was born out of the unification of various welfare associations, volunteer organizations, and welfare groups caused by various political shifts in Syria.
The modern history of Yemen began with the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire. In 1839 the British set up a protective area around the southern port of Aden and in 1918 the northern Kingdom of Yemen gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. North Yemen became a republic in 1962, but it was not until 1967 that the British Empire withdrew from what became South Yemen. In 1970, the southern government adopted a communist governmental system. The two countries were formally united as the Republic of Yemen on May 22, 1990.
State feminism is feminism created or approved by the government of a state or nation. It usually specifies a particular program. The term was coined by Helga Hernes with particular reference to the situation in Norway, which had a tradition of government-supported liberal feminism dating back to the 1880s, and is often used when discussing the government-supported gender equality policies of the Nordic countries, that are linked to the Nordic model. The term has also been used in the context of developing countries where the government may prescribe its form of feminism and at the same time prohibit non-governmental organizations from advocating for any other feminist program. In this sense it is possible to distinguish between a liberal state feminism found in Western democracies such as the Nordic countries, and a somewhat more authoritarian state feminism that is often also linked to secularism, found e.g. in certain Middle Eastern countries.
The Women's National Committee of Yemen is a government-affiliated body working to empower women. Local Yemenis work on the committee in coordination with national and international partners to safeguard women's fundamental human rights. The Millennium Development Goals provide the framework guiding the committee's main policy priority areas.
The South Yemen Civil War, colloquially referred to as The Events of '86 or The Events of January 13, or more simply as The Events, was a failed coup d'etat and armed conflict which took place on January 13, 1986, in South Yemen. The civil war developed as a result of ideological differences, and later tribal tensions, between two factions of the ruling Yemeni Socialist Party (YSP), centred on Abdul Fattah Ismail's faction, at-Toghmah, and Ali Nasir Muhammad's faction, az-Zomrah, for the leadership of the YSP and the PDRY. The conflict quickly escalated into a costly civil war that lasted eleven days and resulted in thousands of casualties. Additionally, the conflict resulted in the demise of much of the Yemeni Socialist Party's most experienced socialist leadership cadre, contributing to a much weaker government and the country's eventual unification with North Yemen in 1990.
Nazik Al Abid known as the "Joan of Arc of the Arabs" was a Syrian women's rights activist, nationalist, and critic of Ottoman and French colonialism in Syria. She was the first woman to earn rank in the Syrian Army for her role in forming the Red Star Society, a precursor to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, during the battle of Maysalun. She was a revolutionary for national independence and women's right to work and vote in Syria.
Amatalrauf "Raufa Hassan" al-Sharki was an educator, feminist and human rights activist from Yemen. She was a professor of mass media and the director of a Women's Studies Center at the University of Sana'a. Al-Sharki was the first female journalist in Yemen and wrote a regular newspaper column for many years.
Amal Muhammad 'Ali al-Shami (1956–2001) was a Yemeni writer.
Nour Haidar was a twentieth-century pioneer of girl's education in Yemen.
Mahiya Najib (1926-1982), was a Yemeni women's rights activist, editor and journalist. She founded Fatat Shamsan [The Maiden of Mount Shamsan] in 1960, making her Aden's first female editor of a women's monthly magazine.
First Eastern Women's Congress, also known as First General Congress of Oriental Women and First Oriental Women's Congress was an international women's conference which took place in Damascus in Syria between 3 July and 10 July 1930. The conference was arranged by the General Union of Syrian Women under the leadership of Nour Hamada, with participants from the Arab World and Eastern Asia.
The Syrian-Lebanese Women's Union was a women's organization in Lebanon and Syria, founded in the 1920s and active until 1946. It has also been called Lebanese Women’s Union, Syrian Arab Women's Union and Arab Women’s Union. It has been referred to as the starting point of the active women's movement in Lebanon and Syria.
Yemeni Women's Association (YWA) was a women's organization in North Yemen. Founded in 1965, as part of the emergence of the women's movement in North Yemen, it merged in 1990 with South Yemen's General Union of Yemeni Women (established 1968) to form the Yemeni Women's Union.
Adeni Women's Club was a women's organization in Yemen, founded in 1943. It was the first organisation of women's rights in Yemen, and the beginning of the women's rights movement in Yemen.
The Lebanese Council of Women or Lebanese Women's Council (LWC) is a women's organization in Lebanon, founded in 1952. It is an umbrella organization for the Lebanese women's movement.
Labibah Thabit, was a Lebanese women's rights activist. She was a pioneer figure of feminism in her country.
Laure Thabet, was a Lebanese women's rights activist. She was a pioneer figure of feminism in her country.
Radhia Ihsan (1933-2020), was a Yemeni women's rights activist, Politician and author.
