Mohammed Owad Ba Obaid
Assisstant Professor
Psychology Department
Sana'a Unviveristy
W oman's increased participation in public life has opened before her spacious opportunity for more freedom and equality in various areas of life. In a country like Yemen, women have actually made laudable strides in economic, social, political and cultural dimensions of the society. Women's active participation in the past two decades is attributed to the impact of education despite the difficulties facing it.
However, integrating women in the public life is not always a positive thing owing to the negative consequences associating to this process on many women's personal lives. Studies in criminology indicate that one of the important factors leading to increased rate of crime among women in the past two decades is ascribed to the radical change in women's roles in the society. That is, women in the past two decades had not only been doing their household works, they had also taken up effective roles in the economic, political and cultural life of the society that means more efforts were to be exerted and extra burdens were to be borne than has traditionally been the case. Besides, their new encounter with the outside world has created some conflicts within them that might , at many times, have forced them to violate the law or be a victim of crime. In both cases, she has had to be subjected to the letter and spirit of the laws which are enacted and implemented by men.

Women as Victims of the Law:
A woman who is subjected to assault comes to suffer double misfortunes. She is, on the one hand, a victim of a crime so often committed by men and at the same time she does not get adequate justice from institutions concerned especially when the crime is committed within the family. In such cases the victim tends, more often than not, to cover it up to avoid a more severely punishment by the assailant, let alone reporting the matter to law enforcing institutions concerned. If the victim is severely assaulted, the assailant or anyone from the family takes the initiative to take her to a doctor. However, he manoeuvres to hide causes of the case and identity of the assailant. Doctors often do not dare record the case as premeditated assault. That is the way such cases of assault are disposed of. Obviously, the victim becomes vulnerable to increasingly similar assaults.
When the victim ventures to report the matter to the judicial authorities, the authorities concerned normally do not give such cases the attention needed especially when the assault is physical and is committed by a family member.
A study that I conducted in 1999 on the reactions of police officers to violence against women reveals that women showing up in police stations evoke diverse reactions among police officers. Some officers react passively to the victimized women's reports, observe that a woman who dares to go to police stations and reports about an assault made by a family member is a not virtuous woman. "The respectable woman should put up with assaults made against her by family members, especially if the assault is done by her husband. Men's assaults against women are at many times the result of women's bad behavior," they asserted. This attitude is psychologically termed as rationalization. That is, the assailant justifies his inhumane attitudes against whomever. As expected police officers fall short of the degree of professionalism in performing their duties and delivering justice to the victim.
Some police officers pretend to show some concern about assaults' cases against women. However, this affected sympathy hides murky evil intentions towards the victim with the aim that the victim invariably becomes object of those officers sexual abuse. Although such cases are not very frequent, the fact remains that it happens in reality.
Police officers' ways of dealing with women's reports vary according to their cultural and social background. The question depends on policemen understanding of the concept of violence against women. The lack of legislations on protection of women against family violence makes the police rely on their subjective discretion in such cases. This makes it important to conduct more studies about police officers' and judicial authorities' attitudes towards violence against women. These studies should be the base for planning out measures to ameliorate police officers' attitudes towards violence against women to support them.

Rights of Women Violating the Law:
When a woman violates the law, she is subjected to the same lawful criminal procedures exactly like her male counterpart. However, the point the problem arises regarding the way these legal procedures is implemented. In reality, the accused or convicted woman's rights are not at all protected. She may be subjected to a long period of interrogation meaning a long stay in the Central Prison. Consequently, keeping a defendant woman in contact with convicted women prisoners will have a detrimental effect on her reputation and harms her social status.
Conditions of women prisons lack the basic essential conditions in terms of the simplest international standards especially to protect their private lives which presupposes special health care for them and their children.

Pregnant women and mothers are those in maximum need of special care. They have to be guaranteed special health care; deliveries should be permitted in civil hospitals, the birth place should not be mentioned in the birth certificate, mothers should have the right to breast feed their children, providing nursery schools with competent staff. Different countries adopt various rules for satisfying women's needs in prisons. However, there are some fundamental rules that should be observed. Some of these rules are stated by the Human Rights Watch in its international report about prisons at New York in 1993. The most important of which are the following:
1) Women should be given a sanitary napkin or the like. Besides, they have the right to have a daily bath during the monthly period.
2) Men and women should have equal access to education and work.
3) Pregnant women should have regular health check-ups before deliveries. Besides, they should be provided with an appropriate nutritional diet system.
4) Efforts should be exerted to ensure mother's contact with their children enabling them to properly bring them up.
The above stated requirements are the minimal conditions required for the convicted women. They are part and parcel of the basic human rights report.
Good intentions of the Law Enforcing Institutions in our country are not enough to meet the visible discrepancy in women's prisons. These prisons hardly meet the basic needs of women, let alone other essential conditions such as the monthly period, pregnancy and maternal requirements. Certainly, this negatively affects their physical as well as mental health. Therefore, it seems urgent to create some specific rules that safeguard women prisoners rights inside prisons. Prisons should also be provided with funds and competent qualified gynecologists to ensure health care of women, note their and look after their personal needs.
Prisons in their present conditions are not at all suitable as reforming institutions aimed at rehabilitating the convicted women and prepare them to be re-integrate in society after their release. Some women prisoners have finished their prison terms. However, they dare not leave prison before getting assurances from their families not to be assaulted again, especially those convicted of immoral practices. This is the most flagrant violation of human rights that necessitates an immediate legal and practical action by the authorities concerned.
Solutions:

I believe these problems can be solved through the following steps:

1) Creating female police officers whose duty is to deal with female victims of crimes and the law breakers. These police officers have to follow up the cases of women from the very moment of their arrest to the end of their prison term.
2)The establishment of 'Police Department on Family Protection' in provincial capitals. These police stations are directly affiliated with the Interior Ministry. Their duty would be to solve family problems and protect women and children from any family assaults.
3) Establishing detention centres pending completion of investigation for women in all the governorates.
4) Coordinating between the governmental and non-governmental organizations to temporary shelters or remand home for women who have no place to stay and are liable to assault. Some psychologists and psychiatrists should also be available to help these women, guide and rehabilitate them.
5) Improving the conditions of imprisoned women through transferring these prisons to reforming centers, requalifying those convicted and referring other ones to other centers. A competent qualified cadre should also be trained to be in charge of the administration in women's prisons.
In short, this essay is primarily intended to attract public attention and those interested in human rights to the serious problems suffered by women who are forced to violate the law. I believe that it is still too early to take up other precautions to ensure fundamental human rights for such women.

Working For Integration of Marginal Groups In Society
A good number of marginalized groups are to be found in Yemen. In comparison to others, these groups live in miserable condition in respect of health, nutrition and residence.
Statistics show that such people are concentrated in the coastal areas where people are characterized by simplicity of life style.
Despite the existing scope to participate in the development of society, many hurdles are posed in their way to achieve meaningful participation. Illiteracy is the most dominating handicap, which consequently affects their eligibility for better jobs.
More reprehensible is the way the society looks upon them. They are regarded as low-class of people with a low level of integrity.
Suffering from instability of income sources, they are pushed to the streets to practice begging.
To found a society to look after such destitute people's suffering is a real achievement by all means.
Last Monday, Al-Sada Charitable Society inaugurated the "Arab Woman Speaks" project in the presence of the Ambassador of the U.S.A, the American Cultural AttachŽ, representatives of the non-governmental organizations, the Ministry of Insurance and others.
Speakers on the occasion highlighted the necessity to activate the agenda of the of the society to integrate those downtrodden groups to the social mainstream.
In her speech, the American ambassador stressed the need to provide women with more educational opportunities.
Al-Sada Charitable Society is a women's volunteering organization aiming at the uplift of the marginalized families in the urban areas. It was founded on January 1 1998 with 95% of its administrative staff being drawn from those families.
Mrs. Hayat Al-Hubaishi, chairperson of the society said that the main objective of the society was to improve the health, environmental, social and economic standards of such families and provide training to women in order to enable them to find better job opportunities.
About the agenda of programs of the society she outlined organizing a training program for both men and women in areas including computer, administration, sewing, home services and libraries), another for promoting handicrafts and marketing their products, organizing seminars for women, etc.
"As far as education is concerned," said Al-Hubaishi, "there is a kindergarten for children, a school for the basic studies for the school dropouts. We also provide opportunities for those in jobs to complete their secondary and higher education.," she added.
"The society aims at improving women's social, cultural and health levels through education. There are intelligent and creative women who are unfortunately ignored and neglected. We are very ambitious about the programs of the society and hope that we will be able to expand the base of its activities all over Yemen," said Mrs. Noor of the Al-Sada society.
Despite lack of financial support, the society still works hard determined to achieve the goals it was set for depending on the basis of personal efforts of its dedicated staff.
Jalal Al-Shara'abi, Yemen Times

The Poet Mohammed Noaman Al-Hakimi to Yemen Times:
The incipient phase of loftiness with which I was withdrawn into a conscious instant when I deeply felt an inexpressible human sensation told me "You are a poet"
Mr. Mohammed Noaman Al-Hakimi is a rising young poet from Taiz, Yemen. He holds a bachelor degree in English. His reputation as a poet was established soon after he secured the second rank among poets of Taiz at a contest held in Taiz governorate in 1998. The purpose was to choose two best winners to represent their governorates in Sana'a at the first poetical festival organized by the ministry of Culture under the watchword of "For the homeland we compose the best poems".
Al-Hakimi represented Taiz governorate in Sana'a alone. Free from tinsel and notification fake, he got even mellower and comelier soon after attending the poetical festival.

Yemen Times, Taiz Bureau Chief Imad Al-Saqqaf along with Mr. Abdul-Rahman Al-Humaidi had the privilege of interviewing the poet. Excerpts:

Q: What is the use of poetry in this era of history?
A: Poetry is needed for the sake of poetry itself. Although the poet does not necessarily serve the common experiences shared by all of us, yet we would like to confirm that there are still some poets who may rightly be considered the mouthpieces of their Ommah. They make use of poetry to be a weapon to express the common experience relating to the present. Today poetry has a rather frail relationship with the common man. Yet, there are some who are deeply concerned about their relation with the common man and express their interest and ideas through the vehicle of poetry.

Q: How did you start writing poems?
A: I started writing poems few years ago. I went into the world of poetry through several trails. I got on its charming abode one in the prime of my life with the support of Al-Baraddoni, Al-Zubeiry. Some classical poets such as Shawqi, El-Sayab, Nagi, Al-Maqaleh and so on. On the track, I rested for a while on some well-known Arab beaches. Then I resumed my cruise which led me to some realms in the European, American and world poetry. I explored the poetry of celebrities in the many-faceted arena of arts since the 15th century up to the present time. It was a splendid excursion which revealed to me the romance of Wordsworth and the real world of John Donne.

Q: Will you give us some ideas about published works?
A: I have got a collection of poems in press which is entitled " Madness Ports". Further, some of my lyric poems are chanted during the celebration of wedding ceremony and associated events - all in Arabic.
Moreover, I am a member of Literary Men's Union and of the Yemeni League for Arts and Culture too.

Q: What are your ideas about the English poetry?
A: I wish some of the modern English poems were translated to those Arab poets who claim they compose modern poetry so that they could get a clear idea about what modern poetry means! The spirit of renewal and beauty of the modern English poetry lies in the truth which states that it lacks it

Q: You participated in the First Poetic Celebration in Yemen held in Taiz. What are your impressions about it?
A: It's truly a major step for bringing together on one platform the promising poetic talents in our country, and to encourage them to go ahead. I was the only representative from Taiz in the poetical festival in Sana'a which honored one or two awardees from each governorate by the Ministry of culture in 1998. By honoring me, Taiz governorate is actually honored.

Q: When do you prefer to write poetry?
A: I don't know when exactly I compose poems. Yet, the best time my feelings are crystallized is in the early morning. When writing, I don't have to seek for a topic or a theme. In fact, whenever I get impressed or affected by something, I immediately start writing about it. And it is the poem that chooses its poetical form and meters. When I start writing, I feel I live in a world that is full of leisure, conceit, beauty and charm. By that moment, I never feel interested in talking to people. I keep quiet and ignore all who visit me or try to contact me.

Q: You tend to reflect some anger and animosity in your poems. Why is it so?
A: Can any one deny the debates occurring around us and the unpleasant winter that we are passing through on a large scale today? I am one of those who suffer, feel and witness all such subservience, moral breakdown and erosion of values around us. I wonder how I can sleep or relax when Arabs and Muslims suffer being down-trodden, insulted, invaded and humiliated. It's difficult for me to ignore my dreamÑthe Arab Unity. This dream has almost vanished and we, as Arabs, are only boastful of our brave past, quite negligent or unconscious of being backward people, and silent witness to deterioration in almost every field in life, leaving Arab Ommah to its inglorious destiny.

Here are some quotable stanzas from one of his poems in English.

Winter and compunction
Completely scattered, we're impelled to surrender,
Empower the low colonizing invader,
Yielding possessions that to us belong,
Acceding humiliation all time long

Of no avail, boastful of our past brave,
Still cheering the one in the grave,
Who could ever become greater,
We marched with him our Leader.
Holy precincts clearly violated
Arab dignity deeply insulted
They vanished like a mist
Not a nightmare or a jest.
Will spring come to us again?
Will Arabness rid us of pain?
To protect dignity violated
To restore land invaded.
Much Fie on Pain
O sparks of moon, for thee I seek
O stars of moon, dust off thy reek
Stand by thee, get sight of light
Defame insult, discard the leek
As frail, those words and leaves
As souls, o slaves of thieves
O still you claim of sight
But sip all night's grief
So loud the cries of pain
So much my land does gain
Does wail for a world of hope
But alas! hope recede wane and wane
For land does sing this don
Does ring its dawn and bong
Till those unfair get low
Get down to coy for long