Shebas reclaiming spaces: Yemeni women political participation in the peace process (2014-2019)

Abstract

This thesis explores Yemeni women’s political participation in the peace process in the 2014-2015 conflict. Using Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis (FCDA), this study analyzes seven interviews with women who were/are politically active formally and/or active at the grassroot level (2014–2019). This thesis also uses FCDA to analyze UNSCR 1325 and YNAP to examine the dichotomous language used in official documents that maintain women’s exclusion in peace processes. Findings reveal that perpetuating women as passive and powerless in combination with the prevailing patriarchal culture in Yemen that frames war as a man’s game, has justified women’s explicit and implicit exclusion from the peace process and politics in the present. This exclusion is maintained by sexist narratives by Yemeni men in power and the international community involved in Yemen. Further, the analysis identifies that, associating women with children deprives women of agency and portrays women as weak and in need of protection. Further, transformative change and gender equality will not be achieved without addressing structural inequality.