Itar Foundation for Social Development, national nonprofit organization, was funded by UN Women to implement the “Piloting Displaced Women’s and Girls’ Humanitarian-Peace Dialogue in Yemen” project. The project recognizes that women and girls often bear the brunt of conflicts and displacement, experiencing heightened risks of violence, exploitation, and discrimination. Upon that, the project initiative aims to amplify the voices, of the women and girls, displaced and host communities, in calling for permanent peace and urgent humanitarian response.

Itar Foundation is the leading implementing partner working with Thakerh for Media Production, Yemeni Women Union, Youth Without Boarders, Enough for Humanitarian Protection, and Wa3i Foundation. Thakerh for Media Production, national nonprofit organization, is responsible for implementing and managing the communication activities of the project’s deliverables.

The briefing paper is organized around both explanatory and exploratory research methods. These two methodologies are applied in tandem to gain a holistic understanding of a certain theme, viable, or event, and the linkage between these factors.

The methodology is entirely based on a literature review, which includes a blend of dynamic datasets and reports with an emphasis on displacement, as well as vigorous key interviews that provide a comprehensive understanding of a particular factor or event. The research team investigated the concept of reflexivity[2], which involves examining one's own taken for granted assumptions. These reports and datasets were derived from a variety of popular humanitarian pages, including Humanitarian Needs Overview, Humanitarian Response Plan, Humanitarian Data Exchange, Humanitarian Action (UNOCHA), Displacement Tracking Matrix (IOM), UN Women Data and Publications, and World Bank Publications. Further to these sources, the study team consulted reports from internationally recognized humanitarian actors such as Oxfam, Care, among others, in addition to journals, blogs, and reports from social and cultural humanitarian-related websites.

The analytical framework comprised both quantitative and qualitative analysis approaches. Descriptive and regression analysis were used in the quantitative analysis, while latent and theme content analysis and interpretive phenomenology analysis were used in the qualitative study. In addition, the qualitative method included the use of discourse analysis to investigate how language impacts social interactions and structures, with a focus on power relations, identity, and culture. The entire analysis process underpinned by ethical considerations, ensuring an accurate yet thoughtful examination of the humanitarian challenges at hand.

In terms of limitations, the research endured limitations such as potentially incomplete evidence, the absence or shortcoming of specific data for certain queries, documentation coverage limitations and potential bias, and subjectivity in stakeholders' perspectives, both retroactive and proactive. However, the impact of such constraints is mitigated by triangulating various sources and comparing stakeholders’ general insights with other pertinent data at the same time.

Result One: Communities' Harmony: Peaceful Co-Existence or Discrimination!?

Yemen has a long history of cultural diversity and community intermingling. Interactions between religious and ethnic groups tend to be defined by mutual respect, collaboration, and societal integration. However, it would be unfair to claim that Yemen had a completely harmonious and socially homogeneous community.

Discrimination and tensions did occur in certain contexts, though. Before and after the conflict, different areas experienced discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, and socioeconomic standing. There have been reports of social exclusion, marginalization, and unequal treatment, notably towards minority groups or individuals from different socioeconomic backgrounds. Prior to the conflict, particular occupations were not acceptable (or stigmatized) within the Yemeni tribal setting, such as becoming a barber - known as muziain - and being a butcher, which might be considered class antagonism. Aside from harassment and unfair treatment, such occupation holders were alienated from the community and were not permitted to form further community bonds, such as marriage, with people from different walks of life. Yemeni poet, Abdallah Al-Baraduni, highlighted the living conditions and the social homogeneity in his poetry; titled “From Exile to Exile”[3] in 1971, as he said:

While, amidst the conflict, it is clearly that co-existence and discrimination are an incredibly urgent note, particularly in the context of the situation faced by internally displaced women and girls. These discrimination and social exclusion are significantly noticed in rural areas; but not excluding urban areas. The protracted conflict has exacerbated divisions and tensions, intensified class antagonism, as well, among various communities, leading to increased polarization in some areas. The economic situation has deteriorated, leading to widespread poverty, and a decline in living standards. Displacement, destruction of infrastructure, and disruptions in services have further strained social bonds and created new challenges for social cohesion. The conflict has undermined the sense of national unity and created fractures, disproportionately, affected the most vulnerable segments of society, exacerbating socio-economic disparities and deepening class antagonism[4].

Yemen's protracted conflict has resulted in an array of factors, including cultural differences, economic strain, and stable livelihoods, all of which influence the level of communal cohesion between the displaced and host communities. Understanding the experiences of internally displaced and marginalized women[5] and girls would make it evident that the conflict has had a substantial impact affected social relations and exacerbated existing divisions. The feeling of oppression and suffering in obtaining humanitarian aid and having trouble picking between two crucial alternatives: the inability to return to their war-torn homes and the challenge of harmonious coexistence with the host community.

The Muhamasheen "(the Arabic term for marginalized) community is a Yemeni minority group representing around 10% of Yemen’s population. They have long endured discrimination, social exclusion, and constrained access to public services. Nearly 40% of Muhamasheen women have never attended school and cases of GBV against Muhamasheen women are more prevalent[6]. Therefore, it is inevitability to highlight the UNOCHA HNO reports of gender-based discrimination, which affects women and girls, in general, and those among the internally displaced, in particular. These highlight the sort of conflict between host communities and internally displaced communities, in which it takes forms of coerced discrimination, accessibility discrimination, and assistance discrimination.

The concept revolves around the idea of fostering a peaceful and inclusive environment where individuals from different backgrounds can coexist harmoniously, free from discrimination and prejudice. These sorts of projects are rarely heard of, owing to the protracted conflict, rejection of such interventions, absence of collective efforts. Community-based social cohesion programs, peacebuilding programs, gender-based violence programs, and conflict resolution mechanisms, which are examples of common types of humanitarian programs, that aim to address gender and social cohesion, interlinks with unavailability of reports detailing the impact evaluation of these interventions.

It is imperative to recognize that fostering such an environment necessitates collective efforts to promote inclusivity, equitable-services access, gender-sensitivity and protection, social integration environment, economic opportunities, and respect for human rights. The level of harmony, discrimination, and stigmatization in communities has a significant impact on the psychological well-being of internally displaced women and girls, which can exacerbate their trauma and mental health challenges.

Result Two: Social Constructivism and the Concept of the ‘Household’!

Social constructivism is a theoretical paradigm that focuses on the role of social interactions and cultural context in shaping people’s understanding of the meanings of words. This includes constructing meanings for household classifications of labor, such as who performs caregiving, house chores, or income breadwinners. Interpretations of social interactions and constructivism, including cultural gender norms and power dynamics, could highlight ‘what is the intervention that addresses gender inequalities and gender-sensitive programming?’

Population displacement forces individuals to adapt to new environments and communities, shaping new word perceptions, norms, and meanings of words, particularly among internally displaced women and girls. This segment of a strata faces numerous challenges, including stigmatization, discrimination, and marginalization.

The currently rooted definition of the word ‘household’, among the Yemen community, doesn’t match the known common definition[7]. That the household means “person or group of related or unrelated persons, who live together in the same housing unit, who acknowledge one adult male or female as the head of the household and share a meal cooked from the same pot”. Then the definition of the ‘household head’ means “a household member who is legally responsible for the house; and who provides security and food, and most probably the one with the highest income”. These definitions are not clearly comprehended by those who are frequently engaged in data collection, data collation, data analysis, and data reporting. Thus, this could be the last straw that broke the data quality.

Accordingly, even before the report is released, the UNOCHA disseminated reports of the Humanitarian Needs Overview highlight a common anticipation of the coming year's numbers. This includes total population and internally displaced population numbers, displaced male/female proportions, and headed community/displaced male/female proportions. The following figures are some data, which has been published in UNOCHA HNO Reports over the past eight years. The data on internally displaced people is the main emphasis of this collection of statistics.

Figure 01 illustrates this. On average, 51% of male IDPs and 49% of female IDPs were recorded in 2021, 2022, and 2023. The percentage that represents IDP women and children, which is 76%, is the most significant note. Given the 76% percentages in Figure 01 in light of this finding, it was observed that Figure 02 shows the trend repeating for the same years 2021, 2022, and 2023; on average, females lead 27.3% of households, while males lead 72.7%. This excludes male minors who are heads of households. "Displaced women often bear the burden of supporting their families, despite challenges in accessing assistance, especially outside their communities," says the UNOCHA HNO 2015 report[8]. This indicates that when displacement occurs, men remain stationary in their own homes to safeguard them, and the most displaced people are women and children. Thus, the reason for the existence of a semi-fixed proportion of displaced male/female heading household, over the years is so murky. Note that percentages were not clear for 2019 and due to COVID19, there was no information for 2020.

Even though there have been several challenges in data collection in Yemen in recent years. The most plausible hypothesis, however, is that there is a misinterpretation of what a "household" and its ‘household head’ meanings. This misinterpretation’s dimensions are the result of (01) poorly constructed data collecting instruments, (02) rapid data collection in emergency situations, (03) enumerator’s bias and abuse, and (04) interviewees' apprehensions. Subsequently, emphasizing the most essential dimension, the interviewees, who are the internally displaced women and girls. It is consequently an ethical obligation to properly understand the apprehensions of the displaced women and children to secure accurate information on the household and its head.

The misinterpretation and apprehensions extend beyond the domains that follow: (01) social stigma and patriarchal society prohibit women from being represented in public; simply a Yemeni female is just a passive member of society, (02) safety and protection concerns such as sexual exploitation and gender-based violence. (03) host communities' contempt of women leading households, and (04) domestic violence if a woman is being the household's breadwinners and providers. These are the primary triggers of information that is ultimately based on estimates and is therefore fundamentally inaccurate. This explains why there are disproportionately significant proportions of men leading households meanwhile the actual majority of those displaced are women and children.

The aforementioned findings conclude that the impact of these attempts goes beyond the following: (01) absence of factual information about the impact of previous humanitarian programs on the community, particularly with respect to the displaced women and children; (02) absence of factual participation from women and girls in the program design process, particularly when it comes to the internally displaced people; (03) absence of factual information around the composition of beneficiary households; (04) absence of factual evidence of growth in these communities, and (05) absence of lucid information about the proportion funding allocated to beneficiaries and specifically to displaced women and girls, indicating a deeper awareness of the vulnerability of this group within the displaced community.

Result Three: Dictates of Sociocultural Customs and Absence of Women's Role in Leadership!

“Yemen’s social divide between genders is fortified with systemic and institutionalized discrimination”, says the UNOCHA HNO 2023 report[9].

No full attention has been paid to the participation of the internally displaced women in leadership. Of course, IDP men are nominated as the community heads of their community. The invisibility of the IDP women's role in leadership exacerbated the crisis in a community that does not give any permission to discuss women rights. It's indeed a complex issue that affects the lives and growth opportunities of the internally displaced women and girls. This topic can be explored through various humanitarian project reports, which provide insights into the challenges faced by women and girls in Yemen and shed light on the sociocultural customs and gender dynamics that contribute to their marginalization. 

Yemen socio-cultural norms restricts any sort of interactions between both genders, from religious perspective. Vulnerability and marginalization are present when it comes to decision-making participation and protection service accessibility. The conflict has curtailed women's already limited role[10]. The socio-culture norms designed specific roles and responsibilities of both men and women, in addition to further restrictions on certain job categories for women. Nevertheless, currently, a one can note that there is a woman almost in every job category. This is fortunately that Yemen has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) on 30May1984 and the Convention on the Rights of the Child on 01May1991. These treaties led to Yemen presenting more opportunities for women in several sectors, such as education, and healthcare provision. Despite these opportunities, women teachers are only allowed to teach children, women medical and healthcare personnel are mainly responsible to interact and treat female patients, and so on.

Yet, “the death of male relatives, when men are usually the primary breadwinners in Yemeni families, increases economic pressure, especially for female-headed households. The pressure is even more intense in cases where women or girls suddenly find themselves responsible for providing for their families but have been deprived of basic education or vocational training that would prepare them for the labor market”, says the UNOCHA HNO 2019 report[11]. 

The restrictions on women and girls in Yemen are not limited to the right of education, or the right to create a job career and/or business, or the right to access services[12], among other forbidden rights. Then, one could fall into misery while wondering displaced and marginalized women and girls. Therefore, what are gender-sensitive programming is happening on ground and is it trying to address gender powers via employing social constructivism to understand the restrictions?!      

These disproportionate restrictions on Yemeni women are the result of social constructivism and male mentality, not any particular religious viewpoint. The perception held by society as a whole of displaced women as weak people A key component of the processes that exclude the displaced woman from decision-making is to treat her as a vulnerable member of society, since patriarchal society forbids any discussion or exchange of ideas with her. Furthermore, gender roles are frequently prescribed by social and cultural norms, which also restrict the participation of displaced women in these activities. Women are expected to adhere to traditional gender norms in societies like Yemen, which restricts their involvement in public affairs.

Result One Recommendation 1: Promote Awareness and Education

To address discrimination and promote peaceful coexistence, it is crucial to raise awareness and educate communities about the importance of mutual respect and collaboration. Conducting workshops and awareness campaigns can help in fostering understanding and empathy among different ethnic and religious groups. By promoting education and highlighting the negative impacts of discrimination, communities can work towards creating a more harmonious and socially inclusive environment.

Result One Recommendation 2: Address Socioeconomic Disparities

To tackle discrimination, it is essential to address socioeconomic disparities that contribute to marginalization and unequal treatment. Providing economic opportunities and access to basic services can help in reducing social exclusion and promoting equality. Efforts should be made to create inclusive economic policies and programs that benefit all members of the community, regardless of their socioeconomic background. By addressing these disparities, communities can work towards a more equitable and harmonious society.

Result Two Recommendation 1: Improve Data Collection and Analysis

To address the misinterpretation of the concept of 'household' and its implications for gender-sensitive programming, it is crucial to improve data collection and analysis methods. This can be achieved by developing clear and comprehensive data collection instruments that accurately capture the diverse realities of households in Yemen. Additionally, training enumerators to minimize bias and abuse, and ensuring proper supervision during data collection can help enhance the quality and reliability of the data. By improving data collection and analysis, a more accurate understanding of gender dynamics within households can be achieved, leading to more effective and targeted interventions.

Result Two Recommendation 2: Promote Gender Sensitivity and Awareness

To address the challenges faced by internally displaced women and girls in Yemen, it is essential to promote gender sensitivity and awareness among stakeholders involved in humanitarian interventions. This can be done through targeted training programs and workshops that aim to increase understanding of gender norms, power dynamics, and the impact of social interactions on gender equality. By raising awareness about the importance of gender-sensitive programming and challenging societal norms that perpetuate discrimination and marginalization, stakeholders can work towards creating an inclusive and empowering environment for internally displaced women and girls.

Result Three Recommendation 1: Promote Gender-Inclusive Leadership

To address the absence of women's role in leadership, it is crucial to promote gender-inclusive leadership in Yemen. This can be achieved by implementing policies and initiatives that encourage the meaningful participation of internally displaced women in decision-making processes. Providing training and capacity-building programs specifically tailored for women can help empower them to take on leadership roles and contribute to the development and growth of their communities.

Result Three Recommendation 2: Raise Awareness and Challenge Sociocultural Norms

To challenge the sociocultural customs that restrict women's participation in leadership, it is essential to raise awareness about gender equality and women's rights. This can be done through targeted awareness campaigns, workshops, and community dialogues that engage both men and women. By challenging existing norms and promoting a more inclusive and equitable society, it will be possible to create an environment where women's leadership is valued and respected.