Focus on Yemen | Social Attitudes Toward Women Topic Brief
Before conducting the SWMENA survey, NGOs in Yemen that work on several aspects of women’s issues completed a short survey to identify their data needs. One of the main challenges identified by these groups is the stereotypical view of women’s image in Yemen in terms of their role in family and society. These groups identified the conservative or male-dominated mentality that restricts a woman’s role to marriage, child-bearing, and serving the husband and the family as one of the main issues facing women in Yemen.
Consequently, we introduced a series of questions in the SWMENA survey to gauge social attitudes toward women. To get a sense of these attitudes, we asked questions such as support for women in politics, support for daughters in politics, allowing women to work outside the home and pursue education, support/opposition for women involved in decision-making positions, and others. These questions give a sense of existing attitudes between groups in society such as between genders and between women of urban/rural areas, education levels, and age groups.
Opinions on Women’s Involvement in Politics & Decision-Making Positions
Survey data suggests that there is a fairly high level of support for women becoming involved in politics as candidates for office and is mostly the same between genders. Figure 1 shows that 64% of men and women each strongly/somewhat support women as political candidates. However, 12% more men than women oppose women as political candidates. One third of Yemeni men (35%) compared to 23% of Yemeni women strongly/somewhat oppose women as political candidates.
