By: Eileen Adams
International action toward gender equality is a relatively new phenomenon, and its position as a target of specific development policies is even newer. As nations first attempted to come to terms with changing structures of gender, controversy erupted over how far international policy can go to promote development. Since the recognition of “gender equality” as a Millennium Development Goal (MDG), however, opposition has become mere historical dialogue, with controversy superficially replaced by the “consensus” that gender equality was a universal right that could be obtained through targeted reforms in educational, political, and economic representation.
This paper strives to continue the dialogue, doing so within the setting of Yemen, where persistent obstacles to MDG-defined gender parity suggest that the current methodology of gender policy is not working. Rather than adjusting to the unique cultural context of Yemen, this MDG seeks to overlay a Western perspective where one is not applicable. Gender policy must be malleable when addressing questions of what true gender equality is, how success is reached, and who really benefits from reform. Discourse thus far has only narrowly addressed these questions using the Western frame; however, this paper argues that our current understandings of equity are not universal and can no longer be applied as such. In order to move discussion forward, this paper will analyze the elaborately segregated Yemeni context and approach gender from the perspective of those closest to the issue: Yemeni women themselves.