Unfinished revolution

The Arab Spring gave Yemen’s women a public voice and a visible face. But now the revolution has faded without changing anything for millions who are married too young and shut away in mud huts for the rest of their lives, writes Janine di Giovanni

THE drive from Hodeida, the fourth-largest city in Yemen, to the Hays district takes about three hours by road through flat, barren, and decidedly desolate countryside. Hodeida is not a modern place, but travelling into the hinterland is like a voyage back to medieval times.

Women were very much part of last year’s Arab Spring, but it is as though that never happened. Here, there are no women on the streets, no women shopping in the souk. And there are no women in the area’s few restaurants; just men, chewing mildly narcotic khat leaves, drinking black tea, and eating chicken served on tin plates. When I finally catch a glimpse of two women shrouded in black veils, abayas, and black gloves to cover the flesh of their hands, they hurry away as if desperate to get out of sight as quickly as possible.