We were speaking about female illiteracy and why girls drop out. One of the reasons is economic. In some areas in Yemen boys are given priority in education because the family believes that if it can afford to spend on one child, let it be the boy. But we started speaking about promoting education and we suggested that a certain project may be launched. We in Yemen believe that women are everything in our community and this applies to rural women.
Women are in charge of looking after children, after cattle, after agriculture and all that.
Women in rural areas are bread earners and they fetch water and they do everything. Our colleagues in more advanced democratic countries have to share with us in finding solutions. We are interested in finding economic solutions. We agree in principle that we are in the same boat but accordingly they have helpers alleviating economic burdens. This is important because if economic conditions continue to deteriorate, men's participation may be threatened, not only women's participation.