Raufa Hassan al-Sharki

{{Infobox person

|name = Raufa Hassan al-Sharki

|birth_name = Amatalrauf al-Sharki

|image = Amatalrauf "Raufa Hassan" al-Sharki died 2011.jpg

|birth_place = Sana'a, Yemen

|citizenship = Yemen|birth_date = 1958|death_date = April 27, 2011|known_for = Human rights and women's civil rights activism.

|death_place = Cairo}}Amatalrauf "Raufa Hassan" al-Sharki ({{Langx|ar|رؤوفة حسن}}; 1958 – April 27, 2011) was an educator, feminist{{Cite book|title = World Regional Geography Concepts|last = Pulsipher|first = Lydia Mihelic|publisher = W. H. Freeman and Company|year = 2009|isbn = 9781429223423

|location = New York|pages = 230–231|last2 = Pulsipher

|first2 = Alex}} and human rights activist from Yemen. She was a professor of mass media and the director of a Women's Studies Center at the University of Sana'a.{{Cite book|title = Arabian Nights and Daze: Living in Yemen with the Foreign Service|last = Wyatt|first = Susan Clough|publisher = New Academia Publishing|year = 2009|isbn = 9780982806128|pages = 226}} Al-Sharki was the first female journalist in Yemen{{Cite news|url = http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/04/201342113523354453.html|title = Safe Space for Art Strikes a Chord in Yemen|last = Adams|first = Gaar|date = 9 April 2013|work = Al Jazeera|access-date = 3 August 2015}} and wrote a regular newspaper column for many years.{{Cite web|url = http://afrahnasser.blogspot.ca/2011/04/yemen-lost-dr-raufa-hassan.html|title = Yemen Lost Dr. Raufa Hassan|date = 27 April 2011|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Afrah Nasser's Blog|last = Nasser|first = Afrah}}

Biography

Al-Sharki was born and raised in Sana'a, a town in old sana'a. Al-Sharki's activism started early. When she was twelve, she and seven of her friends walked to the house of the Prime Minister of Yemen, Abdullah al-Kurshumi.{{Cite news|url = http://www.yobserver.com/culture-and-society/10021143.html|title = Raufa Hassan, Precious Philanthropist Dies at 53|last = Al-Alaya|first = Zaid|date = 30 April 2011|work = The Yemen Observer|access-date = 3 August 2015|url-status = usurped|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110911003627/http://www.yobserver.com/culture-and-society/10021143.html|archive-date = 11 September 2011}} [http://www.inarchive.com/page/2011-07-18/http://www.yobserver.com/culture-and-society/10021143.html Alt URL] Once there, they requested better books for their schools of the same quality as the ones given to boys' schools in Yemen. Al-Kurshmi was impressed with their initiative and allowed them to attend school with boys, marking the first time co-education was permitted in Yemen. Al-Sharki also began working in radio when she was twelve, and this is when she changed her name from Amatalrauf to Raufa Hassan in order to disguise her identity.{{Cite book|title = Girls Who Rocked the World: Heroines From Joan of Arc to Mother Teresa|last = McCann|first = Michelle Roehm|publisher = Aladdin / Beyond Words|year = 2012|isbn = 9781582703619|pages = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781582703619/page/207 207–211]|chapter = Amatalrauf al-Sharki (Raufa Hassan)|last2 = Weldon|first2 = Amelie|chapter-url = http://mrsm1002.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/70347364/Raufa%20Hassan.pdf|access-date = 3 August 2015|url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781582703619/page/207}} She did this because while she had the support of her mother in her paid work at the radio, her father would not have supported her. Later, when he found out, he relented and she kept her radio show. While in high school, she was also part of the Yemeni Women's Association (YWA), until it was shut down by religious conservatives in 1973. The YWA provided basic literacy, craft training and radio broadcast training.{{Cite web|url = http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/bleak-future-yemens-female-leaders|title = A Bleak Future for Yemen's Female Leaders|date = 10 December 2012|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Al-Akbar|last = Nasser|first = Afrah}}

Al-Sharki graduated high school in 1975 and went on to Cairo University. She came back from school not wearing a niqab any longer.{{Cite web|url = http://www.patheos.com/blogs/mmw/2013/10/take-off-your-veil-to-rock-the-world/|title = Take Off Your Veil to Rock the World|date = 30 October 2013|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Muslimah Media Watch|publisher = Patheos}} In 1979, Al-Sharki reopening the YWA in Sana'a. In 1984, al-Sharki began to work with the Information Ministry in Yemen.{{Cite web|url = http://afrahnasser.blogspot.com/2011/04/dr-raufa-hassan-is-one-in-million.html|title = Dr. Raufa Hassan Is One In a Million|date = 29 April 2011|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Afrah Nasser's Blog|last = Nasser|first = Afrah}} Later, she received her Ph.D from University of Paris in 1991. In 1993, she ran for Parliament in the country's first democratic elections, though she didn't win.

Al-Sharki founded the Empirical Research and Women's Study Center (ERWS) at Sana'a University in 1996. In 1997, she was providing information about educating young women to various media outlets.{{Cite web|url = https://www.wrmea.org/1997-june-july/women-s-affairs-despite-illustrious-past-yemeni-women-suffer-discrimination.html|title = Despite Illustrious Past, Yemeni Women Suffer Discrimination|date = 1997|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Washington Report on Middle East Affairs|last = Metres|first = Katherine}} In 2000, conservative Islamists who were critical of the center, forced the Yemen government to close the center and Al-Sharki left Yemen for the Netherlands.{{Cite news|url = https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/gender-trouble-at-immoral-centre/152142.article|title = Gender trouble at 'immoral' centre|date = 16 June 2000|work = Times Higher Education|access-date = 3 August 2015}} There had been a fatwa issued on her.{{Cite web|url = http://foreignpolicyblogs.com/2011/05/05/remembering-raufa-hassan/|title = Remembering Raufa Hassan|date = 5 May 2011|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Foreign Policy Association|last = Foster|first = Stephenie}} She was also personally threatened and her telephone calls were monitored.{{Cite book|title = Mapping Arab Women's Movements: A Century of Transformations from Within|last = Nejib al-Ashtal|first = Amel|publisher = American University in Cairo Press|year = 2012|isbn = 9781617973536|location = Cairo|editor-last = Arenfeldt|editor-first = Pernille|editor-last2 = Al-Hassan Golley|editor-first2 = Nawar|chapter = A Long, Quiet, and Steady Struggle: The Women's Movement in Yemen}} Later, she returned to Yemen in 2004. She continued her work on the Cultural Development Planning Foundation (CDPF) which she started in the 1990s to support cultural projects in Yemen.

One of her goals was to help "women learn how to vote independently" and she once had the support of the Islamist Party in Yemen, Islah. She helped register women voters in Yemen and helped train women to run for office.{{Cite web|url = https://www.beloit.edu/residencies/weissberg/alsharki/|title = 2005–2006 – Raufa Hassan al-Sharki|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Beliot College}} Her organizations helped register "thousands of women to vote."{{Cite web|url = http://www.yemenpeaceproject.org/uncategorized/in-remembrance-dr-raufa-hassan-activist-professor-journalist/|title = In Remembrance: Dr. Raufa Hassan—Activist, Professor, Journalist|date = 27 April 2011|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = The Yemen Peace Project}} She also lobbied for freedom of the press and the need for women's rights.{{Cite news|url = http://nationalyemen.com/2014/03/08/death-stole-them-but-their-work-immortalized-them/|title = Death Stole Them But Their Work Immortalized Them|last = Al-Mohattwari|first = Asma|date = 8 March 2014|work = National Yemen|access-date = 3 August 2015}} Al-Sharki was very vocal during elections, demanding a quota for women in parliament in Yemen and organizing demonstrations by women for women's civil rights.{{Cite web|url = http://en.qantara.de/content/presidential-elections-in-yemen-the-first-real-election-campaign|title = The First Real Election Campaign|date = 2006|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Qantara|last = Heymach|first = Klaus|last2 = Sporrer|first2 = Susanne|others = Translated from German by Michael Lawton}} She believed that the status of women in Yemen could only be improved by creating a Yemeni women's movement. Another problem women faced, according to al-Sharki, was that many political decisions continued to be made by men in a patriarchal tribal system.{{Cite web|url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9iE81jWnRE|title = Raufa Hassan – Democracy in Yemen|date = 2005|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Cross Culture Film|publisher = YouTube|type = video}}

One of her projects archived dress codes and information about what political leaders in Yemen wore throughout history. In addition to clothing, she also collected flags and stamps from 1948 through 2004 for her 2005 Exhibition of State Dress and Codes of Identity. She continued to discuss clothing, especially how women wore it through history during seminars.{{Cite web|url = http://afrahnasser.blogspot.com/2010/07/yemeni-clothing-and-adornments-culture.html|title = Yemeni Clothing and Adornment's Culture a Work in Progress|date = 29 July 2010|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Afrah Nasser's Blog|last = Nasser|first = Afrah}}

In 2006, she held the position of the Weissberg Chair and was a visiting professor at Beloit College.{{Cite web|url = https://www.beloit.edu/weissberg/chair/alsharki/|title = Raufa Hassan Al-Sharki, 2005–06 Wessberg Chair|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Beloit College}}

Al-Sharki died in a hospital in Cairo in 2011{{Cite news|url = http://m-kibsi.blogspot.com/2012/04/in-memory-of-dr-raufa-hassan-professor.html?m=1|title = In Memory of Dr. Raufa Hassan, Professor of Media and Development|last = Al-Alaya'a|first = Zaid|date = 30 April 2012|work = Yemeni Reports and News by Majid al-Kibsi|access-date = 3 August 2015}} from cancer. Al-Sharki's legacy continues to inspire women and men in Yemen.{{Cite web|url = https://rajaalthaibani.wordpress.com/author/rajaalthaibani/page/4/|title = Yemeni Women, Leaders and Warriors: Including a note to all Islamophobes from one of the most Veiled Societies in the World|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Yemen on the Brink}}{{Cite web|url = http://afrahnasser.blogspot.com/2015/03/fail-better-yemeni-women.html|title = Fail Better, Yemeni Women!|date = 13 March 2015|access-date = 3 August 2015|website = Afrah Nasser's Blog|last = Nasser|first = Afrah}} In Sana'a, her sister, Taysir al-Sharki, opened the Raufa Hassan Gallery in honor of her memory.