After almost ten years of war, economic collapse and a deepening humanitarian crisis, Yemen is witnessing a fast-growing social trend. A large number of young women now view marriage to wealthy and foreign men as the easiest path out of the country and into a better life. Yet for many of them, that hope has turned out to be less a fairy tale and more a painful experience.
The story of 29-year-old Mona captures this reality. She was first married to a young Yemeni man, but after five years of grinding poverty and daily hardship she chose to get a divorce. Mona says things had become so difficult that she could not even afford to buy milk for her child. It was then that she decided she would only marry again if her next husband was financially secure.
Some time later, a woman she knew introduced her to a wealthy Emirati man. He was already married and wanted to keep the relationship secret. Despite these conditions, Mona accepted the proposal. She received a mehr of 10,000 dollars and the marriage took place in Egypt. She now lives there and says her husband not only covers all of her expenses but also provides financial support to her family.
But not every story ends so comfortably. Hoping for a better life, 22-year-old Noha married a foreign man holding an American passport, with the wedding taking place in Egypt. At first she believed her fortunes would change, but within just a few days of the marriage she realised that her husband treated her not as a wife but as an object. Noha alleges that the man marries several young girls every year and divorces them after a short while. Eventually her father brought her back to Yemen. She now warns other girls to stay away from such marriages.
Young women no longer see a safe future in Yemen
Twenty-year-old Mariam also believes her future is not secure in Yemen. She says that if she finds a good and capable partner, whether Yemeni or foreign, she would marry and settle outside the country. In her view, women have just as much right to a better life as men do.
Economic compulsion at the root, experts sound a warning
Sociologist Naif Nooruddin points to the deeper cause behind this trend. According to him, most of the girls who marry foreign men come from financially weak or broken families. He says many of these foreign men enter into temporary marriages and leave after a few months by divorcing their wives. Nooruddin warned that in such cases women end up suffering both emotional and social harm. He believes there is an urgent need to raise awareness in society about international marriages, so that no woman makes such a major decision purely out of economic desperation.
