Women in Somalia
Women in Somalia form a key part of Somali society, with clearly defined and important roles in the family and structure.
[1][2] From the time of Ismail Urwayni's proselytizing in 1890, until the Dervish State's defeat by British air bombardment in 1920, women in the strip of land from Jidali, Sanaag in the north, to Beledweyne in the south were referred to as Darawiishaad (plural) or Darwiishad (singular).
[8] At the same time, Somali culture has traditionally operated as a patriarchy, where men made the majority of financial and family decisions, and dominated the public sphere.
[10] The Family Law of 1975 gave equal rights to women and men regarding marriage, divorce, and inheritance of property and restricted polygamy.
[13] In 1975, the most prominent government reforms regarding family law in a Muslim country were set in motion in the Somali Democratic Republic, which put women and men, including husbands and wives, on complete equal footing.
[15] During regular, day-to-day activities, women in Somalia usually wear the guntiino, a long stretch of cloth tied over the shoulder and draped around the waist.
[16] During regular, day-to-day activities, Somali women usually wear the guntiino, a long stretch of cloth tied over the shoulder and draped around the waist.
In more formal settings such as weddings or religious celebrations like Eid, women wear the dirac, which is a long, light, diaphanous voile dress made of cotton or polyester that is worn over a full-length half-slip and a brassiere.
Married women tend to sport head-scarves referred to as shash, and also often cover their upper body with a shawl known as garbasaar.
[17] For more formal settings such as weddings or religious celebrations like Eid, women wear the dirac, a long, light, diaphanous voile dress made of cotton, polyester or saree fabric.
[citation needed] Married women tend to sport head-scarves referred to as shash, and also often cover their upper body with a shawl known as garbasaar.
Several well-developed Somali forms of verse include the female-driven buraanbur, as well as gabay, jiifto, geeraar, wiglo, beercade, afarey and guuraw.
Poems revolve around several main themes, including baroorodiiq (elegy), amaan (praise), jacayl (romance), guhaadin (diatribe), digasho (gloating) and guubaabo (guidance).
In 2013, UNICEF in conjunction with the Somali authorities reported that the FGM prevalence rate among 1- to 14-year-old girls in the autonomous northern Puntland and Somaliland regions had dropped to 25% following a social and religious awareness campaign.
[2] In southern Somalia, in Jubaland, Minister for Women, Adar Ismail Jurati, led a consultative meeting in 2022 with government officials and people who perform female gential mutilation (FGM) with a view to stopping the practice in the Kismayo area.
