CONFLICT, CRISIS & CULTURE
Background: Yemen is a very conservative Muslim country, and it is rare for large groups of men and women to work in close proximity. However, within the U.S. Embassy in Yemen this was the norm. Finally, the overwhelming majority of Yemeni women wear either the niqab, hijab or khimar when in public.
Issue: The U.S. Embassy faced daily threats that ranged from conventional attacks to biological attacks. While conventional threats consumed a great deal of time and preparedness, there was a growing concern with respect to Chemical/Biological attacks. Our team was asked to spearhead emergency preparedness among the American and local Yemeni staff employed at the U.S. Embassy.
Insight: While the training was conducted in English, our team member also spoke and understood Arabic. Additionally, the team member had spent a significant amount of time in the Middle East. During the Chemical/Biological attack drills, the team member noticed that the normally diligent female Yemeni staff would always opt to bring their purses rather than decontamination towels.
It became clear that a culturally sensitive insight had been missed for years. Yemeni women would not follow decontamination procedures (removal of all clothes and jumping in the pool) in the event of a Chemical/Biological attack.
Our member reached out and spoke with various female local staff members and this theory was confirmed to be true. The reasoning behind their logic was understandable. They may or may not survive the Chemical/Biological attack, but their reputations within a conservative Muslim culture would never survive. They could not risk being naked in the company of men, regardless of the consequences.
Strategy: Cultural shifts in perspective do not happen overnight. We could not fight the full weight of Yemen's cultural history. However, we could try and blunt against it within our community. This special strategy involved our team preparing a non-traditional strategy in Arabic that would be implemented with the various Yemeni local staff at the U.S. Embassy.
Our team developed cogent arguments that utilized themes and ideas from the Koran about how preservation of life was a central tenet of Islam. We identified many local staff couples at the U.S. Embassy and privately discussed with them the end result of the prevailing ideology: namely that the husbands would lose their wives to death rather than suffer a "stain" on their reputation. This end result was in fact not what the husbands wanted and they agreed to spearhead the outreach campaign to the rest of the local male staff. Additionally, we recruited a Yemeni woman with advanced medical training to fully explain the ramifications of the Chemical/Biological attack. We also prepared special equipment that could be deployed during an attack that would provide vastly increased privacy for the Yemeni female staff.
Outcome: The sum total of all our actions when coupled with the credibility and respect built up with the entire Yemeni local staff was a driving force in the 180° shift in attitude and action during our subsequent Chemical/Biological emergency preparedness drills. Female Yemeni staffers fully participated in the procedures. Our internal data showed that they were prepared to follow decontamination procedures.
Our theory was put to the test when an incident occurred that prompted us to activate Chemical/Biological procedures. While it turned out to be a false alarm, we were thrilled that decontamination procedures were followed.