Shada+Nasser

=Shada Nasser= by: St Mark's Senior Secondary School, Meera Bagh, New Delhi, India

Imagine being a young girl, one minute you’re imagination is running wild, you play through the gardens of your home, following butterflies through the grass. Suddenly you’re called into your home by the strong voice of your father or another male family member. You enter the house, and see the stern faces of your family, and one whom you don’t recognize. You’re unsure of yourself, unsure of what to expect. An uncle walks up to you, and tells you to go and meet your future husband. Your eyes flick to the face you didn’t recognize. He looks far older than you. You become scared, but you have no power over your situation. Your dowry has been paid and soon after, you find yourself, an eight year old girl, married to a forty year old man.

This is the situation that many Yemenis girls find themselves in, married before their time, and pulled from childhood all too soon. For hundreds of years, these girls had nobody to stand up for them and their rights. That is, until a strong female voice finally spoke up. Shadda Nasser has become a guardian for many of the young underage girls in Yemen who are married. Nasser was born in 1964, in Aden, South Yemen. When her father died at the age of nine, Shada moved to Prague where she studied law at Charles University. In 1989 she returned to Yemen, and a few years later established the first all female law office in Sanaa the capitol of Yemen. She became dedicated to the protection of the women in Yemen, and their rights.

Shada Nasser first came into the world-wide radar when she began working on the case of Najood Ali. Najood's case was one that spoke for so many situations in Yemen. A girl of nine married to a man thirty years old. Originally in marriage agreements, husbands are not allowed to touch their wives until they are sexually mature. This agreement is rarely enforced. Najood Ali was one of these cases. After a year of marriage to her thirty year old husband who beat and raped her daily, she finally went to Shada Nasser and pleaded with her for a divorce. Shada immediately set to work to help this little girl regain her control and freedom. After a long struggle, Najood became the youngest divorcee in the world.

After Ali's case Nasser was jointly honored with Najood at the Glamour women of the year award at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Since then, Shada Nasser has dedicated a huge chunk of her practice to helping underage brides escape from previously hopeless situations. Most all underage marriage cases she does pro bono.

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