Sumaya Ali Raja (born c.1954) is a Yemeni journalist and political activist.Betsy Hiel

''Pittsburgh Tribune'', March 12, 2006. In December 2005 she became the first woman to announce herself as a candidate for the Presidency of Yemen.

Life

Ali Raja grew up in

Taiz Taiz () is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni highlands, near the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate. As of 2023, the city has an estimated p ...

, in a family of seven children. Her father encouraged her and her three sisters to break with taboos and appear in public unveiled. After some education in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, she followed her sisters aged 14 to study at a

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

high school, and on to study

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

Southwest Missouri State Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

and

broadcast journalism Broadcast journalism is the field of news and journals which are broadcast by electronic methods instead of the older methods, such as printed newspapers and posters. It works on radio (via air, cable, and Internet), television (via air, cable, ...

at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

. In the late 1970s she and her sister Jamila were among the first female TV newscasters in Yemen. She later lived in England, doing consultancy work for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

. She married and brought up two children in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

she created and ran the Yemen-French Forum to help explain Yemen to French policy-makers. Following her divorce, she returned to live in Yemen. Ali Raja announced her candidacy at an Arab women's conference, 'From Words to Actions', held in

Sana'a Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

in December 2005. She was later joined by Rashida al-Qaili who was a satirical journalist who also stood for president. In January 2007 she announced her intention to established a liberal political party, Al Bushra Party, "to achieve equality between men and women, preserve heritage, and enhance the rights of children".Nasser Arrabyee
'Good omen' for Yemeni women
January 13, 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raja, Sumaya Ali 1965 births Living people University of Kansas alumni Yemeni women's rights activists Liberalism in the Arab world