“While my hair was styled for the ceremony, I thought of ways to set fire to my wedding dress.”
In a world where little girls should be dreaming of school vacations and playground laughter, 12-year-old Reem Al Numery of Yemen was being prepared for her wedding. Not to a classmate. Not to someone she loved. But to her 30-year-old cousin.
It was June 2008. Reem, only a child, found herself shackled in a nightmare she couldn’t escape. Her resistance was met with cruelty—gagged, tied up, and forced to comply with a marriage she did not choose. What followed were moments too horrific for any child to endure. When Reem refused to submit, her so-called husband forced himself on her, leaving behind bruises and a broken spirit.
But even in those darkest hours, a spark of defiance lived in Reem. She tried to take her own life—twice—thinking it was the only way out. Yet, each time, she survived. Each time, she rose.
Reem is one of the brave few who refused to be silenced. Alongside other young Yemeni girls like Nujood Al Ahdel—the ten-year-old who walked into a courtroom and demanded a divorce—Reem’s courage lit the fire of a movement. A generation of girls began saying “no” to forced marriages, even at the risk of violence and death.
But Reem’s path is even more complex. Her father refused to grant her a divorce, and the court ruled that she must stay married until she turns 15. Despite the abuse, despite the trauma, the system left her legally tied to the very man who violated her.
“My dad said he’ll kill me for defying him,” Reem told reporters. “But I want to go back to school.”
Her lawyer—who also represented Nujood—sees the heartbreaking duality in Reem. “Sometimes she just wants to play and enjoy life like a young girl, and other times she is talking like a mature woman who has been married for years,” he told the Yemen Times. “This marriage experience has made her neither a girl nor a woman.”
Even today, Reem lives in a legal and emotional limbo. Yemeni law, shaped by poverty, tradition, and patriarchal control, offers little protection. Even as the legal age of marriage was raised to 17, enforcement remains hollow, and exceptions still steal away the childhoods of girls like Reem.
But Reem’s voice—trembling but unwavering—echoes far beyond Yemen. Her defiance challenges more than just her family or community. It challenges an entire system that values obedience over justice, silence over survival.
At Womanias, we honor Reem Al Numery—not just for surviving—but for daring to speak, for choosing life, and for reminding the world that a girl’s worth is never measured by her obedience, but by her courage.
