Various cultural and religious beliefs about the role of women in society has contributed to high gender equality levels in Yemen. However, it is important to note that the enrollment of girls in primary schools, although lower than that of boys, is still high. The gender disparity in education begins to climb at the secondary school and college levels. This is because poverty forces many families to pull their girls from schools with increasing costs. There is also lack of awareness for the significance of the education of girls. Another reason for this disparity is that girls often get married and pregnant at an early age, thus limiting their participation in school. In Yemeni culture, a woman’s role is usually reserved for tasks around the house and take no part in the financial transactions of the family. Gender equality is also seen on the national level with women only holding 1 out of the 301 seats (0.3%) in the lower house of parliament and 2 out of the 111 seats (1.8%) in the upper house. It is for these reasons why Yemen was ranked 83 out of 86 in the 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index. Unfortunately, Yemen will not achieve this millennium development goal by 2015 since these social and political trends will likely persist for many decades to come. The government need to take bold steps to diversifying the political system to include more women.