Pioneers or Pawns?

Using the Hodeida Urban Primary Health Care Project as a case study, Marina de Regt offers a fascinating analysis of how development policies of the state interconnect with agendas of global donor organizations and the employment of women in the face of social disapproval and barriers to advancement. She demonstrates women's positive impact on the complex workings of Yemeni health institutions. Her highly accessible writing blends keen observations steeped in personal experience with a thorough grounding in the theoretical literature. Through interviews and the experience of working directly with the women she writes about, de Regt gives voice to her subjects and offers an extraordinary portrait of the lives, emotions, and work of women dedicated to healing in a time of great political change. This vitally important work not only challenges preconceived notions about how health care is distributed in the Middle East but also questions the way women participate, facilitate, and resist the political change around them.