Kuwait Parliament approves women's rights

[-Serenity-]

Kuwait Parliament approves women's rights

(AP)

 

17 May 2005

 

 

KUWAIT CITY - Parliament passed a law allowing women to vote and run for public office for the first time in the country�s history. However, Islamists who have foiled past suffrage attempts introduced a restrictive article that required future female politicians and voters to abide by Islamic law.

 

It was not clear whether that meant a strict dress code or just separate polling stations and election campaigns. Some of the women activists who ululated and sang the national anthem after the 35-23 vote Monday expressed concern about the vague restrictions, but others refused to let it dampen their joy.

 

"I am overexcited. I can�t believe this," said activist Rola Dashti, who said she would run in the next parliamentary elections in 2007. The US-educated economist said the clause probably meant separate polling stations and not an imposition of a strict Islamic dress code that allows only women�s face, hands, and feet to show.

 

"I am happy but I fear those Islamic law controls," said Nada al-Muttawa, a political science teacher at Kuwait University, dressed in a smart pantsuit. "I hope they are talking about separate ballot boxes and not the imposition of Islamic dress ... which infringes on personal freedoms."

 

Conservatives called the government's move a 'bombshell' and accused it of giving in to foreign pressure. They believe women's participation contradicts Islam's teachings and complain that it would allow women to mix with men freely.

 

Fundamentalist lawmaker Nasser al-Saneh, who voted against the bill, said he respected the house's decision but hoped it did not come as a result of government pressure that changed the position of many.

 

In an effort to win over some suffrage opponents, earlier Monday the Cabinet approved a pay hike proposed by lawmakers to Kuwaiti employees and pensioners, at a cost of some 130 million dinars (US$445 million) a year.

 

The vote took Muslim fundamentalist and tribal lawmakers by surprise when it was called for by the Cabinet. Lawmakers had expected to discuss a controversial vote on a law that could have opened the door for women to participate in the 2009 elections for a partially elected municipal council.

 

The Cabinet instead insisted on a vote for the women's rights bill it introduced a year ago. The bill amends the country's 1962 election law that has kept women out of the political scene for more than four decades.

 

The new law came six years to the day after the emir, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, granted women their political rights in a decree that was later overturned by lawmakers because it was issued in the absence of the house.

 

Shortly after, Parliament squashed an identical suffrage bill proposed by westernized liberal lawmakers.

 

The Prime Minister, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, congratulated women on their rights and said they can now be appointed to the Cabinet.

 

In Washington, state department spokesman Richard Boucher called the move 'an important step forward for the women of Kuwait and for the nation as a whole. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also welcomed approval of the law and congratulated the people of Kuwait on this historic step,' U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said in New York.

 

Kuwaiti women have reached high positions in oil, education and the diplomatic corps, but few demand political rights. Monday's vote can raise the number of eligible voters in the country to 339,00, from 139,000 depending on how many decide to practice the new rights. The number of Kuwaitis is estimated at more than 960,000.

 

The same rules that apply to men voters - at least 21 years of age and not a member of the police and military - will now apply to women. Candidates must be at least 30 years old.

 

Women can now vote in all Middle Eastern nations where elections are held except Saudi Arabia. The Gulf nations of Bahrain, Qatar and Oman all had their first elections in recent years and have allowed women to cast ballots.

 

Source

 

What do you guys think? Positive/negetive move?

[Johnny B]

This is 200 centuries too late !!

The arabs have redefined women for good.

 

Here is your prime minster

[Rahima]

It’s sad really, that Muslim women have to fight for a god-given right.

 

I don’t know about the rest of the media across the world, but here it was an Islam-bashing field day.