DrBenway
29th March 2003, 03:19 PM
Kuwait: Demands for votes for women
In an overview of the current state of affairs for women in Kuwait, Rola Dashti, chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of FARO International, a Kuwaiti financial-services consulting, says that, unlike women in all but two other Arab states, Kuwaiti women can neither vote nor run for political office, despite having one of the highest literacy rates in the region. Thus, she notes, Kuwaiti women have no say in such important societal matters as reform, economics and war; they are forbidden by law from participating in the development of their own country.
Dr. Farida Al-Habib, the Chief of Cardiology at Kuwait Armed Forces Hospital stressed that Kuwait females now serve their society as journalists, editors, doctors, important board members, and a female ambassador. "Women have more of a role to play than simply to cook and clean for men," she said. "We are here to contribute to society," she continued, pointing out the irony of her own situation: her job requires her to enter the "small veins and arteries in the hearts of men" to unclog the blockage, yet they "block me from voting."
The Emir of Kuwait issued a royal decree giving women complete political rights by the year 2003, but the measure was defeated by a 32-30 vote in the Kuwaiti Parliament. The opposition argued that suffrage went against the tenets of Islam and tradition.
http://www.secularislam.org/women/bulletin12.htm
In an overview of the current state of affairs for women in Kuwait, Rola Dashti, chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of FARO International, a Kuwaiti financial-services consulting, says that, unlike women in all but two other Arab states, Kuwaiti women can neither vote nor run for political office, despite having one of the highest literacy rates in the region. Thus, she notes, Kuwaiti women have no say in such important societal matters as reform, economics and war; they are forbidden by law from participating in the development of their own country.
Dr. Farida Al-Habib, the Chief of Cardiology at Kuwait Armed Forces Hospital stressed that Kuwait females now serve their society as journalists, editors, doctors, important board members, and a female ambassador. "Women have more of a role to play than simply to cook and clean for men," she said. "We are here to contribute to society," she continued, pointing out the irony of her own situation: her job requires her to enter the "small veins and arteries in the hearts of men" to unclog the blockage, yet they "block me from voting."
The Emir of Kuwait issued a royal decree giving women complete political rights by the year 2003, but the measure was defeated by a 32-30 vote in the Kuwaiti Parliament. The opposition argued that suffrage went against the tenets of Islam and tradition.
http://www.secularislam.org/women/bulletin12.htm