In Kuwait, too many women are scorned

In Kuwait, too many women are scorned

By Souheila Al-Jaada
Commentary by
Monday, May 09, 2005

Written on huge banners canvassing hundreds of town hall meetings organized by Islamists all across Kuwait is the following statement: "According to Islamic Sharia, women do not have political rights." This is part of a concerted effort by Muslim conservatives to stem a potential wave of reform in the country after Parliament, in a first round of voting, passed a bill granting women the right to vote and run in municipal elections.

The Islamists' plan worked. In the second round of voting in the middle of last week, the reform-minded government, which wrote the legislation, could not muster the majority votes needed to pass the bill. So, the Kuwaiti Parliament decided to delay consideration of the law and the government has now agreed to submit a new elections bill without a clause allowing women to vote.

This budding democratic process in Kuwait should be applauded, despite the fact that women's suffrage was rejected as result of Islamist political maneuvering. But what is disturbing about what happened is that Islamic conservatives are now sacrificing their own religion in order to win political battles and maintain traditions unrelated to Islam.

By holding their town hall meetings, conservative groups manipulated Islamic law, or Sharia, to persuade the public and legislators that giving women political rights was anti-Islamic. This came in response to the Kuwaiti government's launch of a major public relations campaign in support of the draft law. The government has come under greater pressure from Western countries to implement democratic reforms.

Ironically, in an interview with MBC television, the chairman of the Kuwaiti Parliament's human rights committee, Walid Tubtabi, came out against giving women their full political rights. "Islamic Sharia only allows men to govern a state. Despite this, we believe that women have the right to vote for candidates, and choose representatives," Tubtabi said. "She has the right to criticize, to oppose and to give her opinion, according to the Sharia. But we are against them running in the Parliament."

However, more moderate officials hold a different view. Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmed Fahd has spoken in favor of the law. "It's time for citizenship to be uniform and for Kuwait to play its role in providing democracy and freedom to women." he said.

Hundreds of Kuwaiti women stormed the Parliament last month to attend the debate on the bill. Outside the building, others held demonstrations demanding their rights and holding banners that read, "Women's Rights Now" and "Women are Kuwaiti too." Yet as the polemics continued, it seemed that the women who would be most affected by this law had, until recently, remained on the sidelines of the political debate, according to political activist, Nada al-Matwaa. "We are trying to influence some people," Matwaa told Abu Dhabi TV. "Some members of Kuwaiti craft and women's associations are working, but they should be doing more."

In 1963, Kuwait passed a law banning women from voting in elections, despite the fact that the country's Constitution prohibits discrimination based on gender. The state is also a party to the international human rights convention and the convention against all forms of discrimination against women. Sadly, it has not put these laws into practice.

According to Fatima Alabdaly, a Kuwaiti political activist, the Parliament is violating both Islamic law and the country's Constitution. "Islamic fatwas confirm that women have a duty to do good and forbid evil, which women would be doing as members of the Parliament," Alabdaly said on MBC TV. "The Kuwaiti Constitution has 183 articles. In all these articles, there is no distinction between men and women. Thus, it is our right. The current Parliament is in violation of its own Constitution."

Alabdaly says that more than 70 percent of Kuwaiti college graduates are women, and they make up more than 40 percent of the work force.

Past attempts to bring the issue to a vote in Parliament have all failed. In 1999, a draft bill to allow women's suffrage died in the legislature due to local and religious pressures. But in 2005, the drum beats of reform seem to be ringing louder in the Middle East. However, it is difficult for women to convince those in their own conservative environments - husbands, fathers, brothers and sisters - that Islam grants them political rights, particularly when the women are suspected of having been corrupted by Western liberalism.

Since Islam was revealed, many women have played important leading roles in political, economic, military and social affairs in their communities. The Koran underscores the duty for both sexes to serve society when it states: "And the Believers, men and women are protecting friends to one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong." Many Islamic scholars, for example Sheikh Yusuf al-Qardawi, have stated that women must be granted political rights.

However, in Kuwait, Muslim men (as well as many women) have forgotten their rich history of respecting and honoring women for their contributions. Tubtabi was triumphant this week in Parliament: "This is a victory for Kuwaiti women against those who were trying to shove Kuwaiti women into politics ... What Kuwaiti women need are higher salaries and job equality, not participation in municipal or other elections."

But Matwaa disagreed, arguing that Kuwaiti women demand human rights in general. "Of course we all want higher pay, but not at the expense of the women's suffrage law." She remains optimistic, however, expecting that Kuwaiti women will be voting and running as candidates in the next elections in 2007. In the coming years, one can only hope that future attempts to grant women their political rights will succeed and that Kuwaiti women will finally regain their full rights according to the teachings of Islam.

Souheila Al-Jadda is a journalist and associate producer of a Peabody award-winning program, "Mosaic: World News from the Middle East" on Link TV. She wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.