Gulf | Kuwait
Fact file: Kuwait's first women lawmakers
Women have won four seats in Kuwait's parliament, the first to do so in the Gulf Arab state's history. Here are some facts about Kuwait's first women lawmakers.
- Agencies
- Published: 13:26 May 17, 2009
- Image Credit: AP
- Born in 1969, US-educated Aseel Al Awadhi is a professor of philosophy at Kuwait University.
Kuwait: Women have won four seats in Kuwait's parliament, the first to do so in the Gulf Arab state's history.
Here are some facts about Kuwait's first women lawmakers:
Massouma Al Mubarak: The US-educated university professor made history by becoming Kuwait's first woman minister in 2005.
Mubarak spent a year as Planning Minister before being appointed Transport Minister in 2006 and Health Minister a year later.
She stepped down in 2007, bowing to pressure mainly from Islamist deputies over her handling of a hospital fire.
Rola Dashti: The US-educated economist is a leading women's rights activist and advocate of democratic and economic reforms.
Dashti was the first woman elected to chair the Kuwaiti Economic Society.
She holds a doctorate in Population Economics from Johns Hopkins University and was listed among the 20 most prominent Arab women by the Financial Times last year.
Dashti is also a member of Kuwait's supreme planning council and has worked as a consultant for the World Bank. She ran in both the 2006 and 2008 elections but failed to win a seat.
Aseel Al Awadhi: Born in 1969, US-educated Al Awadhi is a professor of philosophy at Kuwait University.
She ran in the 2008 elections, teaming up with the National Democratic Alliance parliamentary bloc, and came 11th, just one place behind the 10 candidates who won seats in her constituency. She ran as an independent this year.
Salwa Al Jassar: A professor of education at Kuwait University, US-educated Al Jassar is also a leading women's rights activist and chair of the non-governmental Women's Empowerment Center.
Al Jassar also ran unsuccessfully in the 2008 election.
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