Manama: Kuwaiti women married to foreigners could be given houses by the government if a motion filed by MPs is endorsed.
The draft law motion calling upon the government to provide "appropriate" houses to all Kuwaiti women who are married to non-Kuwaiti men was endorsed by the parliament's Women's Committee and will be discussed by the MPs at a regular session.
According to the motion, widowed or divorced Kuwaiti women should also be entitled to a house from the government, Al Siyassah daily reported.
Under the current law, only Kuwaiti men, as heads of families, are given houses. However, the government, in a bid to enhance women's rights, is pushing for setting up a fund for women's houses to ensure that all Kuwaiti women have access to homes.
"The Women's Committee supports the government's move announced by Shaikh Ahmad Al Fahad, the state minister for development and housing, to set up the fund," MP Maasooma Al Mubarak, the head of the Women's Committee, said.
The committee is made up of the four women MPs who were elected to the parliament for the first time in May 2009. Earlier this month, it rejected a bill submitted by Mohammad Al Hayef, a conservative MP, calling for encouraging Kuwaiti women to resign from their jobs and stay home to look after their children for a monthly salary of KD 250 ($867) a month. Earlier bills from Al Hayef on giving women early retirement and paying them only half their salaries during maternity leave were also rejected by the Women's Committee.
"The motion goes against the spirit of empowering women at all levels to contribute to the development of the country. Children have never been an obstacle for mothers as they contribute to the nation," Maasooma said. "The parliament will hold an open day on March 8 coinciding with the International Day of Women to review women's rights."
Several conservative Kuwaitis have voiced their rejection of the bill allowing the government to give housing facilities to Kuwaiti women married to foreigners.
"Men are supposed to spend on their wives, and not the opposite. Thinking about reversing roles is really shameful," Wahed1, a blogger, commented.
"This call is simply part of a campaign to get re-elected. MPs should look at much more serious issues before thinking about caring for non-Kuwaitis. If a woman marries a non-Kuwaiti, then she should move with him to his country," wrote Insaf.
However, a blogger, under the name of Liberal, welcomed the move, saying that it would reinforce women's rights.
"Today, women have moved up the social, economic and political ladder and they deserve all the care they get and should get. None of us would like to see the rights of his wife, sister or daughter reduced or ignored. The same should apply to the other women as well," the blogger wrote.
