Lawmakers seek to bar Kuwaiti women from becoming judges

Manama: Five Kuwaiti lawmakers are pushing for barring women from becoming judges under an amendment of the relevant legislation.

MPs Khalid Al Sultan, Ammar Al Ajmi, Abdul Lateef Al Umair, Nayef Al Mirdas and Mohammad Al Kindari said in their proposal to the parliament that the law should be amended to specify that judges should be only men.

The current law stipulates that judges in Kuwait have to be Muslims, but does not refer to their gender.

“We are concerned that the law article as it stands now allows women to become judges, and this is a matter of grave reservation and doubts,” the motion said, lcaol Arabic daily Al Rai reported.

Several Islamists oppose allowing women to become judges, arguing that their decisions can be clouded by their strong emotions.

However, local activists have called for the appointment of women to the judiciary, arguing that neither Islam nor Kuwaiti law barred women from being appointed judges.

Salma Al Ajmi, a women’s rights activist and a lawyer, said in 2010 that Kuwait’s law stated that job of a judge was an entirely technical and professional matter.