Women create history in Kuwait parliament

Ten years ago, on November 23, 1999, the women clustered in a reserved section of the gallery of the parliament felt terrible and let down after parliament rejected a decree by the Amir to give them the right to vote and run for office. They had hoped for a miracle, but it did not happen and the negative comments coupled with the thundering applause of the scores of men that welcomed the parliament’s decision was an ominous sign of the profound vacuum that lies ahead of them.

Liberals supporting women once more failed to break through the robust alliance between conservative MPs who overwhelmingly rejected the decree that would have allowed women to have a role in the country’s legislative body. “This is tragic. A parliament votes to limit democracy. What a farce!” said Roula Dashti, an activist then and an MP today.

For Rula and the other women in the gallery on that day and for their thousands of supporters, the battle was not over and they vowed to continue the fight to change people’s mindsets and remove doubts.

Today, on the tenth anniversary of the decree’s rejection, Kuwaiti women proudly hold their heads high. They have four women, all PhD holders, in the parliament who are invariably ready to prove to their fellow citizens and to the whole world that they can be dependable representatives of the people and successful guarantors of their rights. Two are Sunnis and two are Shiites. Two wear headscarves and two are unveiled. Their success story in May 2009 has made other women in the Gulf envious.

“I really envy women in Kuwait. They were brave and bold, showing an impressive high level of stamina and incredible abilities to withstand merciless onslaughts. Everybody thought that women in Bahrain would be the ones making history in the region with several female MPs sitting alongside their male peers to decide on legislative issues. But despite two elections, we have a lone woman in the lower house,” said Zamzam Ali, an office clerk in a Bahraini daily.

Amal Mohammad, a Bahraini teacher of Arabic, said that she had been happy with the performance of the women in the Kuwaiti parliament.

“They needed a lot of inner strength to face the formidable task of convincing scpetics in particular and people in general that they can be fulfill the expectations of those who had faith in them. But they never gave up or gave in, moving forward thanks to their cautious approach.

What they lacked in experience, they easily largely compensated for it with their wits and compassion for the common people,” she said.