Female political activists in Kuwait lose a battle, but Rasha Saad sees no peace deal in sight Monday 5 May was supposed to be doomsday for Kuwaiti women activists after their parliament effectively killed off a measure that would have allowed women to participate in municipal elections for the first time, delaying any further discussion of the issue until after the vote. The motion ended any chance that women will be able to vote or run in elections during at least the next four years until new elections are held. Kuwaiti newspapers covered the controversy extensively. Al-Qabas hailed a statement issued by women activists in reaction to the parliament's decision, accusing some ministers of taking part in a "conspiracy" against their political rights. The statement, signed by some 150 women activists, also said the government and pro- women MPs should now focus on approving a bill that amends the electoral law to allow women to vote and run in parliamentary elections. Al-Qabas described the statement as "a stone being thrown in still political waters" adding, "the political corruption [referred to in the statement] has almost killed their [women's] cause, deformed our democracy and defamed our constitution by violating its very soul which calls for equality among all citizens," the paper said. Al-Qabas' editorial said women are right if they believe in the existence of "an uncivilised conspiracy from government to prevent them from exercising their rights". "What happened puts the credibility of the government and its sincerity towards this issue at stake," the newspaper wrote. In the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat Mashar Al-Thaidi wrote that the political rights of Kuwaiti women had become a ball in the hands of their men folk. "It is strange that Kuwait, which began its constitutional journey in the sixties, is still waiting for the ripe circumstances to empower women." While strongly supporting the battle for women's rights, the writer asks which step should come first: women reaching parliament as a result of an already established social, economic, and cultural dynamic that culminates in granting them this political right, or being granted this right which in turn creates a new dynamic in the society. To explain his point, Al-Thaidi asks if Yemeni women, who are represented in parliament, reflect reality or is it just a cover-up for Yemenis to pretend they have women who practice their rights. Al-Thaidi concludes, "The ladder should end, not begin, with reaching parliament." Also in Al-Qabas Fawziya Abdel-Qader wondered how serious the government was about its support of women's rights. Not very serious, she claimed. "The government planted in us the belief that we can participate politically." Abdel-Qader was particularly critical of the Kuwaiti media and education policies which she argued had been brainwashing Kuwaitis for 40 years and ingraining in them the idea that "women are a disgrace" and that a woman's right to vote and stand in elections is forbidden by Islam. "Kuwaiti women will garner their rights only if the government seriously supports their rights and the information and education ministries highlight the important role women can play in parliament." Abdel-Qader was optimistic, vowing to carry on the battle until Kuwaiti women attain their full rights. Ghassan Al-Oteibi in Al-Qabas called on Kuwaiti women to be more positive in their battle for political rights. It has been six years since Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al- Sabah granted women their political rights but since then, Al-Oteibi wrote that Kuwaiti women have been begging and knocking on all the doors "of the bats of darkness, enemies of democracy and groups of customs and traditions". "I blame Kuwaiti women for failing to exert enough effort and sacrifice to get their cause heard by means other than begging," wrote Al- Oteibi, suggesting that women resort to strikes or sit-ins. "What will happen if all Kuwaiti women teachers decided not to go to work one day? I think if women went on strike for one day then all institutions will be paralysed and opponents of women will know how vital their role is in society." (Coincidentally, Al-Oteibi's article appeared on the same day, 9 May, that Kuwaiti women activists urged their compatriots to go on strike). On the same subject, headlines in the Kuwaiti Al-Ra'i Al-Am had, "A working day with no women mourning women's rights" and "A voice mail to society objecting to the fading light at the end of the tunnel." The following day there were no reports of the results of such urgings but Kuwaiti women activists expected their call for a strike to be taken seriously by about 50 per cent of women workers, approximately 20 per cent of the labour force in Kuwait. Lulwa Al-Mulla, a women's rights leader and secretary-general of the Kuwait Women's Cultural and Social Society, disclosed to Al-Ra'i Al-Am her fears that some women who will be absent from work might be "provoked" by male employees. Al-Mullah thus excused women who might not be able to strike. Khaled Al-Qahs found the activist call rather humorous. In the Kuwaiti Al-Watan, Al-Qahs wrote, "Go to work first then strike", an article in which he said he could not help but laugh when he read a circulating cellular message calling for Monday's strike. "The message should have called on Kuwaiti women to work for a change so that all those who deal with them would feel the sudden shift." Saudi writer Zeinab Hefni wrote in the London-based Al-Hayat that changing the situation many women find themselves in should be deep-rooted and must involve educational institutions. "This will nurture their respect for women as having a mind of their own and an independent entity and not a mere body created to seduce men." According to Hefni many of the dramatic situations women are facing at present are but the result of male culture, not legislation. She thus believes that hostility against women is not only aimed at reducing their participation in politics, but that it went further, to underestimating their thinking and neglecting their literature. "Unfortunately, male critics still underestimate what women can achieve. They justify their reluctance by pretending that women have no essential role in developing the course of history, thus should be considered non-existent."
