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Sunday May 16, 11:15 PM

Kuwait Approves New Draft Law Giving Women the Vote

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's cabinet approved a draft law Sunday
allowing women to vote and run in parliamentary polls, moving them a
step closer to full political rights they have sought for decades in
the conservative Gulf Arab state.
"The council (of ministers) decided to approve the draft law and
transfer it to the Emir (Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah), God protect
him, in order to transfer it to the National ***embly (parliament),"
the cabinet said in a statement.

The draft needs parliament's approval to p*** as a law. A decree
issued by the emir giving women the vote was narrowly defeated in the
50-man house in 1999 by an alliance of Islamist and conservative
lawmakers.

Kuwaiti women have been fighting for suffrage for more than 40 years,
only to be blocked by Islamists and male politicians.

Kuwaiti women watched in frustration when the current parliament was
elected in July by an elite group of males who must be 21 years or
older and not recently naturalized or members of the armed forces.

The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the
emir's brother, has made clear since taking power in July it is
committed to pushing political and economic reforms in Kuwait, which
has one-tenth of global oil reserves.

U.S.-allied Kuwait says that pressing ahead with reforms is a top
priority as the country promotes itself as a modern
investment-friendly nation after the toppling in a U.S.-led war last
year of former occupier and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

However, the Islamist and conservative MPs, who wield big influence in
parliament, are opposed to Western influences and may prove to be a
stumbling block in the face of the new draft.

In its statement Sunday, the Kuwaiti cabinet said it approved a draft
law to amend article 1 of law No. 35 of 1962 regarding the election of
National ***embly members "within the context of the government's care
to widen popular participation in parliaments."

The amendment, it said, was done "in a way to allow the Kuwaiti woman
to practice her right in electing and running a candidate for the
National ***embly."

The move was "in appreciation for the vital role that the Kuwaiti
woman plays in building and developing Kuwaiti society, and her big
sacrifices and the responsible role she played in the face of all the
challenges that the country was subjected to throughout its history,"
added the statement.

Regarded by some as the most emancipated in the conservative Muslim
region, Kuwaiti women have had to sit back and watch their sisters in
other Gulf states -- like Qatar, Bahrain and Oman -- make modest
progress.

Women, who make up more than half of the 900,000 Kuwaitis, serve as
diplomats, run businesses and help steer the OPEC member state's vital
oil industry.

They constitute up to 70 percent of college graduates in Kuwait, but
account for less than five percent of the country's decision makers.
Some have moved up to mid-level public ranks, but none hold a top post
such as government minister.

The ball began rolling in October of last year, when Kuwait's
government approved allowing women to stand for office and vote in
Municipal Council elections, a move observers hailed then as a first
step toward granting women greater political rights.








TWO WINGS OF A BIRD:
The Equality of Women and Men