Kuwaiti Women Win Parliamentary Seats
Fantastic news from Kuwait, where the modern world finally seems to be taking hold: In a first, four women elected to parliament.
Some great news for women in the conservative Persian Gulf: Kuwaitis elected their first-ever women lawmakers [second item] to parliament.
Voters in four districts elevated women into parliamentary jobs. It’s believed to be the first time women have been elected to serve as lawmakers in any of the oil-rich Gulf monarchies. Kuwaiti women were only granted the right to vote in 2005.
“It’s a victory for Kuwaiti women and a victory for Kuwaiti democracy,” lawmaker Aseel Awadhi, a philosophy professor, said after winning a seat.
The nation’s 50-seat parliament doesn’t have the power to challenge Kuwait’s ruling Sabah family, but it does have the power to slow up building projects and policy changes. When the last parliament tried to summon the prime minister on corruption allegations, the ruling Emir, Sheik Sabah al-Sabah, dissolved the chamber and called for new elections.
One of the winners, Massouma Mubarak, previously served as Kuwait’s health minister, the country’s first female Cabinet member.
On Sunday the Emir said he wholeheartedly supported women’s arrival in the parliament.
Frank says: