Kuwait to Allow Woment to Travel Without Husband’s Consent
Kuwait’s constitutional court ruled Wednesday that Kuwaiti women have the right to travel without their husband’s permission, revoking a 1962 passport law. Women in other Gulf States, like Saudi Arabia, still need permission from a close male relative to travel.
Kuwait took another step in favor of women’s rights when the country’s constitutional court ruled that women do not need to obtain their husband’s consent before obtaining a passport to travel.
The high court, whose rulings may not be appealed, struck down part of a 1962 law that stipulated that women may not be granted a passport without the approval of their husbands.
Kuwait granted women the right to vote in 2005. Tribal and hardline Islamist members of parliament opposed the move, before being outvoted.
It was not until 2009, however, that women were first elected to parliament. Kuwait’s Islamists insist that Islamic law forbids women from holding positions of leadership.