http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=63960&d=18&m=5&y=2005&pix=opinion.jpg&category=Opinion
Wednesday, 18, May, 2005 (09, Rabi` al-Thani, 1426)
Editorial: Vote for Women
18 May 2005
Another milestone in the development of democracy in
the Middle East has been passed with Kuwait's decision to give women the vote
and allow them to run for office. Kuwait is now the fourth member of the GCC in
which women as well as men can vote. The appointment of Kuwait's first woman
Cabinet minister is now just a matter of time; Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah
Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said at the beginning of the month that he would appoint one
as soon as women were enfranchised.
The change is genuinely popular; it has been welcomed
as much by Kuwaiti men as by Kuwaiti women although it has taken some time to
come about. The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jabir Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, issued a decree
giving women full political rights six years ago but at the time the Kuwaiti
Parliament did not agree with him. It has taken until now to get Kuwaiti
legislators to change their minds. Even so earlier this month, because of
abstentions and technical matters relating to them, a bill giving women the
vote did not make it through Parliament. In the vote, there were still some
conservatives who argued that the change was not in keeping with Islamic
teaching although this is an opinion that goes against the facts. Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) consulted women in affairs of the state.
Opposition to the change was rooted in local social tradition. Kuwait's
parliamentarians have recognized the difference and have voted for an inclusive
representative democracy in which women have the same responsibilities and
rights as men in building a dynamic state.
There are of course implications beyond Kuwait. Not
only is it another blow to the lie that democracy is incompatible with the Arab
world, it is bound to sharpen the debate on the role of women in the remaining
countries of the region where they do not have the vote - not least here in the
Kingdom - and also it will shift opinions. That is all to the good.
Saudi women are unlikely to lag very much behind their
Kuwaiti counterparts who, although they have now been given the vote, will not
actually exercise their new right until the 2007 parliamentary elections. The
situation in the Kingdom is somewhat different although the outcome may be much
the same. It is expected that women will be given the vote in the next Saudi
municipal elections in 2009. Indeed, one of the reasons given for it not
happening in this year's first municipal elections was the logistical problem
of registering women who, in many cases, are without their own personal
identification documents.
The Kuwaiti decision ensures that the issue of women's
franchise and their role in society will not go away. It is going to impinge on
daily life here in the Kingdom in a way that many have not yet reckoned with.
The Kingdom is a leading member of the GCC; the role of the GCC is constantly
expanding; women government ministers are going to become an increasingly
visible feature of life elsewhere in the GCC.
Their views, their decisions and simply their being
ministers will affect what happens here.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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