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Historical Status of Women

Before oil, the Kuwaiti economy was largely dependent on pearl-diving and trading. While men were at sea, many women were left as managers of their homes, in control of family affairs and finances. For those families that could afford it, houses were built with a courtyard and a harem where women spent most of their time. This structure, along with high windows and doors that faced into the house rather than the street, removed women from public vision. Upper-class women were thus rarely seen in public. Women from less fortunate circumstances however, could not afford such structures and worked outside their homes (often in upper-class homes) .

Kuwaiti girls began learning scripture in Quran schools in 1916. The first private school opened in 1926, it taught reading, writing, and embroidery. Public schooling began in 1937 though enrollment in it was low for some time. By the 1940s however, many young Kuwaiti women were enrolled in school and by the 1950s they were travelling abroad to obtain higher education degrees .

Kuwaiti Women and Politics

The women's suffrage campaign started in 1971 when a group led by Noureya Al-Saddani took a proposal to parliament to grant women their political rights. The proposal was overwhelmingly rejected. In the early 1990s women campaigned heavily for the vote, they held protests outside of election headquarters and between 2000 and 2005 a number of women filed court cases against the Minister of Interior for his refusal to include women in election tables . In 2004 women demonstrated inside the parliament hall for the vote and a year later they held one of the largest demonstrations in Kuwait’s history.

In 1999, the Emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah promulgated a decree granting women the right to vote, however, it was overturned by parliament just months later. Kuwaiti women were finally granted the right to vote on May 18, 2005 when parliament passed the bill. Women voted for the first time in June 2006, and in these elections 28 women ran out of a pool of 250 candidates though none won. The 2008 elections also failed to bring women into parliament.

Almost exactly four years after women were given full political rights, four were elected into parliament for the first time. The winners in the 2009 elections were: Massouma Al Mubarak (the first Kuwaiti woman appointed to the cabinet), Aseel Al Awadhi, Rola Dashti, and Salwa Al Jassar . In February 2012, women lost their seats in parliament. December 2012’s elections saw Masooma Al Mubarak return to parliament along with newcomers Safaa Al Hashem and Thekra Al-Rashidi.

Women's Groups and Activism

Women’s activism in Kuwait began in the 1960s. The first women’s organization, the Arab Women’s Renaissance Association (later changed to the Family Renaissance Association), was established by Nouryea Saddani in 1962 and was soon followed by the Women’s Cultural and Social Society in February 1963. The Girls Club (Nadi Alfatat) was established in 1975, its initial focus was on women in sport. In 1981 Bayader As-Salam was formed, a religious group whose objective was cultural awareness. The same year Sheikha Latifa Al-Sabah’s Islamic Care Association was established, it sought to spread Islam and an Islamic lifestyle and conduct .

Kuwaiti women played a large role in resisting the Iraqi invasion in 1990. They mobilized the opposition, started an underground resistance paper called “al-Kuwaitiya”, passed weapons and ammunition through Iraqi checkpoints, transported and planted explosives using their abayas, collected and distributed food and medicine, and ran shelters for the sick and disabled. During the invasion they also organized a large demonstration in defiance of the invasion, which cost some of them their lives.

Women became active in Islamist groups in the 1980s when Islamism was on the rise in Kuwait. They became members of the Islamic Constitutional Movement and the Social Reform Society, as these groups both made moves to accommodate and include women in their activities. Women’s branches of these groups are charged with mobilizing women to vote for group candidates. They provide educational courses and training to women, as well as childcare for working mothers. Through their early activity in these groups, many women acquired organizational skills which they were able to utilize in the campaign for suffrage.

Notable Kuwaiti Women

Noureya Al-Saddani: An author, historian, broadcaster and director, Al-Saddani started the first women’s organization in Kuwait. In 1971 she proposed to the National Assembly to grant women political rights, during the invasion she worked in charity and mobilized the diaspora and upon her return to Kuwait she put together radio biographies of all the female martyrs in the invasion.

Sarah Akbar: is Kuwait’s first Petroleum Engineer in the field. During the invasion, Akbar led a group of oil employees to maintain machinery and electricity and after the Iraqi troops left and set several oil fields on fire, Akbar set up a team to control and extinguish the fires, earning her the nickname “firefighter”.

Asrar Al-Qabandi: was a martyr of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. During the occupation she helped people flee to safety, smuggled weapons and money into Kuwait as well as disks from the Ministry of Civil Information to safety, cared for many wounded by the war, and destroyed monitoring devices used by the Iraqi troops. She was captured and subsequently killed by Iraqi troops in January 1991.

Khawla Attiqi: Considered an example of an Islamic Feminist, Attiqi is a member of the Islamic Constitutional movement. She vocalized her dissatisfaction with Islamist group policies towards women which did not allow them to be part of their decision-making. Attiqi is very active in the campaign for women rights, and often writes op-eds for various Kuwaiti newspapers.

Non-National Women in Kuwait

Kuwait has a very high percentage of expatriates, nearly double the number of nationals. Many Egyptian, Palestinian, Filipino and Southeast Asian women live in Kuwait. Palestinian women have worked in Kuwait since the 1950s, historically in girls’ schools .

Nearly 90% of Kuwaiti households employ a foreigner worker, most often a South Asian woman. Non-Nationals are subject to residence and labor laws which prevent them from permanently settling in Kuwait, they cannot own real estate or permanent assets, for example. Under the kafala system, whereby all migrants must have a citizen who sponsors their residence in Kuwait, many workers cannot leave or enter the country without their employer’s permission and are often exploited. The Nepali Embassy for example, receives more than 30 cases a week of exploitation and abuse every week.

Stateless ‘Bidoon’ Women

The stateless status of many people in Kuwait goes back to a 1959 law which restricted the Kuwaiti nationality to families who had settled in Kuwait before 1920. Many bidoon were unable to provide documented proof they had settled in Kuwait. The bidoon are barred from employment in government, are often forced to take intermittent, low-paying jobs in the private sector. They live in housing projects and are provided with minimal and inferior municipal services. While the stateless community at large faces many obstacles to a sustainable lifestyle, bidoon women are in a particularly vulnerable situation. They have very few opportunities for employment and are restricted to very low-paying jobs, and earn a fraction what a Kuwaiti woman would earn in the same position. Bidoon men and women do not have the necessary paperwork to register their marriages and thus are unable to obtain marriage certificates; this limits their access to medical care when giving birth.