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.
