A small step for women’s rights in Kuwait
Queen Rania of Jordan probably says it best in relation to the suppression of women’s rights in many Muslim countries. She says, “… it isn’t just a tragedy for individual girls and women. It’s a terrible loss for the whole world. When half of a society’s talent base is neglected and wasted, development suffers, progress is stunted, and everyone pays the price.”
Well at least in Kuwait there is some progress being made. In a high profile lawsuit brought by activists Kuwait’s highest court just granted women the right to obtain a passport without their husband’s approval. While in the West this may seem an anachronism, it is one more step in a hard fought battle to recognize the rights granted to women under Kuwait’s 1962 constitution. What happens in the more ‘liberated’ Muslim countries generally flows into others over time, so any step, n o matter how small, should be celebrated and publicized.
Unlike with highly conservative neighbors like Saudi Arabia, women in Kuwait can vote, serve in parliament and drive – and now can obtain their own passports.
In many countries in the region, women cannot travel or obtain a passport without the consent of their male guardian.
Attorney Adel Qurban, whose case the court was ruling on, said the landmark decision “freed” Kuwaiti women from the 1962 law requiring their husband’s signature to obtain a passport.
His client, Fatima al-Baghli, is one of thousands of women who have been petitioning courts for this right.
The court found the article in the decades-old law “unconstitutional” because it goes against the principal of equal rights for men and women.
“It undermines her free will and compromises her humanity,” the court explained according to a copy of the decision provided by the lawyer.
Activist Aisha al-Rsheid hailed Tuesday’s ruling, but said females in this traditional male-dominated society were still a long way from the equality promised by the 1962 constitution.
