February 17, 2002 - Kuwaiti Women - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Kuwaiti women demand the right to vote. Formal attempts to grant Kuwaiti women the vote began in 1971, following a conference on women’s issues. That bill to the legislative assembly failed as did other bills introduced in 1981, 1986, 1992 and 1996. A coalition of 22 non-governmental organizations made up the Women’s Issues Network, a group that organized various campaigns to put pressure on the government. After years of failed attempts, coalition members gathered by the hundreds on Sunday, February 17, 2002 to protest outside two voter registration centres. Although they were turned away, it marked Kuwaiti women’s first attempt at taking grievances to the streets in protest. The women had the Kuwaiti constitution on their side; it gives various guarantees of equality for all persons of Kuwait. Unfortunately, it seems to be contradicted by Article 1 of Law No. 35/1962 of the Election Law, which specifically denies women the vote and the right to run for public office. Every attempt to challenge the law was dismissed by the courts and tribunals for many years. Then came a move that stunned almost everyone in the country. On May 16, 2005, while the all-male Parliament was considering giving Kuwaiti women the right to run in municipal elections, the government cabinet ministers proposed amending the election laws to allow women to vote and run in local and parliamentary elections – and it passed. However, with one month’s notice, Kuwait’s emir, Sheik Sabah al-Ahmad as-Sabah, dissolved Parliament and called the election for June 29, 2006, a full year early. This caught women off guard. With no political experience or backing, the election results saw tens of thousands of women voting for the first time, yet electing no women to Parliament.

---

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Further episodes of Human Rights a Day

Further podcasts by Stephen Hammond

Website of Stephen Hammond