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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 June 2000 Issue No. 485
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Equality before the bench
By Sherine BahaaRola Al-Dashti, a 37-year-old Kuwaiti woman leapt into the air with joy when informed that her case contesting the electoral law of 1962, was referred to the country's constitutional court. "This is the happiest day of my life. It is not only my victory, it is a victory for all Kuwaiti women," said Al-Dashti, a women's rights activist.
One of four cases filed by women's rights activists contesting women's exclusion from the right to vote and to stand for election under Kuwait's electoral law, Al-Dashti's case is the only one to make it into the courts. The other three cases, which were brought against the interior minister for preventing women from registering to vote for elections this past February, were rejected on the grounds of not being "serious."
In contrast to these other cases, which were said to be weak procedurally and lacking sufficient documentation, Al-Dashti's case included a thorough delineation of the contradictions between the electoral law of 1962 and the Kuwaiti constitution as well as international agreements affirming women's rights to which the Kuwaiti state is a signatory.
"This is not the end," Kuwaiti women said last November when the all male parliament voted against a bill that was introduced into the legislature by way of a decree made by Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Jaber Ahmed Al-Sabah.
Since his exile during the seven-month occupation of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990-91, Al-Sabah had stated on numerous occasions his intention to grant women full political rights.
According to some estimates, participation by women in political life would more than double the size of Kuwait's small electorate which currently consists of approximately 113,000 men.
Women's chances of gaining the vote in the near future may have been jeopardized by the way in which the bill came to be introduced into parliament. The emir's decree, which was the precursor to the bill, was issued last year during a period in which there was no parliament. Many Kuwaitis were upset at the emir's use of what they saw as a new tactic to impose his agenda on parliament.
"The position of Kuwaiti women is really serious, political rights are not the only issue, they are only a part of women's situation as a whole," Shamlan Issa, a Kuwaiti professor of political science told Al-Ahram Weekly.
Among the pressing issues that women in Kuwait should be fighting for, according to Issa, is the right to initiate divorce proceedings. Added to this, he said, Kuwaiti women who marry foreigners should be able to give their spouse the Kuwaiti nationality since Kuwaiti men have this right.
Issa cited a law recently passed in parliament which allows women to retire at 35 as "a clear indication that members of parliament do not want women's participation." The implications of this law for working women over the age of 35 are unclear.
Compared with other women in the Gulf region, Kuwaiti women play a much larger role in public life. They run businesses and newspapers, head diplomatic missions and they make up almost 30 per cent of Kuwait's work force.
Kuwaiti women who have been fighting for political rights for more than three decades are wary that the court's decision to send Al-Dashti's case to the constitutional court may turn out to be a bittersweet victory. Although the court's decision to review the case was hailed by feminist activists like Massouma Al-Mubarak as "a new breakthrough," the memory of failed attempts to obtain rights through the legislative and executive is fresh in the minds of Kuwaiti feminist activists.
Through a provision in the constitution guaranteeing the equal status of men and women, Kuwaiti activists are hoping to challenge article 1 of the electoral law of 1962. This article excludes women from voting or running as candidates in parliamentary elections.
Conversely, feminist activists will cite article 6 of the constitution as supporting their case. This article affirms the "sovereignty for the nation" and, according to Al-Mubarak, "of course, nation does not mean male, nation means all."
Critics of the activists' choice to resort to the constitutional court suggest that if they are victorious and the electoral law is struck down, this will pave the way to dissolving the parliament formed following the elections of July 1999, along with all legislation passed by this parliament.
An exponent of this analysis MP Adnan Abdel-Samad suggests that the constitutional court is well aware of the aforementioned implications and that these are unacceptable to some political parties and the government. "The government itself thought of resorting to the constitutional court six months ago to reactivate the emir's decree, but when it considered the potential consequences of such an act, it gave it up entirely," Abdel-Samad explained.
Al-Mubarak took issue with views such as those expounded by Abdel-Samad, describing them to the Weekly as exaggerated scare tactics. Referring to proponents of these views, Al-Mubarak said, "They want to obstruct any verdict from being issued by the constitutional court. It is simply intimidation."
Eager to assert that any verdict by the constitutional court regarding the electoral law of 1962 would not be retroactive, Al-Mubarak explained, "Rola [Al-Dashti] did not contest the results of the elections. She contested the electoral law and this does not by any means cancel any of the decisions or laws issued by the parliament in its earlier sessions. The verdict of the constitutional court will only go into effect after its issuance not before."
