Kuwait - Voting Rights for Women Still a Matter of Debate Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Voting Rights For Women Poll Issue in Kuwait By Sanjay Upadhya DUBAI, May 26 (IPS) - The Kuwait emir's decree granting women the right to vote from 2003 has provoked a strong response from a section of the powerful clergy, and has become a key campaign issue ahead of the parliamentary polls scheduled for July. In a surprise announcement on May 16, Emir Sheikh Jaber Al- Ahmad Al-Sabah said he was granting Kuwaiti women the right to vote and contest in municipal and parliamentary elections from 2003 ''in appreciation of the effective and important role'' played by them. But some senior members of the clergy have slammed the decree, arguing that several Islamic injunctions bar women from direct participation in national affairs. The leader of Kuwait's Moslem Brotherhood said the emir's decision amounted to disobedience of god. ''We are ordered to obey our rulers as long as they obey god. If they disobey god, we are not required to obey them,'' Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Mutawa told 'Al-Siyassah' newspaper. Other religious leaders said they have no problem with the decision to give women suffrage. ''But for Kuwaiti women to stand for office is forbidden,'' Khalid Al-Madhkur, a leading Sunni cleric who heads a state-appointed body responsible for implementing Shariah law told 'Al Watan' newspaper. Islamic scholars outside Kuwait have joined the discussions on whether there are any specific injunctions that in fact barred women from taking a more active part in public life. The decree has to be endorsed by Parliament, which the emir dissolved earlier this month following a two-year struggle between his cabinet and opposition legislators. Candidates for the July 3 polls are already vigorously debating the decree as a major campaign issue. Khalid Al-Sultan, who is vying for a seat in parliament, said in a speech: ''Religious figures have reiterated woman are not allowed to get 'public guardianship'; neither are they allowed to nominate candidates to the assembly or any political position.'' Other candidates argue that the decree could create new tensions in a male-dominated political structure that could further paralyse legislative deliberations. Women activists who have campaigned for the vote remain undaunted. Masoumah Al-Mubarak, a professor of political science at Kuwait University, called the decree a ''victory for human rights, the Kuwaiti constitution and democracy.'' Al-Mubarak told reporters that she hoped the next parliament would be promptly dissolved to speed up the participation of women. ''We have waited this long, and now I can't wait four years more.'' Kuwaiti women marched into the royal palace on May 17 to thank the emir and the country's press was united in hailing the decree. ''This was the right way to act,'' Al-Qabas daily said in an editorial. ''This will go down as a historic day for the nation, like those of independence, constitution and liberation.'' Kuwait is the only Gulf Arab monarchy that has an elected parliament. About 113,000 men are eligible to cast their ballots in July 3 elections for 50 parliamentary seats. Although they do not have the vote, Kuwaiti women are considered to be the most liberated in the Gulf region. They form about 30 percent of the workforce, running businesses and newspapers, heading diplomatic missions and helping oversee the country's crucial oil industry. The emir promised in his first speech after Kuwait's liberation from Iraqi occupation in 1991 that women would be granted equality with men in their rights and responsibilities. Kuwaiti women activists and the Western governments that led the international coalition against Iraq had been pressing the emir to fulfill his promise. But under pressure from leading clergymen, he chose to leave women out of the political process. Women activists say Kuwait's constitution guarantees equal status for both sexes and contains no provision that bars women from voting. They say the election law of 1962 discriminates against them. The timing of the emir's announcement took many by surprise. ''The decision was taken out of a personal conviction and belief in the equality between men and women,'' the emir told a delegation of 100 women at his palace. But some analysts see the decision as part of the executive- legislative skirmishes. ''The emir may have chosen to use the women's-vote issue as a weapon in the stand-off between his cabinet and the parliament,'' a Gulf diplomat said. ''Obviously, the make-up of the new parliament will determine the fate of the order. But no matter how assertive the MPs are, an emiri decree will still carry significant weight.'' Among the six Gulf monarchies, Qatar allowed women to vote and run in municipal council elections held in March. Six women contested the polls but none was elected. Two women sit on Oman's consultative council, a body that is indirectly elected. In the UAE, the Federal National Council, the country's highest policy-making body, has decided that women should be allowed to become members. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain do not have elections. In one of the more candid reactions in the Gulf, the 'Bahrain Tribune' ran a commentary under the headline ''Do we need a disaster to learn - as in Kuwait?'' linking the emiri decree to the changes that have swept Kuwait since its liberation. In an early sign of the difficult days that may lie ahead, Kuwait's Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministry suspended eight prayer leaders in the country's mosques after they criticised the decree. The ministry has sent out a circular ordering prayer leaders not to interfere in the elections nor allow their mosques to become involved in the election process. The new parliament can technically block the emir's move to enfranchise Kuwaiti women, but not before setting off a new round of legislative fireworks it has already established a reputation for in the region. (END/IPS/su/an/99) (c) 1999 IPS ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytfem-06.04.99-08:07:27-1801