Kuwait Approves Draft Law Giving Women the Vote

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait Sunday approved a draft law allowing women to vote and run in parliamentary polls, moving them a step closer to the full political rights they have been seeking for decades in the conservative Gulf Arab state.



"The council (of ministers) decided to approve the draft law and transfer it to the Emir (Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah), God protect him, in order to transfer it to the National Assembly (parliament)," the cabinet said in a statement.

a tad more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&ncid=586&e=3&u=/nm/20040516/wl_nm/kuwait_vote_women_dc


Still needs to be passed in parliament's approval....

Of course, that's the draft. I wonder how long it will take to get parliament's approval.

Might be a long walk to the polling place.

Don

Kuwait is slightly more liberal than Saudi Arabia.

~snip~

Regarded by some as the most emancipated in the conservative Muslim region, Kuwaiti women have had to sit back and watch their sisters in other Gulf states -- like Qatar, Bahrain and Oman -- make modest progress.


Women, who make up more than half of the 900,000 Kuwaitis, serve as diplomats, run businesses and help steer the OPEC (news - web sites) member state's vital oil industry.


They constitute up to 70 percent of college graduates in Kuwait, but account for less than five percent of the country's decision makers. Some have moved up to mid-level public ranks, but none hold a top post such as government minister.


The ball began rolling in October of last year, when Kuwait's government approved allowing women to stand for office and vote in Municipal Council elections, a move observers hailed then as a first step toward granting women greater political rights.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=8&u=/nm/20040516/ts_nm/kuwait_vote_women_dc