Editorial: Vote for Women

Another milestone in the development of democracy in the Middle East has been passed with Kuwait’s decision to give women the vote and allow them to run for office. Kuwait is now the fourth member of the GCC in which women as well as men can vote. The appointment of Kuwait’s first woman Cabinet minister is now just a matter of time; Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said at the beginning of the month that he would appoint one as soon as women were enfranchised.

The change is genuinely popular; it has been welcomed as much by Kuwaiti men as by Kuwaiti women although it has taken some time to come about. The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jabir Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, issued a decree giving women full political rights six years ago but at the time the Kuwaiti Parliament did not agree with him. It has taken until now to get Kuwaiti legislators to change their minds. Even so earlier this month, because of abstentions and technical matters relating to them, a bill giving women the vote did not make it through Parliament. In the vote, there were still some conservatives who argued that the change was not in keeping with Islamic teaching although this is an opinion that goes against the facts. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) consulted women in affairs of the state. Opposition to the change was rooted in local social tradition. Kuwait’s parliamentarians have recognized the difference and have voted for an incinclusive representative democracy in which women have the same responsibilities and rights as men in building a dynamic state.

As I noted yesterday, it was not an accident that the Arab News headlined that Kuwait women were given the right to vote.

Today’s Arab News editorial takes the paper’s support further….

There are of course implications beyond Kuwait. Not only is it another blow to the lie that democracy is incompatible with the Arab world, it is bound to sharpen the debate on the role of women in the remaining countries of the region where they do not have the vote — not least here in the Kingdom — and also it will shift opinions. That is all to the good.