Citizenship, Faith, and Feminism: Jewish and Muslim Women Reclaim Their Rights

3 Kuwait

n 3 Kuwa¢ monarchy, theocracy, and democracy Situated at the intersection of politics, identity, gender, religion, citizenship , and human rights, women are the best test of the emancipatory power of citizenship. Kuwait’s commitment to democracy and civil rights is being tested by its women citizens with mixed results. The development of feminist activists’ political strategies and agendas must be framed within supranational , national, and sub-national contexts. In a country in which the theological is political and women are at the center of national and religious identity politics, Kuwaiti feminists must confront both religious and political authority in order to achieve their goal of full and equal citizenship. The constitution grants women full and equal citizenship, but in order to appease religious authorities, the courts and the government simultaneously upheld the election law that prohibited women from voting until 2005. What impact will women’s su√rage have on women’s lives? Kuwaiti feminists range across the political and religious spectrum from Islamist to liberal. Islamist feminist activists see the vote as empowering, as do liberal or progressive feminist activists. But Islamists intend to use their votes to secure an ordered society eventually governed by shari’a, in which women and men will have di√erent, rather than equal, responsibilities, while ful- filling their duties to G-d, family, and society. Progressive feminists see their vote as a means of achieving the unfulfilled promise of the constitution, civil equality of men and women in all areas of law and life. Yet most Kuwaiti women are unlikely to use their votes to upend or radically challenge social and religious norms. Women in Kuwaiti Political Life The May 2009 elections, which put four women in the National Assembly for the first time, took everyone including the candidates by surprise. With 74 n Citizenship, Faith, & Feminism Islamists dominating the Parliament since 1992 and coming on the heels of the 2008 election, which produced another Islamist majority in the National Assembly, it seemed unlikely that a woman could be elected. Frequent elections are common in Kuwait and these four women could find themselves voted out in short order, but there is no minimizing the significance of their feat. Kuwait, like several Gulf States, has seen women appointed to ministerial or other government positions. Freedom House has rated Kuwait as ‘‘partly free’’ and finds that Kuwaiti women enjoy the second highest degree of freedom in the Gulf Arab countries, second only to Bahrain.∞ The novelty of this election is that women were democratically elected without resorting to a quota system (which had been vociferously debated by Kuwaiti feminists), meaning that a substantial portion of the voting public has ratified the idea of women representatives. But before the newly elected mps could take their seats in Parliament, they experienced a setback at the hands of their Islamist opponents, who invoked the condition attached to the 2005 election law, requiring that all women voters, candidates, and o≈cials cover their heads in accordance with shari’a. Two of the women mps covered their heads and two, plus the education minister , did not. In response, Rola Dashti, one of the four women elected, submitted an amendment to the election law that sought to revoke the provision. She claimed, ‘‘The fatwa is not binding. . . . The only reference for us is the constitution. . . . Including Shari’a regulations in the electoral law is a breach of the constitution. . . . The regulations clearly violate articles in the constitution which call for gender equality and make no reference to Shari’a regulations.’’≤ The matter is still unresolved but women see it for what it is—a diversionary tactic by opponents of women in politics. mp Maasouma Mubarak understands the goal of the opposition, which is to make it appear that the newly elected legislators are incapable of getting down to the business of introducing women-friendly legislation. ‘‘The question they pose is, ‘what have you done so far? You have not participated in bettering the situation; you have failed.’ ’’≥ Yet, Rola Dashti already sees a positive impact on Parliament and Kuwaiti politics created by the four newly elected women mps. They have learned the ropes and have become active on a range of committees including finance, health, foreign a√airs, education, social a√airs, and labor. Dashti says, ‘‘men have started complaining that ‘you women are taking over the committees.’ ’’ Dashti claims that ‘‘women members have also brought discipline to the parliamentary system. We attend committee [18.221.129.145...