Why women’s movements in Kuwait are still struggling?

By Majd Othman

KUWAIT: Kuwait recently witnessed political obstacles that have affected the trajectory of basic women’s rights that many in the local society are calling for, whether men or women. These demands, such as empowering women in leadership positions, giving citizenship to children of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis or the quota system and many other rights, all rely on a supportive sovereign decision by the leadership, according to women’s rights activist Asrar Hayat.

Hayat explained that despite the efforts made by women’s movements in the country and all the success these movements are achieving toward women’s rights, the main issue that these movements are suffering from is opposition by rejecters of women’s basic rights, who have the power and authority to prevent women’s movements from achieving their goals.

On the other hand, Hayat considered rights movements in general, whether by societies or initiatives, going through a weak stage of achievements in the country despite the great tools they have, adding Kuwait witnessed a great awakening since the ’60s until 20 years ago in the matter of general rights and women’s rights in particular.

Hayat addressed the reasons for the weakness in the absence of prioritization of goals and consistency, in addition to opponents of women’s rights. “In order to reach better achievements considering the country’s current situation, women’s movements in Kuwait should focus on each case separately and move to the next one when the first goal is accomplished,” she said.

“Our problem nowadays is that our efforts are not organized and prioritized. We want to accomplish everything at the same time, and this is not helping us, especially with the great opposition we are facing, not from the people who are very supportive, but those who have the power,” she added. “Kuwait has always been one of the leading countries that has supported women’s right issues, but still, we have to take advantage of the available tools, especially since the leadership is on our side,” Hayat said.

“Despite the fact that previous generations faced hard conditions, they managed to attain most of the rights we are enjoying currently. That’s why we should achieve more, due to the better conditions and freedom that we already have,” she pointed out.

Hayat said what can help women in Kuwait reach their strategic goals for the benefit of the next generation is the quota system that they are calling for since long, recalling that several Arab countries have applied this system, which helps greatly in employing women in leadership positions to meet the needs of the other half of the society.

“We are calling for a quota system to be a transitional stage in Kuwait until we gain full trust. We know women can prove themselves in the way companies, institutions and authorities demand for their leadership, like how some companies are doing right now by believing in our great female leadership,” she said.

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