In fact, an article looking at the continued discrimination against these women in The New Arab 47 with that very title suggests that for activists working on this cause there are very limited spheres of influence where policy makers are concerned. It seems that for women from the Arabian Gulf, belonging is only valid if it is attached to a husband or father figure from their own states. Even though there are some female policy makers in the cabinet and the elected offices of most GCC states today, the numbers are still too low for them to make an impact, or form strong lobbies to counteract the tide of conservative male traditions that dictate the majority of the legal rhetoric.
In fact, a recent OECD study 58 found that one of the reasons that the social, economic and legal status of women in the MENA region was not improving was their very low representation in policy making positions within the government and other legislative bodies. This is compounded by the rising tide of global populism to which Kuwait has not been immune.
Most are committees that work under the umbrella of a larger government entity, or belong to a policy making body concerned with family issues, and they consider developments from the perspective of local governments and not the women and children who suffer because of discriminations practiced against them. This fear of diluting national identity by granting nationality to the children of women nationals is fundamentally flawed in its logic.
He revealed that in comparison, only children born to Kuwaiti women had been granted nationality during the same period of time. It is clear that this is no longer a discourse just about gender but about inclusion and attitudes towards migrant populations.
Allen M. Alsharekh A. Alsharekh ed. Babar Z. McKeran B. Cooke M. Gengler J. Grewal I. Khalaf S. Kinninmont J. Mathiessen T. Willoughby , J. Yousef , R. Privacy Policy — About Cookies. Skip to navigation — Site map. Contents - Previous document - Next document. Keywords : citizenship , gender , politics , women , GCC , nationality , kinship , policymaker , human rights.
Outline Introduction. Inadequate staffing prevented the shelter from becoming fully operational and providing in-house services. Designed to accommodate up to people, the shelter had women residing there in September The shelter accepts victims on referral from a foreign embassy or international organization.
Victims are not able to leave the shelter unescorted if they want to return to the shelter. Extremist militant groups Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, are responsible for systematic rights abuses, including the intentional targeting and abduction of civilians during military operations in Syria and Iraq in In August, Kuwait announced new measures to curb funding for extremists.
These included banning all fundraising in mosques, requiring greater transparency from charities regarding the sources and destinations of their donations, and obtaining receipts.
On August 6, the US Treasury department sanctioned three Kuwaitis for funding extremist militant groups in Syria and Iraq, by freezing any US-based assets and banning US citizens from doing business with them.
The parliament debated whether Kuwait should become party to the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC joint security agreement in response to government pressure to ratify it. The 20 provisions of GCC agreement could be used to suppress free expression and undermine privacy rights of citizens and residents.
The United States, in its US State Department annual Trafficking in Persons report, classified Kuwait as Tier 3—among the most problematic countries—for the eighth consecutive year. It found that efforts to help abused workers were not accompanied by any enforcement activities against the employers from whom the workers had fled.
It found also that Kuwaiti authorities failed to protect victims of trafficking. Human Rights Watch. World Report Donate Now.
Available In: Available In. Kenneth Roth Executive Director. Women workers, particularly foreign women and domestic employees, are in urgent need of such laws. Standard working hours for men apply equally to women, with the exclusion of night work. With the exception of a few professions and places of employment, women in Kuwait are forbidden to work at night, or in some cases after midnight.
Employers are obliged to arrange transportation for women who work at night. These labor restrictions apply to both private and government offices, as well as jobs within the informal sector. All working women are entitled to maternity leave for up to two months at full pay. They may receive an additional four months at half pay, provided they present a medical certificate declaring that their illness was a result of the pregnancy.
Day care facilities for children aged three to six years are widely available and affordable in all parts of Kuwait; some are provided by the Kuwaiti government, others are privately run. Advocacy on such concerns as the right to education, inheritance, and employment is strong. At the same time, groups of conservative Islamists have also been demanding that women "return to the household.
They have blocked the passage of a women's suffrage bill and the admission of women to the military. In , Islamists succeeded in passing a bill that obligates Kuwait University and post-secondary colleges to incorporate building changes to ensure gender segregation.
Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy with a Cabinet and a National Assembly that is elected every four years. The parliament serves as a legislative body with the power to overturn the decrees issued by the Emir — the head of state. Males who are 21 and over and have been citizens for at least 20 years and are not members of the military are granted the right to vote and seek election to the National Assembly.
This means that suffrage is restricted to 14 percent of the population. There are no formal political parties; instead, there are quasi-political groups of Islamists extreme conservatives and liberals, who operate within voluntary organizations NGOs and are active in the National Assembly.
Women are also forbidden to run for office or vote in the municipal council elections. In recent years, the Emir of Kuwait and the Cabinet have attempted to integrate women into the political system. In May , during an interregnum between parliaments, the Emir promulgated a decree granting women the right to run for office and to vote in parliamentary and municipal elections.
Yet, in November , the parliament voted down the decree. In October , the government approved a bill that would grant women the right to vote and run in municipal council elections. However, the bill was rejected during the same year by the parliament. Since the s, Kuwaiti women have used every opportunity to bring their demands for political rights to the attention of the National Assembly.
They have organized and held public demonstrations to protest against gender discrimination and have marched to the polling station to protest their lack of equal political rights during parliamentary elections.
While women's right to assemble is moderately respected by the Kuwaiti government, women's rights groups face structural restrictions on their ability to create and manage their organizations. Voluntary associations are required to have an elected board, a written constitution, and a dues-paying membership. In , the government dissolved all unlicensed associations. The Kuwait Human Rights Society, who had been waiting for a license since , was finally officially licensed in August A license is required before an NGO can open an office or formally discuss rights issues with the government.
Kuwaiti women have limited freedom of expression. Stiff penalties for violations of the press laws have contributed to increased self-censorship and an avoidance of controversial issues.
In January , charges were brought against two female authors for writing novels that allegedly contained improper and immoral language.
Women are not represented in Kuwait's judiciary. While they may hold positions as investigative judges, women are not permitted to serve as judges in court. However, Kuwaiti women do hold relatively senior positions within the ministries of Kuwait. Formal political parties are banned in Kuwait, but political groups often operate informally as political organizations.
Kuwaiti women are involved in all major political groups and occasionally serve as founding members or contributing board members. Women are not invited to fill leadership positions in Islamic organizations. They are active, however, in promoting these groups' ideologies and visions of an Islamic order-calling for the implementation of the rules of Shari'a and gender segregation in public places. Kuwaiti women are involved in civic life issues and participate in mixed-gender professional clubs and societies as both members and board members.
Women also have the right to join unions and local cooperative stores, where they can vote and hold office. While Kuwait does not have a freedom of information act, women do have some freedom to gain access to and use information to empower themselves in both their civil and political lives. Internet usage has increased among young women and is easily accessible for many at home, in offices, and in public cafes.
The Internet has provided Kuwaiti women with a forum to air their views and freely communicate with others on a variety of issues. Kuwait has an extensive welfare system. The state also offers up-to-date health care services to all residents at minimal cost. Citizens are free to participate in community life and non-Kuwaitis enjoy the right to form their own cultural associations openly. Women have some freedom to make independent decisions about their health and reproductive rights.
While Kuwait does not have a government-sponsored family planning program, research has shown that the contraceptive needs of the majority of married women are adequately met. Contraceptives are easily available and affordable; birth control pills and the IUD are available through government health services, and private pharmacies offer birth control pills without a prescription.
Contraceptive use is significantly higher among educated Kuwaiti women. Those who disapprove of contraception in Kuwait tend to believe that family planning is forbidden by Islam. Abortion is prohibited and constitutes a criminal act. Under the penal code, any person "who supplies, or is instrumental in supplying a pregnant or non-pregnant woman with drugs or other harmful substances, with or without her consent, or who uses force or any other means to induce an abortion shall be liable to a penalty of up to 10 years' imprisonment.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has recommended that the Kuwaiti government amend this law and make provisions for the protection of the right to life of pregnant women. Women have full and equal access to health care. Health care services at government-run clinics and hospitals are generally provided free of charge or at a low cost for all residents of Kuwait, including Kuwait's non-citizens and migrant workers.
Since the mids, the government and women's groups have launched campaigns to raise women's awareness about female health issues like breast cancer and osteoporosis.
Although there are no reliable data available, women seem to be protected from harmful practices such as virginity tests and female genital mutilation. Early marriage has grown uncommon and cross-cousin marriages are no longer widely practiced. Unmarried sons and daughters, regardless of their age, are expected to live with their families. Unlike foreign-born women who reside in Kuwait, a single Kuwaiti woman cannot rent her own dwelling.
While such a policy is not enshrined in law, landlords often refuse to rent apartments to Kuwaiti women unless they can provide proof of marriage. Housing is a serious problem for Kuwaiti women, particularly divorced women from low-income groups. Women are excluded from Kuwait's low-interest loan policy, which is an initiative provided to married men to encourage them to build their own homes.
Kuwait's housing law also forbids Kuwaiti women from owning government-supplied or subsidized housing that is available to Kuwaiti men by virtue of their positions as rab al'usra heads of families. The only exception to this law is for divorced women with children who can claim a rent allowance if they do not intend to remarry and have no one to support them. However, divorced women are expected to share the government-subsidized housing with their former husbands, who often force them to move out.
The government has been reluctant to address the problem of housing for women and has failed to offer satisfactory solutions. The state has constructed special apartment buildings to house divorced women and childless couples, but this has resulted in the isolation and marginalization of female heads of households. Efforts to integrate divorced women into the society remain limited and lack a women's human rights perspective.
In , Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaiti men lost the right to own government housing; the National Assembly rejected a proposal that would have overturned this law in October In recent years, Kuwait has witnessed an increase in the number of impoverished female heads of households. Many divorced women and Kuwaiti women married to bidun struggle to make ends meet, largely as a result of the discriminatory components of the state's welfare system. Kuwaiti women are entitled to welfare assistance in the form of monthly income support and rent subsidies, but only when they are able to provide evidence that they have no one to support them and are unemployed.
The state allocates child support benefits to the husband in divorce cases even when the mother has been granted custody of the children. Many men refuse to give financial support to their former wives even though the law requires it.
The media provide adequate coverage of women's concerns, and many women are employed in both print and electronic media. Growing numbers of Kuwaiti women work in the media as journalists, reporters, and editors. Women in Kuwait use the media as an influential tool to introduce change and to promote new roles for themselves. Liberal newspapers such Al-Qabas, Al-Siyassah, and the weekly political magazine Al-Talia, devote considerable space to the activities of liberal women's groups and their efforts to gain political rights.
Islamist women's activities and views are covered more extensively in Al-Watan and Al-Anba'. Despite the increasing presence of both liberal and Islamist women in the press, women's images continue to be stereotyped in the media and in educational materials.
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