Kuwait Times

Published Date: March 09, 2010
By B Izzak, Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Women in Kuwait complained yesterday of gender discrimination in employment and other sectors despite making key strides in politics after four females were elected to parliament. Marking International Women's Day at a day-long symposium, women's rights' activists and MPs said women in the state are still barred from becoming judges and are deprived of promotion to senior posts.

Leading female lawmaker Rola Dashti yesterday sent a detailed question to the government about numbers and names of people holding high bureaucratic posts in the government in the wake of reports the number of women holding such posts is extremely small. In her question, Dashti asked State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Roudhan Al-Roudhan for the numbers and names of people in senior posts in ministries and government agencies. She also asked for the duration each official has spent in the current post, the
date of their appointment for the first time and the last date of renewal. Dashti also asked about the standards and conditions for appointing people in senior posts in the ministries and government agencies.

The questions came after statements by a senior female official at the Civil Service Commission that the number of Kuwaiti women in such posts is very small. Nahla bin Naji told the symposium that women occupy only 17 senior posts at ministries and agencies compared to as many as 252 men. The number of such women was only seven in 2004, she said. Naji defined senior posts as undersecretaries - the top position in the ministries - and assistant undersecretaries. "I really don't know the reason for this, esp
ecially that we have a large number of highly qualified women," Naji said.

This is despite the fact that Kuwaiti women employees from about 45 percent of total Kuwaiti workforce, according to the latest official figures by the Public Authority for Civil Information. Dashti said at the symposium that she plans to press for the approval of a draft law that will ensure gender equality in appointments to senior posts.

Based on the latest available official data as of last June 30, Kuwaiti women employees accounted for 44.9 percent of the total national workforce. They made up 44.1 percent of Kuwaitis employed in government. "Leading positions are distributed in accordance with political considerations and women are kept away from such considerations," activist Oroob Al-Refai said. There is only one female minister in the 16-member Cabinet.

I have been working as a lawyer for the past 32 years but still I cannot become a judge," activist Salwa Al-Ajmi told the symposium. "It is shameful that the government has accepted and signed international treaties banning discrimination against women and still bars females from becoming judges," Ajmi said.

A woman activist last month filed a lawsuit after her application to become a member of the public prosecution was rejected because of her sex. The conservative state adopts a strict interpretation of Islamic laws by some religious scholars who say women are forbidden to become judges. Ajmi, however, said that other Arab states in the Gulf region such as the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have appointed female judges.

Kuwaiti women made history last May when four women were elected to parliament for the first time, four years after they were granted full political rights, including the right to vote. Kuwaiti women are also facing discrimination under the state's nationality law. They are not allowed to pass on Kuwaiti citizenship to their children or foreign husbands, unlike Kuwaiti men. They also do not have the same housing privileges as men and do not receive allowances for their children.

Parliament is to debate several draft laws stipulating better social and civil rights for women. Last year, Kuwait's constitutional court issued two milestone verdicts in favour of women. Women were allowed to obtain passports without the prior approval of male guardians, and the court confirmed two women MPs as deputies after their election was challenged for not wearing the hijab. (Material from agencies used in this report)