Last Thursday, as you know, there were thousands of multitudinous demonstrations on the occasion of International Women’s Day. I am especially glad to see the success of this event in Spain where, besides the strike, many acts claiming for Women’s rights were held in the streets. Even in my city, Cordoba, where lately I was starting to perceive a kind of “lethargy” of social movements. However, 8th of March was a total success and there were many moving moments.
Surprisingly perhaps, in some countries in the Islamic World, there were some protests and proclamations regarding women’s rights too, such as Iran or Turkey. Here in Kuwait, there were no rallies but someone told me that in this month there will be some events related to this day, such as conferences or concerts (for those who are here, pay attention to the cultural agenda).
Compared to other Muslim countries, the situation of Kuwaiti women is superior in terms of rights and freedom and, in the last years, there has been some reforms in order to guarantee their participation in both social and political sphere. Regarding work, the female employment rate is the highest in the Gulf countries (around 53%) and women are very active in fields such as architecture, laws or medicine. They also hold high responsibility positions in the private business sector, having the right to open their own business, and the maternity leave is guaranteed too. On the other hand, there are organizations defending actively women’s rights, like the Women's Cultural & Social Society (WCSS), which contributed to women to get the right to vote (since 2006), and Bayadar al Salam, Islamic feminist association.
However, there are still some critical points to improve such as the domestic violence legislation (there is no any law penalizing it) and sexual harassment at work. Other sensitive topic is the situation of female migrant workers (coming mainly from Southeast Asia), who are in many cases exploited, with almost no possibility of legal defense. The government is increasing the control over the agencies and companies hiring theses workers in order to guarantee their protection.
Throughout the history of Kuwait, there has been many remarkable women and nowadays they are still contributing actively to the progress in different fields. At the political level, for example, we can mention Nabeela Al Mulla, Kuwait ambassador in Belgium. She was also Foreign Affairs ministry and representative of her country in several international agencies.
Other important woman is Fayza Al Khorafi, chemist. She was the first Head of a university in Middle East, between 1993 and 2002. She is now the vice-president of the World Science Academy.
We have to talk also about Laila Al Othman, writer and columnist, whose texts mention controversial topics for the most conservative sectors in Islam.
In the World of the arts, we can highlight the work of Sheikha Hussah Al Sabah, director and founder of Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah, a cultural organization aimed to preserve and enhance the artistic legacy in Kuwait Other influential person in this field is Sheikha Altaf Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, president of Sadu House, an institution focused on the protection of cultural works of Bedouin women and their handicraft.
I hope that this 8th of March can be one more step towards the complete gender equity around the World. It is possible with little effort coming from different fields. Each person can do something from his or her context of influence, educating, increasing awareness, cooperating… there are many examples to do this. The feminist movement affects everyone regardless the ideology, their achievements benefit to everyone as society. It is not a strategy to get votes or a kind of propaganda, as I am reading these days in some media. A bit of reflection wouldn’t do us any harm.
For all of them.
