Gender and Politics in Kuwait

Women and Political Participation in the Gulf

Meshal Al-Sabah

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781780763064
• eBook ISBN: 9780857734051
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Social Sciences

The role of women in politics in the Gulf is a much-debated and often little-understood subject in the West. In Gender and Politics in Kuwait the author sheds new light on the struggle of Kuwaiti women for political participation, examining both the positions women hold in society and politics, and the discourses surrounding feminism and civil rights. He charts the history of women and their contribution to the Kuwaiti state, from independence and the writing of the constitution in the 1960s, through the Iraqi occupation in 1990, to the struggle for the right to vote and stand for election in the twenty-first century. Drawing on the experiences of women in a range of roles in Kuwaiti society, including government, education, employment, civil society and the media, this is a comprehensive examination of gender politics and its impact in the Middle East.

Chapter 1

1991: A TURNING POINT IN KUWAITI POLITICS

Kuwait is commonly regarded as one of the most liberal of the GCC states, and has shown a steady improvement in women’s rights since independence. Across the region, women are increasingly influencing the socio-economic structure, and the GCC states are tapping into the potential of a whole generation of intelligent and well-educated women, a social experiment that initially started with inclusive education built upon oil wealth. By the year 2000, Kuwait had a very high proportion of women entering tertiary education, at 32 per cent, just behind Qatar, at 36 per cent, and closely followed by Bahrain, at 28 per cent, and the KSA, at 25 per cent. When compared with the 1980 figures, of 15 per cent, 17 per cent, 5 per cent and 5 per cent respectively, this is a huge change, in only 20 years.¹ Between 1980 and 2003, the proportion of women in the workforce increased, from 13 per cent to 29 per cent in Kuwait, from 7.6 per cent to 20.2 per cent in the KSA, 11.0 per cent to 22.9 per cent in Bahrain and 6.4 per cent to 17.9 per cent in Qatar.² These figures show that, while the number of women entering the workforce is low when compared with the number entering higher education, it has still risen. Kuwait has performed well in this area, and compares favourably against other GCC states, while the region, as a whole, has shown one of the largest increases in women’s education in the world.

However, by Western standards, the entire region has rarely addressed the emancipation of women and their participation in the democratic process, despite the fact that women are rapidly forming the backbone of a new professional class. Whilst it is very easy to judge this particular policy as backwards or oppressive, it is important to remember that most GCC countries are very young states that only shrugged off colonialism between 1961 and 1971. The sudden influx of oil wealth supported a rapid process of modernization and a population boom, as the societies transformed from a tribal culture into modern and urbanized states. The experiences of the Gulf States, and Kuwait in particular, are proving to be an unintentional but unique social experiment in developing democratic societies possessing a strong Arabic and Islamic influence.³

Kuwait, traditionally, has stood at the forefront of change, and women were encouraged to participate in the educational system and to enter the workforce, even if this process was a gradual one. Despite this, women were barred from voting or participating in the electoral process, though possessing a constitutional right to equality. As a result, many women’s groups, especially the WCSS and the Arab Women’s Development Society (AWDS) during the 1960s and 1970s, spoke out against this ban and agitated for the right to vote.⁴ These feminist groups were pitched against a conservative bloc, which used a range of tactics to silence their voices, eventually supporting women’s groups dedicated to maintaining the status quo. This tactic stalled the process of emancipation and equality during the 1980s, but Kuwait was soon to face a unique crisis in the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent war of liberation, which would have a permanent impact on the Kuwaiti collective psyche. The war became a catalyst for change, and the courage and ingenuity shown by women during the invasion revitalized the women’s movement, renewing calls for emancipation.

To understand the sheer magnitude of this paradigm change, it is important to delve deeply into the Arabic and Islamic foundations of the region, because the roots of Kuwaiti feminism lie deep in the past. The oil boom underpinned the rapid development from a nomadic tribal culture into a modern society, and access to education and freedom of speech encouraged women’s groups to become vocal. The ruling classes attempted to ignore the calls for change, but the turmoil caused by the Gulf War opened the floodgates as women discovered a newfound confidence. The Gulf War pushed women’s rights to the forefront of the public consciousness; the issue was supported by pressure from the West as the conflict focused the attention of the international media on the region.

The Demographic, Social and Political Status of Women in Kuwait before the Iraqi Invasion: A Historical Reference

Culturally, Kuwait shares many traditions with its neighbouring states but, uniquely, it was founded upon peaceful migration rather than conquest by the sword. This subtle difference lies at the root of Kuwait’s liberal attitude towards women, and fuelled a gradual shift towards equality. Studying this unique history and tradition reveals why Kuwait took a slightly different, but nonetheless significant, direction to that of the other Gulf States, and provides an insight into why the movement for gender equality took root and grew stronger. The 1990 Gulf War did not last for long, but it acted as the tipping point for a cultural change that had been developing ever since the foundation of the state.

The long history of Kuwait begins in the early eighteenth century, when clans belonging to the Anaiza tribe gradually migrated to the Persian Gulf from Saudi Arabia. These clans, largely originating from the Najd region of Arabia, formed a confederation and called themselves Bani Utub. The first tribe to settle in the area, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, was the Bani Khalid, traditionally desert nomads who rarely used the sea. This tribe controlled the area and maintained peace, an atmosphere that encouraged other Arab tribes to follow and settle in the region. These new tribes integrated peacefully and, notably, included the Bani Utub, the tribe from which the Kuwaiti ruling family, Al-Sabah; the rulers of Bahrain, the Al-Khalifa family; and the merchant Al-Jalahma family descended.⁵ This gradual development of Kuwait as a peaceful society, in a strategic location, fuelled its development as a significant centre of trade in the Persian Gulf region. The potential for generating wealth also enticed significant numbers of Persians and Indians to settle there.⁶ Kuwait became a valuable market for many commodities, including horses, wood, spices, coffee and dates, but became most famous as a centre for pearl trading, a trade that gave the newly formed state its name – Kuwait, the Pearl of the Gulf.

In the mid-eighteenth century, Sabah I bin Jaber was unanimously chosen as the first Emir of Kuwait, and the Al-Sabah family have remained in power ever since. This peaceful development provides a stark contrast to most other Gulf States, where the rulers seized power through conquest rather than by consent, and is an important factor that shaped the development of Kuwaiti nationalism. The ruling family maintained a steady and healthy relationship with the people of Kuwait, actively striving to consolidate a relationship of trust and mutual respect.⁷ The key, according to Mohamed Al-Jassem is, ‘the very civilized way the Al-Sabah family came to be rulers: The Kuwaitis agreed to give them power and the relation between the Al-Sabahs and the Kuwaitis has remained based on agreement and very civilized’.⁸ This genesis, from peaceful origins, formed the bedrock of Kuwaiti culture and acted as the precursor for the state developing a twentieth-century democracy many years ahead of its adjacent Arab neighbours.

Unlike nearby Basra, in Iraq, Kuwait City was a free port until 1896, when Mubarak Al-Khabir murdered two of his brothers and seized power. The merchant families, unhappy with this, did not sit idly by. They created representative assemblies in the early 1920s, in an attempt to regain their traditional status and influence within the Kuwaiti political structure.⁹ Encouraged by the British – who had been originally invited to the country to protect against aggression from the Arabian Peninsula, Persia and Iraq – the second Assembly seized much of the emir’s authority, and built an efficient bureaucracy. In 1939, a coalition of sheikhs, drawn from the ruling family, closed the Assembly and seized control of the bureaucratic structures, once again defeating the efforts of the merchants.¹⁰ During this period, the Al-Sabahs adroitly created institutions and installed family members in positions of influence, using nepotism to strengthen their hold on the state. This state of affairs continued for many decades as Kuwait maintained a strong mercantile economy.

Kuwait’s proximity to Saudi Arabia, alongside the historical and family ties, strongly influenced the formation and development of this small nation. Unlike its other Gulf neighbours, Kuwaiti merchant families formed alliances to protect and insure their sources of wealth. War and strife are expensive, consuming wealth and manpower, so peaceful resolution within families was highly valued in Kuwaiti society. Preferably, disputes were resolved by family members and by the tribal elders of the disputing families. This mechanism perpetuated a balanced system of justice and planted the seeds of fundamental democratic and secular values. Unity was the mark of early Kuwaiti history, built upon the unanimous decision to elect Sabah I bin Jaber as emir by a crude vote rather than by force of arms.¹¹ The occasional outbreaks of rivalry and hostility between the powerful merchant families legitimized the monarchy, who could act as a mediator between the various factions. This structure kept power within the hands of the ruling family, and this has remained the case, despite the challenges generated by oil wealth and the drive towards modernization. Within this structure lay the seeds of the Kuwaiti women’s rights movement, a process that the Al-Sabahs cultivated as oil wealth changed the political and economic landscape of the region.¹²

Society was soon to see a rapid change, as the discovery of oil brought a sudden influx of wealth into the region. This discovery created a new ‘El Dorado’, as an increasingly technology-based world sought energy to fuel rapid industrialization. Before the discovery of the oil fields, the small population of the Persian Gulf area was predominantly agrarian, comprised of nomads and semi-nomads working the land, and fishermen inhabiting the coastal strip. The small urban populations were mainly built upon the maritime trade routes extending to Southeast Asia and East Africa, although there were a few land routes into the Levant and North Africa. Overall, especially outside the urban centres, the Gulf population survived through a traditional subsistence economy; this was in a particularly poor state after the collapse of the pearl industry in the 1920s, and poverty was endemic.¹³

The Oil Boom and Population Explosion: An Investment in Infrastructure and People

The oil boom, in the latter half of the twentieth century, forever changed the demographics in Kuwait, and indirectly led to the formation of a strong women’s rights movement. The population explosion saw the population climb from about 277,980 in 1967 to 2,125,000 by 1990, with much of this increase caused by a net influx of migrants.¹⁴ For example, of the 1997 population of 2,152,775, only 745,189 were Kuwaiti; the rest were made up of Egyptians, Syrians, Iranians and South Asians.¹⁵ In the 1930s, Kuwait became a prime location for oil exportation, although this process was suspended for the duration of the Second World War. In the late 1940s and the early 1950s, oil exploration resumed and the nation began to reap the benefits of the oil era, joining its Gulf State neighbours in embarking on a rapid period of modernization. Across the region, alongside the huge oil refineries, entire cities sprang up, with the GCC states taking advantage of cheap immigrant labour to build new airports, road systems, hospitals, clinics, schools, universities and communicatio...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• About the author
• Title Page
• Contents
• Acronyms Used
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: 1991: A Turning Point in Kuwaiti Politics
• Chapter 2: Going Back to Move Forwards: Internal Debate over the Consequences of the 1990 Crisis
• Chapter 3: Indirect Change: The Status of Women in the Non-Political Arena
• Chapter 4: The Debate within the Ruling Family
• Chapter 5: Women in Politics: The National and International Debate
• Chapter 6: Sponsors and Factions of the Kuwaiti Women’s Rights Movement
• Chapter 7: The Future: Challenges, Expectations and Opportunities
• Chapter 8: The Long Road to Success: Women in Kuwaiti Politics 1991–2009
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Index
• eCopyright