Passports for Kuwaiti Women
I saw on the Abu Aardvark twitter feed early this morning that Kuwait women have won the right to travel and obtain a passport without the consent of their husband. That’s obviously appropriate on its own terms, but I was interested to further learn that this wasn’t a royal decree but a ruling of the country’s constitutional court. Indeed, in recent years Kuwait seems to have evolved in a more democratic direction in recent years than I’d realized:
It is the latest gain for women in the oil-rich Gulf state which has made a number of strides towards gender equity in recent years.
The presence of female MPs followed the granting of equal political rights in 2005.
I don’t exactly know how to characterize Kuwait’s political system. It’s a kind of old-school constitutional monarchy in which there’s a meaningful role for elections and parliament but the royal family also exercises meaningful governing authority. I’m also led to believe that Kuwait has significant human rights problems in terms of the treatment of migrant domestic workers and criminal penalties for “imitating the appearance of the opposite sex” by wearing inappropriate clothing. But presumably all that is just part of Human Rights Watch’s well-known anti-Israel bias and can be safely ignored.
17 Responses to “Passports for Kuwaiti Women”
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October 21st, 2009 at 10:06 am
One has to remember that, when first incorporated, the United States sanctioned slavery, and women did not have the right to vote. Only 87 years later were slaves freed. Less than 100 years ago, women still could not vote. In this decade, the justice department was issuing opinions that torture was constitutional.
All of that to say that Kuwait’s move from absolute monarchy is progress, even if there is still a way to go on other fundamental issues.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:13 am
I was going to post a sarcastic comment about how we in the west shouldn’t be criticizing Middle Eastern cultures… but I see Bud Gibson above has beaten me to it.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:32 am
Matt,
I generally support you and your blog, but I’m not sure you’re being remotely fair to the David Bernstein (admittedly a few-trick pony) HRW critique. Do you think HRW is objective when it comes to Israel or not?
Is there something I’m missing here? Because you seem to gloss over the core argument and cherry-pick/straw man this thing to death.
Commenters on the last HRW thread argued, with some evidence, that HRW doesn’t disproportionately report on Israel, which was starting to get at the core argument, but…is that all?
October 21st, 2009 at 10:45 am
what does that even mean?
“we” didn’t hold slaves and “we” didn’t prevent women from voting. the individuals living at that time did those things, and i have no problem criticizing them for it. and if i have no problem criticizing other individuals across time, then i certainly have no problem criticizing them across space.
cultural relativism has a certain limited usefulness, but justifying gross violations of human rights is not one of them.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:47 am
When Kuwait runs out of oil, the sh*t will hit the fan to a degree that makes Afghanistan look like Denmark. I would not point to Kuwait as a model of good governance too soon if I were you, Yglesias.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:49 am
I generally support you and your blog, but I’m not sure you’re being remotely fair to the David Bernstein
Matt’s been more than fair to Bernstein.
Regarding Kuwait, this means Iraq has improved the situation and that people like pseudonymous in NC are fucking assholes.
The presence of female MPs followed the granting of equal political rights in 2005.
Ah progress in the Middle East! Which isn’t surprising since Turkey borders Iraq.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:22 am
What the hell does that have to do with Kuwait?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:48 am
Do you think HRW is objective when it comes to Israel or not?
At this point, what does that even mean, “objective”?
I have a hard time believing that Bernstein is mainly concerned with “objectivity” when it comes to Israel.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:27 pm
“J R”
I was going to offer you a definition of “sarcastic” but cultural relativism has a certain limited usefulness would seem to innoculate you — and certainly “Bud Gibson” — against understanding it.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:53 pm
What the hell does that have to do with Kuwait?
You’re right, that was a stupid thing to write. What I was getting at is that Turkey is relatively modern and it borders Iraq, which borders Kuwait. Iraq is getting better and improving the Middle East. Some would say the ME is improving despite Iraq, but I would disagree. Turkey is making peace with neighbors Syria and Armenia. Iran is having a green revolution.
You’ll probably agree with my opinion that women’s rights aren’t a high priority for American conservatives or the Republican party, a party who says Pelosi needs to be put in her place. But good for Kuwati women.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:13 pm
There was a country in the Mideast in which women were fifty percent of the college and professional population, head-dress was completely optional, rapists were executed…what country was that?
I guess Iraq doing o.k., means that the women of Iraq are now powerless, being raped by all sides, and are expected to kill themselves for it.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
There was a country in the Mideast in which women were fifty percent of the college and professional population, head-dress was completely optional, rapists were executed…what country was that?
So you agree with fatty Michael Moore that Iraq was a land of rainbows and kids flying kites before 2003? But things are gettting better in neighboring Kuwait and you can’t admit that can you?
October 21st, 2009 at 2:19 pm
I guess Iraq doing o.k., means that the women of Iraq are now powerless, being raped by all sides, and are expected to kill themselves for it.
If you were a Sunni. If you were a Kurdish woman you were being gassed in a genocidal manner, if you were a Shia – in the majority – you were disenfranchised and slaughtered. But you don’t seem to care about fine distinctions.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:30 pm
By that logic, there should be few Shia or Kurdish women left in Iraq. Saddam Hussein wasn’t a great guy, but he’s become a mythological monster used to justify the destruction of Iraq. How anyone could justify what has been done to Iraq is beyond me. “Fine distinctions”. Har. A dictator versus being carpet bombed and occupied? And they are supposed to think they’re better off because we killed one guy. Fuck you.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:44 pm
By that logic, there should be few Shia or Kurdish women left in Iraq. Saddam Hussein wasn’t a great guy, but he’s become a mythological monster used to justify the destruction of Iraq. How anyone could justify what has been done to Iraq is beyond me. “Fine distinctions”. Har. A dictator versus being carpet bombed and occupied? And they are supposed to think they’re better off because we killed one guy. Fuck you.
Blow me asshole. You think he’s a “mythological monster” because you know nothing about Iraq or Saddam Hussein. You just know you don’t like your uncle b/c he listens to Rush Limbaugh and that Republicans suck so anything they say must be wrong.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Oh. And your justification for invading Iraq, is what? We destroyed that nation. I don’t have an uncle who listens to Rush Limbaugh, btw. I’m fifty years old and don’t have anything to work out with my parents either, if you must know.
However bad Hussein was, he didn’t create a million orphans or four million homeless. He kept the electricity on and the water running. He kept tribalism in check. He also had Shia in his cabinet. The idea that he was committing genocide against the Shia, just for being Shia is pure PR garbage.
If we really wanted to do Iraq a favor, we could have lifted the sanctions. Equating wholesale destruction of a nation to liberation is pathological.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:05 pm
[...] Yglesias points out that the most encouraging part of this news is that the change was made through a judicial [...]