Tuesday, Mar 08, 2005
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By Atul Aneja
MANAMA, MARCH 7. Several hundred women and their male sympathisers staged an unprecedented protest in support of women's rights outside the Kuwaiti Parliament today. According to an AFP report, around 400 women along with some male supporters took part in the protest. The demonstrators carried placards reading: "Women's rights now", and "Islamic law does not contain anything against women's rights". The rally was timed to the on-going debate in the Kuwaiti Parliament on the passage of a bill on women's rights. The bill calls for amending Article I of the 1962 electoral law, which allows only males to contest elections and vote, whereas the Constitution calls for gender equality. The Kuwaiti Cabinet approved the legislation last May, and the Government has begun a media campaign to gather public support. Some of the women were taken inside the Parliament building to witness the debate.
Considerble influence
Most Islamic groups, having considerable influence in Parliament, have twice defeated attempts to pass a bill that would grant women political rights. Kuwaiti women serve as diplomats, run businesses, and work at all levels in industry, but, like their counterparts in Saudi Arabia, cannot vote or stand in elections. The Islamic Salaf Alliance threatened to "fill" the streets with people opposing women's rights. "If the Government allows the (pro-women) procession, we are prepared to fill up the Gulf Road (outside Parliament) with people opposed to women's rights," Khalid Sultan al-Isa told an anti-women rally on Saturday. Mr. Al-Isa and his group oppose women's rights on religious grounds, saying that women have no political rights under the strict interpretation of Islam.
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