Focus On Principle Of Equality
WOMEN’S issues have often taken the backseat in recent times due to various developments on the political front in Kuwait, and what has resulted can perhaps be characterized as a lag in the pursuit of women’s rights in the country. However, this has been met with the establishment of various different civil society groups, NGOs and offices that deal
with women’s issues, and try to address the gaps that have been created in the struggle for equal rights.
Farida Mussayeb, a founding member of the very recently established Defending Committee for Women’s Issues in Kuwait (DCWIK) tries to situate the struggle for women’s rights in Kuwait within a larger struggle for human rights and equality in society as a whole. As such, she believes that the best way of battling these is to spread awareness amongst society, and in particular to make the women themselves aware of the importance of achieving equal standing in society.
While the rise of groups such as these does not always translate to pronouned change on a legislative scale or the immediate betterment of women’s roles in Kuwait, it is nonetheless a sign of a growing concern amongst this half of society at the very least, which in turn translates into the reshaping of society as a whole.
Question: What is the purpose of launching the Defending Committee for Women’s Issues in Kuwait?
Answer: By studying the human history, it became clear that the absence of women’s rights were a feature of human society at all times, except some historical periods where women enjoyed a privileged position and their rights exceeded men’s rights. With the emergence of the agriculture communities, and widening class differences and the state formation and the concentration of wealth, men began to take up the productive roles, and women went back to the homes, and men became in control.
Women face a number of pressures and discrimination, their role is diminished and as a whole neglected.
The evolution and progress of our society cannot be achieved unless women get equal rights to men in all fields of civil, economic and social life, and by eliminating any appearance of discrimination against them.
The feminist movement in Kuwait remained incapable of becoming a comprehensive movement with a clear social, cultural and economic vision. As it remained within the elite, it did not represent the community’s mass categories, and worked mostly on mother and child care and personal status law, or focused on the charitable activities (even though these issues and activities are important).
The mere equality of women with men in pay and political rights does not mean that women’s issues have been resolved, the absence of equality is the product of centuries of marginalization of women, and therefore we must continue to struggle in the society, against the ideas and beliefs that dictated women’s inferiority.
As is well known, many feminist schools emerged in the West. Whatever the observations about these schools and the differences between them, they have nonetheless contributed to raising awareness of women’s issues, and addressing new dimensions on the issue of women. But the experiment confirmed that those trends did not resolve women’s issues, due to the lack of a comprehensive view. Since the case still lies within the framework of struggle of both women and men together for liberation from all forms of marginalization and class oppression and national, sexual and cultural struggle, we must emphasize the unique status of women and the need to work among the widest range of women regardless of their intellectual background, to contribute to the liberation of women and achieve the demands of public interest. We must also affirm that the man himself needs liberalization of the social heritage which enshrines the inferiority of women.
Women’s issues cannot be separated from social issues, and the defense of women’s issues and their struggle to achieve their demands is essentially a part of the larger general national democratic and social struggle.
Women need to be aware of their rights and aware of their duties to become an active element in the community rather than be led by men. Women cannot achieve their demands unless they believe in the legitimacy and justice of their cause.
Q: What are your stated aims?
A: n Spread cultural and social awareness, and women’s consciousness of their rights and duties.
n Protect the gains obtained by Kuwaiti women and work on completing the rest of the goals.
n Accomplish the principle of equality and equal opportunities and the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women in terms of citizenship.
n Eliminating all forms of discrimination in leadership positions, residential care, social allowance.
n Combating violence against women and the enactment of a clear and comprehensive definition of violence against women and children. Put an end to impunity for perpetrators of violence against women and girls, and provide psychological and social support for women and children.
n Defending the rights of working women, while providing appropriate conditions atwork to help them achieve a balance between their professional and family lives.
n Care and attention to the economical suffering of the low-income families due to price rises and higher rents and unemployment.
n The development of trade union consciousness among working women and urging them to join trade unions to gain their rights and meet their demands.
n Activating the international conventions on women and children (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child).
n Amend the Personal Status Law in order to cope with the changes of the times.
n Develop a fair and equitable citizenship law, to ensure the right of children of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaiti to pass on her nationality to her children.
n To combat all forms of ignorance and underdevelopment in the community, and raise cultural and social, legal and health awareness.
n Maternal and child care, and the consideration of maternity as a social function.
n Promoting the role of women in society and enabling them to participate in the process of development and nation-building.
n Empowering women to participate effectively in the legislature, executive and judiciary.
n Coordination and cooperation with civil society organizations in Kuwait and the Arab women’s organizations to serve the global women’s issues and the community.
n Educate the potential married couples as to the rights and obligations of marriage life, and instill values of respect for family and respect for marital life.
Q: How do you hope to achieve these aims?
A: First of all we must know that these aims cannot be achieved without women’s awareness of their rights, or without the cooperation of civil society, and work with women’s groups in the region, keeping in mind that women issue is part of the social issues and the women struggle is part of the national struggle for social justice. We have a program for achieving these aims; lectures, workshops, social activities, etc.
Q: Who established the DCWIK?
A: The Defending Committee of Women’s Issues in Kuwait is an independent voluntary committee, established to defend women’s issues and rights. It was established by a group of young women, who want to make the difference and add value to women’s roles in our society.
Q: What are the main issues and problems that women face in Kuwaiti society?
A: A Kuwaiti woman faces discrimination before law, violation of human rights, violation of the Constitution articles that guarantee equality of citizens regardless of their gender, discrimination in residential care, and nationality law in which she cannot pass her nationality to her children when she is married to non-Kuwaiti husband, and her non-Kuwaiti husband has no legal right to remain in the country without a residency permit, for such permits are given only to non-Kuwaiti men who are employed. In addition, there is discrimination in leadership positions and social allowance. Women are facing violence with no clear definition of violence against women in Kuwait’s dictionary.
Women are performing a double task (jobs and taking care of her family). Working women need appropriate conditions that help them balance between the two tasks.
The vast majority of working class women suffer from the price rise and economical problems.
The personal status law needs to be amended to cope with the time changes, and the male guardianship should be dropped.
Q: How do you hope to influence legislation to draft better laws for the protection of women’s rights?
A: With the coordination and cooperation with the civil society organization, besides spreading awareness among women, and implementing our program, we can influence and make the difference.
Working to influence changes in local legislation needs an understanding of our organization’s policy and procedures related to this change, and the areas of legislation and laws that are within the scope of this activity. Then we may work with the organizations that are seeking to influence the same changes, and implement ways of influencing the change.
Legislation and laws can be influenced by establishing lobby groups that represent civil society organizations, political groups and persons who are interested in changing the law, to promote their interests to the government. This can take a wide range of forms.
The Defending Committee of Women Issues in Kuwait is a pressure group that can influence the public opinion and get their support. Many methods can be used to influence legislations and laws: lobbying, demonstrations, petitions, etc.
Q: What are the specific laws/legislatures that need to be addressed in order to better women’s status in Kuwait?
A: First of all women should be considered an important factor in the nation-building project, and should participate in the legislative, executive, judiciary, leadership and decision making positions.
The nationality law, residential care law, personal status law (marriage, divorce, and child custody), are the laws that need to be changed. And the international conventions on women and children need to be activated to better women’s status in Kuwait.
Q: How do you feel women are faring overall in Kuwaiti society?
A: Kuwaiti women were given the right to vote, and stand in election as a candidate, but they didn’t have the tools to use this right, they were not prepared for this right and were not aware of the importance of their vote, and that their votes can make the difference. That’s why they voted for the male candidates who were well-known for their opposition to women’s political participation, or voted for the tribal candidate — under the pressure of her husband — which in turn resulted in an Islamic-tribal coalition of candidates in the Parliament.
Q: What are the main factors that you believe stand in the way of women achieving their full rights in Kuwait and the Arab world?
A: We do not separate the problems and obstacles we face from those that the rest of women in the world face in achieving their rights. Women are marginalized from the decision-making positions in a male dominant society.
The biggest obstacle facing the achievement of full rights in Kuwait is the woman herself, she is not aware of her rights, and not aware of her real potential; plus laws and legislation which gave the man all the rights and consider women to be half citizens, and the heritage of inferiority and inequality between men and women - these are the real obstacles standing in the way of women achieving their full rights in Kuwait and the Arab world.
Q: Do you feel violence against women is a large issue in Kuwait?
A: Violence against women cannot be ignored in our society. Women are raped, subjected to assault, tortured, and verbally abused, but it is so deeply embedded that it is almost invisible. Women suffering are compounded by systematic discrimination and humiliation in the society.
Foreign workers remain vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, particularly female domestic workers, who have virtually no protection at all.
There is no data on the prevalence of violence against women in Kuwait, which makes it difficult to ascertain the magnitude of the problem or the effectiveness of the governmental response. Victims are often reluctant to file complaints with the police as domestic abuse is still largely regarded as a private family affair, and as such they don’t go through the criminal justice system. Perpetrators are rarely arrested even when women file police complaints that are supported by medico-legal evidence.
Q: How do you feel the Arab Spring affected women’s rights, either in improving or worsening them?
A: Women played an effective role in the “Arab Spring” uprisings or revolutions; they were in the middle of the revolutions in Egypt, Tunis, Yemen, and Libya, fighting alongside men for their legitimate rights. Yet through the transitional stage, women became marginalized and their rights sacrificed, and discrimination against her in these countries has been one of the biggest obstacles for change.
I believe the political changes in the region present a real opportunity for women to push for their rights, keeping in mind that regression may happen at this period of time and in the near future. It is normal; it is a temporary state which will not continue long, change is coming sooner or later because time goes forward and never backwards. Women’s participation in the political life on equal basis with men is an essential condition for democracy and social justice values of the Arab Spring.
The so called “Arab Spring” that I call an “uprising” is a big tide that is moving fast and getting bigger and higher, it will affect the whole world in different levels according to the level of democratic and socio-economic status of each country.
Q: How do you feel the general public has reacted to your (very recent) presence so far?
A: We were surprised by the reaction of the public, when we announced the establishment of the committee, especially from the young generation and the Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis. This indicated that we came in the right time with the right demands.
Q: Have you received any negative responses from any factions/individuals in society?
A: Yes, we did receive negative responses, and it is normal to get negative responses. They are positive indicators that we are on the right track. When you only get positive responses that means something is wrong.
By: Joana Saba
