Kuwait: Al-Naki hosts political symposium on women's rights

Kuwait Times
By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: Lawyer and former candidate Najla Al-Naki held an electoral symposium with candidates and intellectuals at her office in Salmiya on Monday evening. The symposium was related to the coming elections and the discussions focused mainly on women's rights. The speakers also focused on some of the mistakes made by the previous parliament.

According to some of the speakers, approving women's political rights did not come at the right time. Women gained their political rights in the summer of 2005 and they had less than two months to prepare for elections, which, according to writer Ghaneema Al-Fahad was "mission impossible." "If we want to paint a room, it needs more than a month to dry. The elections are always held in summer," Al-Fahad said.

Kuwaiti women are oppressed in comparison to men. "Men always receive support, such as those candidates who received checks from outside Kuwait. Meanwhile, nobody is supporting the female candidates. Why doesn't the government support women? There are many creative Kuwaiti women who were not supported. If any woman is elected in this election, it will be thanks to her tribe that supports her. But the tribe doesn't give me a house or salary. We are proud to be loyal to the tribe, but our main loyalty must be to Kuwait," she added.

Although there is democracy in the West, women still have not reached equal status with men. "In European countries, the number of female politicians in parliaments is much less than men, although the women there have reached senior positions such as the post of prime minister. In Kuwait, women also occupy many key positions, and I expect that they will reach the parliament in this election," said Farhan Al-Farhan.

The speech of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah was very emotional and impressed many people. "I was impressed by the Amir's speech so I decided to run in this election. I think we need new people to enter the parliament. I didn't prepare a plan and I don't have political ambitions, but I believe I can help in making a positive change. There are many MPs who caused strain, problems and corruption in parliament, and this is wrong and has to be changed," said Manal Al-Ahmad, candidate from the secon
d district.

Manal has an opinion in regard to solving some of the political problems. "We should start with the family, and the woman is at the center of it. Women should take their rights; in this way, she will be able to help successfully raise coming generations. The second step is to choose qualified teachers for our children, especially in the first grades of education. The bedoon issue is a time bomb that should be solved. They don't have any other country besides Kuwait, and they don't have the Kuwaiti national
ity. They should at least be given basic human rights. Finally, the problem of citizens with two nationalities is a catastrophe and should be solved," she added.

Voters must make the right decision by voting for the better candidate. "To have a good parliament, our choice must not be based on sectarian or tribal aspects. Each voter has the right to vote for four different people. So, if the husband or father of any woman told her to vote for a certain person related to her, she can give him one vote and she still has three votes that can be used according to her beliefs," said Abdullah Al-Hajiri, candidate in the third district.

People complain about the parliament's performance, but they were the ones who voted for them. "We can blame ourselves for the problems happening now. About 56 percent of the voters are women, and not a single one of them succeeded in winning. Fifty MPs are men who succeeded in winning although men make up only 44 percent of voters. There are certain traditions followed in Kuwaiti society that makes the woman a follower of the man, but she doesn't have to be without an opinion at all. It is not true if the
y say that she was pulled to vote for a certain candidate because she has free will in front of the ballot box, where nobody sees her except God. There she can make the right choice," said political activist Dr Ayid Al-Mana.