Kuwait: 'Freedom' for Kuwait women

http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=ODg1MjU0ODQ0
B Izaak, Staff Writer

KUWAIT: The Constitutional Court yesterday issued a landmark ruling by abrogating an article in the 1962 passports law that banned Kuwaiti women from obtaining their own passports without the prior approval of their husbands.
The ruling, which is final and cannot be appealed, said that the article in the law violates a number of articles in the constitution, especially articles 29, 30 and 31 which guarantee personal freedom. In the ruling, the court also stated that under the constitution, women right to travel cannot be denied by anyone including their husbands because this is one of their basic rights in the constitution.

Female MP Aseel Al-Awadhi welcomed the ruling as a victory for the constitution and democracy in Kuwait, adding that it has eliminated a long injustice against Kuwaiti women. She said that she will work to amend all laws passed by the previous National Assemblies which are in violation of the constitution.

The ruling was triggered when a Kuwaiti woman sued her husband kept her passport and those of their three children and refused to give them. The court ordered the man to give the passports. The constitutional court also said that husbands cannot prevent their wives from travelling without a court order and only when they prove that their travel undermines the interest of both parties.

In another development, the battle for bank loans relief was officially launched yesterday after a number of MPs filed a request to convene a special session to debate the issue on November 17. The request however will be discussed in the assembly's opening session of the new term on October 27 or in early November.

It was signed by MP Saadoun Hammad and nine other MPs, according to Hammad but many more MPs are likely to sign later. The request calls on the assembly's financial and economic affairs committee to study a number of draft laws on the issue and submit its report to the assembly latest by November 10.

The bills call for the government to purchase all existing personal loans on Kuwaiti citizens and then reschedule their repayment over many years after scrapping all interest. The government has so far rejected the bills saying it was ready to increase the capital of a KD500-million fund established last year to help defaulters.

Finance Minister Mustafa Al-Shamali has said that the amount of the loans and interest is KD6 billion and any purchase or write-off will be highly expensive and harmful for national economy. Latest available official figures show that 278,000 Kuwaitis are debtors and around two percent of them are facing problems repaying. Supporters of the debt relief claim to have the support of at least 30 lawmakers, insisting that they will push through the draft law and pass in the assembly.

However MPs supporting the bills have blasted Shamali and threatened to grill him in the assembly over the issue. Islamist-tribal MP Daifallah Buramia yesterday strongly criticized the minister and threatened that he will use his "constitutional tools" against the minister if he does not change his position.

MPs have claimed that around 100,000 Kuwaiti debtors are facing legal action, including arrest, for being unable to repay, and held the finance ministry and the central bank responsible for the crisis. The issue is likely to snowball into a major flashpoint between the government and MPs during the next term unless an acceptable compromise was reached.

UAE: First Etihad Emirati women cadet pilots graduate

WAM Abu Dhabi, 19 Oct. 2009
Etihad Airways' first female Emirati cadet pilots - Salma Al-Baloushi and Aisha Al-Mansouri - have successfully graduated from flight training alongside nine male colleagues and gained their airline transport pilot license (ATPL).

The cadet pilots, Etihad's second group to graduate, were conferred with their flying wings in a ceremony at the airline's training academy which was attended by family and friends as well as senior management from Etihad Airways and the Horizon International Flight Academy.

Joining Salma and Aisha to receive their wings were Ali Al Farsi, Ahmed Balalaa, Ibrahim Sanqoor, Khalid Al Ali, Mohamed Al Kaabi, Khalid Al Marzouqi, Khalil Amiri, Abdalla Balkhashar and Hasan Abdulla.

James Hogan, Etihad Airways' chief executive, said: "Everyone at Etihad is delighted that Salma and Aisha - our first female cadet pilots - have made history as the first women to graduate from the program.

"Salma and Aisha are a key part of Etihad's expanding female pilot community and we wish them, as well as their male colleagues, the best of luck as they enter the next phase of their careers with Etihad." The cadets started the pilot program course in September 2007 and now have the rank of second officers at Etihad Airways.

As second officers the pilots will undertake a multi-crew co-operation course and an Airbus A320 type conversion course which will enable them to fly as co-pilots on the Etihad Airways Airbus A320 short haul fleet.

The cadet pilots will spend much of the time during the type conversion course in Etihad's A320 full-flight simulator as well as training in the development of non-technical skills applicable to working in a multi-crew environment. After approximately six months they complete their final checks and will qualify as A320 first officers.

In order to gain the frozen ATPL the cadet pilots had to complete 750 hours of classroom tuition and 205 hours of flight training in single and multi-engine aircraft. During this time they all passed the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority's theoretical knowledge and flying exams.

Etihad Airways recently welcomed the 100th cadet pilot to its innovative and expanding flying program. Shareefa Al Bloushi is a member of Etihad's tenth group of cadets. She is also the sixth female Emirati cadet pilot to join the program, and eighth female overall.

In addition to the cadet pilot program, Etihad Airways' Emiratisation initiatives focus on two other streams which include the technical engineering development program and graduate management development program.

Etihad now also has two international cadet pilot courses which run alongside the five Emirati courses at Horizon Academy. The two groups contain 24 cadet pilots from countries around the world including Hungary, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia: Saudi activists renew calls for setting up women's clubs

Clash continues between conservative and liberal elements as doctor warns of rising obesity and heart ailments in the absence of such facilities in the country.

By Abdul Rahman Shaheen, Correspondent, Gulf News

Riyadh: A number of Saudi cultural figures and members of the Shoura Council renewed their demand to the General Presidency for Youth Welfare to set up women's clubs supervised by women.

"The Presidency should be compelled to set up women's clubs across the Kingdom in full compliance with a Shoura Council decision taken several years ago but never implemented," they said.

Speaking to Gulf News, they lamented that recommendations of the council were not binding to the executing authority.

While urging the Ministry of Education to introduce physical education at girls' schools, they called for steps to silence the hardliners, who want to take society backward.

Absence

Noting the absence of any woman representative in the General Presidency for Youth Welfare, Dr Abdullah Al Feefi, a member of the Shoura Council, said the Presidency was not paying any heed to the directives made by the Council to set up women's clubs under the supervision of women and in full compliance with Sharia.

"It should be made obligatory for the Presidency to introduce a wide variety of cultural activities for women," he said.

On his part, Abdul Rahman Al Shalash, a prominent Saudi writer, noted that there are some people, who are fighting against practising of sports by women even at home.

They think any sports activity by woman is the beginning of evil and disintegration as well as stripping off their modesty and morality.

"All these were based not on any substantial evidence either from the Quran or Sunnah [Tradition of the Prophet]," he said.

"They should be bold enough to come forward with proof, if any, to the effect that Islam has prohibited sports for women," he said.

According to Al Shalash, the increased moves to clampdown on women's sports have resulted in a sharp decline in the number of sports centres in major Saudi cities.

"This has prompted many women to go for a stroll, either in the company of other women or alone, at the major pedestrian paths or at commercial markets," he noted.

Sulaiman Al Zayidi, another member of the Shoura Council, said several women are seen strolling on pedestrian paths every evening in full public view.

"Is it not strange to allow women to continue this practice and at the same time, preventing them from doing the same inside the premises of their schools and universities under the supervision of their female teachers as part of a health education curriculum, and not allowing them to set up women's clubs?" he asked.

Warning

It is noteworthy that three senior Islamic scholars — Shaikh Abdul Rahman Al Barak, Abdul Aziz Al Rajhi and Abdullah Al Jabreen — issued a statement earlier, slamming those who call for setting up of women's clubs.

"Allah will punish such offenders. Setting up of such clubs will lead to spreading immorality and perversion," they warned.

On the other hand, the lone woman minister of Saudi Arabia, Noura Al Fayez, who is in charge of the girl's education portfolio under the Ministry of Education, gave hints in an earlier press statement about introducing sports at girls' schools.

"A decision is yet to be taken on the matter," she said.

Meanwhile, health experts warned against a huge rise in cases of obesity among women in the absence of facilities for physical exercise.

Dr Hani Najm, president of Saudi Cardiology Society, said that the average cases of obesity among Saudi women reached between 50 and 74 per cent in 2005 and it would reach more than 75 per cent by 2015 in the absence of providing outlets for women to exercise.

MENA: Women, bloggers & gays lead change in the Arab World

October 14, 2009

Octavia Nasr BIOAC360° ContributorCNN Senior Editor, Mideast Affairs

The Arab Middle East teaches minorities some tough life lessons and shapes them in ways that might surprise you. While the effect of a conservative patriarchal society is expected to keep people under the thumb of tradition, culture and tribal and religious beliefs - sometimes too much oppression and control yields opposite results.

Having lived in several parts of the Middle East as a child, I learned that a woman doesn’t exist except as someone’s daughter, sister, wife or mother. Her opinion is not required, her emotions don’t count and she has no rights whatsoever – except those granted to her by a male.

With a few recent exceptions, an Arab woman’s testimony is not accepted in court. Most Arab women can’t travel outside their countries without permission from a male guardian, and most Arab women still can’t give nationality to their children. In Saudi Arabia women are not even allowed to drive cars. A popular Arabic saying describes it best: a good woman “has a mouth that eats but not one that speaks.”

The Arab Middle East taught me that sexual expression is exclusive to men. Men can have pre-marital sex, and when they’re married, their extra-marital affairs are ignored, justified or blamed on the wives. Their bodies are their own to do with them what they want. A woman’s body, however, represents her family’s honor. So, girls and women are expected to cover their bodies and repress their sexual feelings to protect the honor of the family.

This is such a deeply-rooted belief that, to this day, girls and women are killed by fathers, brothers or cousins at the suspicion of sexual activity. Even if a girl or woman is the victim of rape or assault, she can be killed under the pretext of “cleansing the family’s honor.” The practice known as “Honor Killing” is still common among all religions in the Middle East; it is even justified under the law and carries no penalty.

As someone who grew up and spent my early adulthood in the Middle East, I also learned that men run the show and they run it for life. Imagine that with the exception of a few, all Arab leaders haven’t changed since I was a child; and those who died were replaced by their sons. So far, the customary behavior has been such that if you wanted change, you had to ask men for their permission, their blessing, their support, their approval, their orders, and their actions to bring that change.

The women in my family were very active in the women’s rights movement of the 60s, 70s and 80s. Men listened to them, gave them a forum to express their desire to become equal through conferences, speeches and occasional articles in the media. They even gave them some rights – like the right to vote in some countries and the right to run for office in others. But, women’s rights were always controlled by men’s approval and that didn’t go far at all. As a matter of fact, a quick look at the Arab Middle East shows you that with very few exceptions it remains a region controlled by the ruling few who are unwilling to relinquish power. They resist change as if it were a contagious disease that will lead to their demise if they ever catch it.

Enter the age of the computer and the Internet, the age of blogging and connecting with the world. The only age that will allow a Saudi female cartoonist to draw pictures depicting how a woman feels when her husband takes on a second or third wife. It simply rips her heart out she draws.

Islam accepts polygamy and blesses it with a caveat which men enthusiastic about the practice tend to ignore. You can take multiple wives, but “if you want to be fair, marry only one,” the holy Muslim book guides. While not many in Saudi Arabia might care about how Hana Hajjar feels, a whole world outside the kingdom, is paying attention, supporting and perhaps even lending a hand.

The online traffic we witnessed in the aftermath of Iran’s contested elections and the outpour of support Iranian reformists received through social media are perfect examples of the effect of international support on local activism. In the case of Iran, it energized and helped spread the message to far reaching corners of the world.

Other stories that have captured the world’s attention are bloggers jailed in Egypt and Saudi Arabia for speaking up against the Status Quo in their countries and demanding social justice and political reform. We are learning about what’s going on inside the most conservative and most police-controlled countries in the region through bloggers who are not allowing the intimidation of prison, harassment or abuse to silence them.

It is obvious now there is a growing number of Arabs, men and women, who not only want change but they are willing to get to that change on their own. They grew tired of demanding it and not receiving anything in return, so they made the decision to truly become the change and live it in practice.

Now, you have bloggers like Wael Abbas in Egypt who openly criticizes President Hosni Mubarak’s policies and screams out slurs against his country’s secret police that detains him for hours and confiscates his laptop without any explanation or apology whatsoever.
You also have the gay and lesbian Middle Eastern community publishing their online magazine which deals with issues they find important. They discuss sexual orientation out in the open and provide a voice and an outlet they wouldn’t have even dreamed of a few years ago. Their headlines read, “Who we sleep with is nobody’s business” and “Homophobia and Paranoia: Words that Ryhme.”

The Lebanese Association of Women Researchers ‘Bahithat’ just organized what is dubbed a cornerstone of Arab Feminism through a conference at the American University of Beirut. Women from all over the Middle East - including Iraq and Iran - were there promoting the idea that “change will have to be imposed not demanded anymore” says Lebanese Feminist Zeina Zaatari, one of the most vocal voices at the conference.

The Feminist Collective promoted the event online through social networking sites such as Twitter. They drew the world’s attention to hear the voices of powerful women who gave themselves the right instead of waiting for officials to give them permission to speak or express themselves. Zaatari captured the limelight as she linked a woman’s equality with a woman’s sexual freedom and sexual expression. “A woman can’t be free if she doesn’t own her body and has full control of it and if she doesn’t express her sexuality,” she told me in a phone interview from Beirut.

The December 2008 Issue of Jasad.

Another example of women taking matters into their own hands is a quarterly magazine called ‘Jasad’ which means ‘Body’ in Arabic. It’s a racy magazine that was launched by a woman in Lebanon at the end of 2008 dealing with the female body and its deepest sexual desires. ‘Jasad’ is banned and its website is blocked from many Arab countries.

“This doesn’t stop subscriptions from being delivered by courier mail,” founder and editor-in-chief Joumana Haddad told me as she was busily preparing the fifth issue. She says the magazine is doing well despite the fact that “no one dares to advertize” in it. She talks about threats she and her editors receive on a regular basis and unending harassment since they all use their real names. She says it is the support she receives from within the Middle East and outside that keeps her going and that “nothing will stop ‘Jasad’ from being published.”

Several new lines are being drawn in the Middle East’s desert sand simultaneously... If they continue to be drawn at this rate longer and thicker, it’s hard to foresee any governments, censors or jails being able to stop them.