Kuwaiti woman’s campaign

[stuartParticipant]

KUWAIT CITY - Unveiled, unmarried, and unafraid, Ayesha Al-Reshaid is determined to break the social and political taboos against women in Kuwait. But simply exercising her newly won right to vote in national elections was not enough for this 40-something businesswoman and journalist.

Instead, she has made a brash bid for a parliamentary seat in the Islamist-controlled district of Keifan, 10 minutes from downtown Kuwait City. Dominated by former member of parliament (MP) Waleed Tabtabae – infamous for his opposition to women’s rights, public dancing, and women wearing shorts during sports matches – Keifan is a conservative stronghold where most of the women wear the body-length abaya, hijab (head scarf), and the face-covering niqab.

Armed with a broad winning smile, Ms. Reshaid – one of 28 female candidates among 253 hopefuls – says that she chose to take on the Islamists directly because “I’m very competitive and this area [Keifan] is very difficult. If I succeed, then that success will be that much more special.”

While women’s prospects for winning seats are considered remote, many observers have already hailed the parliamentary elections as a success because they mark the first time Kuwaiti women have taken part – as voters and candidates – in a national election. Now, Saudi Arabia is the only Middle Eastern country that holds national elections but doesn’t allow women to vote.

More:
[URL="http://csmonitor.com/2006/0630/p06s02-wome.html"]http://csmonitor.com/2006/0630/p06s02-wome.html[/URL]

[stuartParticipant]

I think it’s important to recognize the progress democracy has been making in arabic countries, and while Kuwait is most certainly a very western-friendly part of the arab world, it still has a large populace which is firmly muslim. The fact that Women have been granted Women’s Suffrage in this country, and are finally being allowed to vote, is a BIG step ahead, and one I hope to see progress in the rest of the muslim countries in the middle east. (One can always hope and pray).

[JenlilParticipant]

I’m just so amazed with Ayesha Al-Reshaid’s strength and fearlessness. She has only had the right to vote for a little more than a year and she is charging ahead with her message of equality. I’m grateful that she and the other women candidates for being pioneers and not backing down to threats.

This story made me think about the state of politics in my country (United States). There seems to be so much fear involved with “going to the polls.” People are afraid that if a certain person gets elected they will do bad things or if a law passes awful things will happen in our country. This story just helped me remember that everything, even politics (I should say “especially politics”), is under the control of the Almighty.

[lauraParticipant]

I hope that Reshaid is remember by her country, as well as countries around the world, as a leader for women and for politics. She will stand for women’s right to contribute to their government, and this, no matter where you are, is significant.
The Monitor’s View Editorial, “Lifting Barriers to electing more women” in today’s (Tues July 11) paper said that “America ranks only 68th among nations in the percentage of women in lower national legislative chambers.” So, even in American where women have had the right to vote for over 80 years, there is still a lack of women representatives in the government.

[JackParticipant]

Progress is a great thing and I’m glad to see this happening.

I’m wondering, however, how this progress will affect Middle Eastern Culture? One argument might be that Middle Eastern Cultures and Religions will begin to hate western cultures because we are coming in and changing everything that they have been doing for hundereds of years. They might say that we are ruining their ways of life.

How can we help people in the Middle East, or anywhere, to see that we aren’t a threat. How do we also help them to preserve their roots and not feel like they will just be asimilated into western culture, while still helping them progress?

[d.roundsParticipant]

Progress is a great thing and I’m glad to see this happening.

I’m wondering, however, how this progress will affect Middle Eastern Culture? One argument might be that Middle Eastern Cultures and Religions will begin to hate western cultures because we are coming in and changing everything that they have been doing for hundereds of years. They might say that we are ruining their ways of life.

How can we help people in the Middle East, or anywhere, to see that we aren’t a threat. How do we also help them to preserve their roots and not feel like they will just be asimilated into western culture, while still helping them progress?

People certainly are[/I] angry in some parts of the world because of things like this, but s[I]hould we be sensitive to this?

In the West enfranchisement and equality are (today) viewed as basic human rights – not to be denied on the basis of sex, race, etc.

Shouldn’t we stand behind our own values when interacting with other parts of the world?

This progress (women’s rights) is inevitable, in my opinion, and the only thing that we [/I]could do (in the name of our own security?) to curb the trend would be to actively help other countries surpress women’s rights. Even then – the idea of female equality has been introduced, and ideas, once introduced, are [I]very hard to supress. Freedom gained is not easily taken away.

What’s my point? Just that we shouldn’t worry about the consequences when our actions are ethically driven. If we’re going to be afraid of something, we should be afraid of what will happen when our policies are selfish and immoral.

[JenlilParticipant]

This progress (women’s rights) is inevitable, in my opinion, and the only thing that we [/I]could do (in the name of our own security?) to curb the trend would be to actively help other countries surpress women’s rights. Even then – the idea of female equality has been introduced, and ideas, once introduced, are [I]very hard to supress. Freedom gained is not easily taken away.

Unfortunately, the past couple of decades has shown us that freedom can be taken away … Prior to the Iranian revolution in the 1970s, women (and the nation in general) enjoyed immense freedom. For example, women could go out in public by themselves and they didn’t have to wear burkhas. Women lost similar freedom in Afghanistan when the Taliban took over and imposed fundamentalist Islamic law (and we all know what was done to reverse that trend). I don’t know the details, but I believe some portions of Nigeria are also under a newer fundamentalist Islamic rule (I heard about this a couple of years ago and I haven’t read anything about this since – so if anyone knows more – please share!).

While some of the advances made by western cultures are ethical, I think we need to be sensitive to the fact the enemies of equality (and change, progress, etc.) are making “western culture” into the source of immoral activity, adultry, violence and crime.

There has got to be a way to be proactive (without war) and educate some of these fundamentalist societies that there is more to western ideology than what they see in Hollywood movies (which are banned or limited in many parts of the world). Unfortunately, making western ideology the enemy helps these rulers stay in power …

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