Report: Women woefully underrepresented in Kuwait’s political process

Shalaby: Efforts should include focus on building confidence in women’s abilities to hold leadership positions

Credit: thinkstockphotos.com/Rice University

Despite being granted full political rights more than a decade ago, Kuwaiti women involved in the country’s political process have encountered many challenges, both inside and outside the parliament chamber, according to a new report by a Middle East expert at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

The report, “Women’s Political Representation in Kuwait: An Untold Story,” discusses the socio-political context of Kuwait and the impact of its dominant tribal politics on the dynamics of women’s political participation in the country over the past few decades. It offers a set of policy implications and recommendations toward promoting women’s presence in the electoral arena in Kuwait.

“Prospects for women becoming an integral part of the (Kuwaiti) legislative process are increasingly slim as a result of a myriad of cultural, institutional and structural barriers,” said Marwa Shalaby, fellow for the Middle East at the Baker Institute and director of the institute’s Women’s Rights in the Middle East Program. “For women to make a real difference in the Kuwaiti electoral arena, far-reaching electoral reforms must be implemented to empower women politically, especially in the more conservative districts in Kuwait, mainly the fourth and fifth districts, to counter the dominant tribal culture and control over these areas.”

Shalaby is an expert on Middle Eastern politics, gender politics and democratization.

May 16 marked the 10th anniversary of the enactment of women’s political rights in Kuwait. The amendment of Election Law No. 35/1962 in 2005, which granted women the right to vote and run for office, opened the door for female candidates to participate in parliamentary and local elections for the first time. It was not until 2009 when women managed to make a historic victory in the electoral arena by winning 8 percent of the seats in a highly contested election, Shalaby said. However, women’s presence in parliament plunged in the following years. Women candidates secured only 6 percent of the seats in December 2012. The current Kuwaiti parliament, elected in July 2013, does not have a single female member; the sole elected female, Safa al-Hashem, resigned in May 2014.

To reverse this trend, Shalaby said, the government should take the necessary steps to establish strong political parties in the country instead of the dominant bloc-coalition system and ensure that women are adequately represented in these parties by means of quota adoption or by enforcing noncompliance sanctions.

“These reforms should be supplemented by major transformation on the grassroots level to alter perceptions toward viewing female politicians as competent political leaders and capable decision-makers,” Shalaby said. “Women’s organizations across the country should play a more active role in educating women about their political rights and provide them with adequate resources to compete on equal footing with their male counterparts.”

Shalaby’s report is part of an ongoing research project exploring female political representation in the Arab world. She has already published a report on Jordan and is drafting a report focusing on Morocco.