SanAntonioExpressNews: Progress for Women in Kuwait - Saudi Arabia still mired in quicksand

MySA.comProgress for Women in Kuwait - Saudi Arabia still mired in quicksand

Women in Kuwait now have full political rights. In a surprise move last month, and after years of effort, the Kuwaiti Parliament cleared the way for women to vote and run for office. Religious fundamentalists who opposed the measure were able to tack on a requirement that female voters and candidates must abide by Islamic law. How that will be enforced when the next round of parliamentary elections arrives in 2007 is not clear. What is clear is that the decision by Kuwait's political leadership is a historic step in the right direction. Kuwait becomes the fourth Gulf country, along with Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, to grant political rights to women. In neighboring Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, the political system is still mired in quicksand. Women were denied participation in the kingdom's first-ever nationwide elections earlier this spring. In recent weeks, a Saudi court pronounced sentences of up to nine years in prison for three prominent academics who petitioned the monarchy for political reform. This represents more of the same repression that drives disenchanted Saudis into the arms of violent extremists.