Kuwait: women angry at discrimination in the army
Kuwaiti MP Hamdan al-Azmi (right) spoke of a "morphological" inadequacy of women for military activities.
Here, he greets his colleagues from afar during a parliamentary session at the Kuwait National Assembly in Kuwait on March 24, 2020. AFP - YASSER AL-ZAYYAT
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
A step forward then a fatwa.
Kuwaiti women, recently accepted into the armed forces, will now have to submit to certain restrictions if they want to join the institution, a decision which has angered feminist activists.
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In October 2021, the army of this rich oil city-state in the Gulf announced that
Kuwaiti women could now join its ranks
, where they had previously only held civilian positions.
Pressed by the indignation of conservative MP Hamdan al-Azmi, who spoke of a "morphological" inadequacy of women for military activities, the Islamic authorities were quick to issue a fatwa (religious opinion, editor's note) requiring that women not wear no weapons and that only those who are veiled and who have obtained permission from a male "guardian" can join the institution.
The Ministry of Defense followed this fatwa and imposed these new rules at the end of January, arousing the ire of many Kuwaitis in a country which knows a lively political life, unique in the Gulf region.
“
Why these restrictions in the army?
There are very different women who work in all areas, including the police
,” Ghadir Al-Khashti told AFP, recalling that the veil is not compulsory in Kuwait.
During the first Gulf War, triggered by the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 by the troops of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, women were strongly mobilized in the resistance.
“Martyred women”
“
We have female martyrs who fought for love of the country without anyone ordering them
,” Louloua Al-Moulla, president of the Socio-Cultural Association of Women, told AFP.
The emirate is a "
civil state governed by the Constitution and the law
" which guarantees personal freedoms without distinction of gender, notes the activist.
Her NGO is preparing, according to her, to launch legal proceedings against the new “
unconstitutional
” rules imposed by the Ministry of Defence.
“
We are a Muslim state, it's true, but we refuse to allow laws to be subject to fatwas
,” insists Louloua al-Moulla.
Kuwaiti women, very involved in civil society, won the right to vote and stand for election in 2005, but they are still very poorly represented in Parliament and government.
In recent years, they have also been able to integrate the police, the fire services or even the judicial institution.
After the great progress that the army had welcomed, the government yielded to the obstinacy of the deputy Hamdan al-Azmi who was about to present a motion of censure against the Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali Al -Sabah, member of the ruling family.
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To read also: Kuwait: controversy over the enlistment of women in the army
(
With
AFP)
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Kuwait
Women
Defense