Kuwait, making history, names two women to council
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-06 08:20

Kuwait appointed two women to its municipal council for the first time on Sunday, in another historic move after the Gulf Arab state granted women suffrage last month.

"The six Municipal Council members have been appointed and they include two female personalities," Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told state news agency KUNA, which said the move was the first in Kuwait's history.

Official sources told Reuters four men were also appointed to the 16-member council, six of whose members are named by decree. They said the four are believed to be liberals.

Kuwaiti women demonstrate in front of the parliament building in Kuwait City to demand their political rights, 07 March 2005. The government of Kuwait named two women to join its municipal council, in a historic move for the oil-rich Gulf emirate which only last month agreed to grant women full political rights. [AFP/File]

Women were excluded from the municipal polls on Thursday to elect the remaining 10 members because a law passed in May for them to vote and run in elections came too late for this round.

The council is responsible for city planning, public health and property issues, and monitors restaurants and construction.

Kuwaiti women will vote for the first time in the 2007 parliament elections followed by the 2009 local polls.

The suffrage bill was seen as a breakthrough in Kuwait, a strategic U.S. ally that has pledged democratic reform.

Kuwaiti women had hailed as historic the May 16 decision by the all-male parliament to allow women to vote and run for office which was taken despite fierce resistance by Islamist and conservative MPs. The move won praise from around the globe.

KUNA identified one of the appointed women as Sheikha Fatima al-Sabah of the ruling family and an architect who is an assistant undersecretary at the office of the country's ruler.

The second is Fawziya al-Bahar, an engineer.

Conservative tribal candidates won six seats in Thursday's council polls, a likely outcome in largely tribal pro-Western Kuwait. Two liberals, one Islamist and a Shi'ite Muslim from the minority sect in Sunni-ruled Kuwait won the other seats.

"SIGN OF PROGRESS"

Women's activists hailed Sunday's appointments.

"I am very happy ... It is a sign of progress in our society," Lulwa al-Mulla, vice chairperson of Kuwait's Women Social Cultural Society, told Reuters.

Kuwaiti women are traditionally more liberal and educated than their Gulf Arab counterparts but until last month lagged behind some of them in political rights. But after the suffrage bill passed, they can, in theory at least, be elected as deputies or become government ministers in coming years.

Women are MPs or government ministers in other less conservative Arab nations such as Lebanon, Egypt or Jordan.

Kuwait University professor Masoumah al-Mubarak said the appointments were positive for the image of Kuwait, the first Gulf state with an elected parliament.

"This is the right thing to do and this is what ought to have been done long ago. This is a new step in the direction of reform," she told Reuters, adding that she hoped women would also be appointed government ministers.

Mubarak called for introducing a quota for women in parliament to prevent a similar scenario as in Bahrain where female contestants lost.

"Kuwaiti women have proved to be very professional, very strong in administration and decision-making," she said.

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