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I always liked the Christian Science Monitor, they have an excellent news service. It was a sad day when they stopped their radio reporting.
One thing that always bothered me about the First Gulf War when Iraq invaded Kuwait was the differences between the two countries. Iraq was socially progressive: women could attend college, hold down jobs. It was one of the least restrictive of the Islamic countries. Kuwait was the exact opposite, perhaps one of the most restrictive Islamic countries. And from what I've read, Iraq had a just complaint against Kuwait: Kuwait was conducting land piracy and attacking and stealing Iraqi oil convoys.
And thus started this whole frelling mess. Well, at least one part of it.
from the April 05, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0405/p07s02-wome.html
Historic first: Kuwaiti women vote, run
Two female candidates ran for office in municipal elections seen as a test for a 2007 nationwide vote.
By Jamie Etheridge | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
KUWAIT CITY - A sea of black flooded a local polling station in Kuwait Tuesday when hundreds of women clad in the head-to-toe abaya cast their vote for the first time.
One of the two female candidates contesting a vacant seat on the powerful Municipal Council, Khaledah Al-Khader, said she faced some criticism from Islamic groups.
"Some individuals believe that simply because I am of the female gender, I am incapable of having a seat in the council - because I would not be strong enough to deal with the pressure," says Ms. Khader, a medical doctor educated at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Considered a test case for 2007 parliamentary polls, the by-election is the first in which women have been able to vote since the National Assembly approved universal suffrage last year.
The May 2005 decision sparked widespread debate about women's roles in politics, with some conservative Islamist members of Parliament arguing that women should not be allowed in Parliament without wearing the Islamic hijab, or head covering.
( Read more... )
One thing that always bothered me about the First Gulf War when Iraq invaded Kuwait was the differences between the two countries. Iraq was socially progressive: women could attend college, hold down jobs. It was one of the least restrictive of the Islamic countries. Kuwait was the exact opposite, perhaps one of the most restrictive Islamic countries. And from what I've read, Iraq had a just complaint against Kuwait: Kuwait was conducting land piracy and attacking and stealing Iraqi oil convoys.
And thus started this whole frelling mess. Well, at least one part of it.
from the April 05, 2006 edition - http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0405/p07s02-wome.html
Historic first: Kuwaiti women vote, run
Two female candidates ran for office in municipal elections seen as a test for a 2007 nationwide vote.
By Jamie Etheridge | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
KUWAIT CITY - A sea of black flooded a local polling station in Kuwait Tuesday when hundreds of women clad in the head-to-toe abaya cast their vote for the first time.
One of the two female candidates contesting a vacant seat on the powerful Municipal Council, Khaledah Al-Khader, said she faced some criticism from Islamic groups.
"Some individuals believe that simply because I am of the female gender, I am incapable of having a seat in the council - because I would not be strong enough to deal with the pressure," says Ms. Khader, a medical doctor educated at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Considered a test case for 2007 parliamentary polls, the by-election is the first in which women have been able to vote since the National Assembly approved universal suffrage last year.
The May 2005 decision sparked widespread debate about women's roles in politics, with some conservative Islamist members of Parliament arguing that women should not be allowed in Parliament without wearing the Islamic hijab, or head covering.
( Read more... )
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