Kuwait vs. women
Women have once again formally been denied political rights
in the oil-rich statelet of Kuwait. On Nov. 30 the Parliament
voted against a bill that would have allowed women to vote and
run for office. Hundreds of men cheered after the vote was
taken.
In neighboring Iraq, women have long played a prominent role
in society. Women vote and work outside the home. Many doctors,
teachers and government workers are women.
The Western media would have us believe that the problem in
Kuwait is Islamic fundamentalism. But the people of Iraq come
from the same religious background as the Kuwaitis. It's not
religion but imperialist politics that have reinforced extreme
reaction in Kuwait.
It was the former colonial power, Britain, that divided the
area into different countries. When it set up Kuwait, it made
sure that the richest oil fields were under the control of a
feudal family, the Al-Sabah dynasty, groomed to protect
imperialist interests as well as its own. This dynasty
enshrines male domination in Kuwait even today.
But Iraq had an anti-colonial revolution in 1958 that led to
a secular state and the development of a modern infrastructure.
Iraq's refusal to knuckle under to U.S. and British imperialism
is the real reason it is under sanctions today--sanctions that
threaten to destroy the progress Iraqi women and men have made
since the revolution.
--By Deirdre Griswold
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