Kuwaiti women win passport rights

Dracula
By Dracula

Kuwaiti women will be able to obtain their own passport without the consent of their husbands, following a ruling by the country's constitutional court.

The court, whose decisions are final, said the previous requirement was in violation of guarantees of freedom and gender equality in the constitution.

The decision came about when a woman complained her husband had prevented her from leaving the country.

The country's first female MPs were elected in May 2009.
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Women won the right to vote in 2005 and became MPs in 2009

The article abolished by the court dated back to Kuwait's 1962 passport law which required a husband's signature on a woman's passport application.

Aseel al-Awadhi, one of the new MPs, welcomed the passport law ruling as a "victory for constitutional principles that puts an end to this injustice against Kuwaiti women".

Kuwaiti women enjoy more freedoms than in neighbouring Saudi Arabia, where there is strict gender segregation and women are not allowed to drive cars.

Women activists welcomed the passport ruling but say they still need equal access to government housing and the right to pass citizenship to their children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8317921.stm

By EXLegend• 21 Oct 2009 18:51
EXLegend

i was under the impression the yanks were established in kuwait since 1992... then this too long to get into action.

By Happy Happy• 21 Oct 2009 18:27
Happy Happy

Just about time..

Salam

By anonymous• 21 Oct 2009 18:21
anonymous

a welcome move.

** http://khetrajmainali.blogspot.com

By pmcorrea• 21 Oct 2009 17:56
Rating: 3/5
pmcorrea

brit, (from other ql members responses to you in the past, as I don't know you personally) I believe you can find them at the Ramada car park.

By Arien• 21 Oct 2009 17:49
Arien

lol brit - fix a gprs in their..... wherever u want. :)

______________________________________________

- Listen to Many...Speak to a Few -

By britexpat• 21 Oct 2009 17:32
britexpat

What in the blue blazes is going on ? How will we know ehere they are now ?

By pmcorrea• 21 Oct 2009 17:29
pmcorrea

I still find it hard to believe that things like this still happen in the 21st century. I don't think I could live in a place like SA where women are still treated this way.

By ummjake• 21 Oct 2009 16:21
ummjake

Amazing...can you imagine the uproar if a man had to have his wife's signature on his passport application?

"Marriage is a wonderful institution...but who wants to live in an institution?" -- Groucho Marx

By Arien• 21 Oct 2009 15:55
Arien

some light to the dumb brains.

______________________________________________

- Listen to Many...Speak to a Few -

By Bisaya Ako• 21 Oct 2009 15:50
Rating: 5/5
Bisaya Ako

equal rights for women should be practiced...

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