Women win passport rights
KUWAITI women have finally won the right to obtain a passport without their husband’s approval.
In a landmark ruling, judges in the small oil-rich emirate said the old laws “undermined their free will and compromised their humanity.”
Kuwait’s constitutional court overthrew a 1962 law requiring their husband’s signature to get a passport.
Unlike highly conservative neighbours like Saudi Arabia, women in Kuwait can already vote, serve in parliament and drive. Thousands of them petitioned for the passport right.
But die-hard elements have long promoted a stricter interpretation of Islam, especially regarding relations between men and women.
Activist Aisha al-Rsheid hailed Tuesday’s ruling, but said: “We want to see women judges and prosecutors, we want women to give their citizenship to their children and we want women to have the right to state- provided houses just like men.”