So I hear from BBC that Kuwait goes to the polls. So nu u might ask. Guess what this is the first time that women in Kuwait are allowed to stand for elections. That is quite archiac you would think...well let me just let the parrot out now. Its also the first time when women in Kuwait are allowed to vote!!! I was quite stunned to hear this quite frankly with Kuwait being a free port and stuff (correct me if I am wrong here).
As I delved more into the issue I was appaled to learn that Kuwait is the first country in the Gulf region to actually take this step. We are living in the 21st cenury for Christ's sake where women have gone on to become good leaders (and no I am not talking abt the Nasbandi psychotic Gandhi). I became more curious as to what the outlook of Kuwaiti women were as they take this historic step forward. I was stunned beyond belief to read quite a few women actually saying that its an extra burden on them! To come to think of it, such a bedouin outlook would evolve only with lack of proper education and a closed-box mentality.
57% of the electorate in Kuwait is of the fairer sex. That means for however long there has been a democracy in Kuwait, it has the veto only of less than half the population of the country. Pretty disturbing stats those. I also read here that a woman did't want to vote for other women as she thinks woman candidates needs to develop politically?? How does that make any sense. There is always going to be a first time and being a woman yourself you should be giving them the opportunity to lead your constituency. Isn't anti-incumbency a factor in your country? Shouldn't you try to give others a chance when the previous leaders have failed?
Its all very disturbing for me to read this when women have excelled in every sphere known to mankind and surpassed men in quite a few. Guess its hard for me to take this coming from a country with the largest democracy in the world. But its still going to be interesting to know if any woman actually gets elected!
-Balls
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
-
the Curse of being Sachin Tendulkar the following 4 scenarios sum it up: 1. he plays well, india loses ::: sachin can only play in lost caus...
-
31st Aug is known as Blog Day. Why was it decided to be the Blog Day .. Well look at the picture and u will guess why. How about talking abo...
-
I was searching for a nice template for our blog but as always the intended search ended up being a visit to many bloggers' sites. I stu...
4 comments:
Shocking..but coming to think of it..I thought that the severe restrictions imposed on the basic development of a free minded perspective in the Gulf region must have led to such a thinking amongst women in Kuwait. If people(women) around you are so terrorised that they can't think about showing their face out in the open, voting or contesting the elections is a farthought.
I would not term this as shocking. This is particularly true even with the developed nations. US & UK actually allowed women to vote in elections after World War I (1920's). Thing to note is US and UK were developed countries or would be the same position as Kuwait is now during 1920's
However they put restrictions like only women above 30's(UK), as they felt women would outnumber men if they allowed all women above 21.
Its not about education or close minded mentality or even terror, but its more to do with men in power willing to relinquish power, specifically to not view women as a threat.
I am not that surprised by this news. Even developed countries have done the same thing. The 2 greatest champions of democracy US and UK conferred such rights to women only a decade after the end of World War I.
Women in US were allowed to vote in Presidential elections only in 1920. Women in UK were allowed around 1918. It is interesting to note, in UK, initially women in their 30's were only allowed to vote - the reason - if they allowed same criteria as men, anyone above 21, women would outnumber men !!!
Remember, US and UK were deemed a developed country around early 1900's before world war 1. Kuwait is at the same threshold as US and UK are now.
I would rather say, its not closed mentality or terror but more of people in power worrying about relinquishing power in the fear that women would dominate over men.
Kuwait is a constitutional hereditary emirate. This means that the head of state is not elected by the people. Therefore, this discussion is moot. However, for the sake of argument, we will say that whatever these elections were for (probably some local government position), women should have had a fair say in it. Your anti-incumbency factor, Balls, is only relevant when the people are fed up of the current government, may it be due to lack of infrastructure, employment or something else they feel strongly about. Kuwait has a GDP of $52.76 billion for a population of 2.4 million people (compare that to India's 719.8 billion for 1 billion+ people). It is evident that the people in Kuwait are at least an order of magnitude better off compared to India.
Culture also has to do a lot with whether women are allowed to contest elections and even if they are, if they're allowed to vote and even if they are do they really get elected (The US hasn't had a woman president YET.) So all in all, Kuwait's a pseudo-democratic nation whose woes are actually of a different nature altogether.
Post a Comment