US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT2674

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002674 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/15/2015 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINR, KWMN, EIND, KU, WOMEN'S POLITICAL RIGHTS 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR CALLS ON FIRST WOMEN MUNICIPAL COUNCIL 
MEMBERS 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 2509 
 
     B. KUWAIT 2416 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reason 1.4 (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary and Comment: Earlier this month, the GOK 
appointed six members to the 16-person Municipal Council, 
including, for the first time, two women: engineers Shaykha 
Fatima bint Nasser Al-Sabah and Fawziya Al-Bahar.  The 
appointments represented a historic first step for women's 
political empowerment in the wake of the May 16 legislation 
granting women full political rights.  The Ambassador met 
with the women during congratulatory calls June 14 and 15. 
Both had modest goals for their Council participation, and 
focused on environmental and urban management issues.  They 
bring considerable technical expertise to the Council, but no 
political experience and neither expressed any ambition to 
use Council membership as a political springboard to higher 
political posts.  End Summary and Comment. 
 
2. (SBU) During a June 14 congratulatory call on one of the 
two newly-elected female Municipal Council members, Shaykha 
Fatima told the Ambassador that she and Fawziya Al-Bahar may 
face challenges from their male Council member counterparts 
given the traditional views of women's political 
participation.  She added, however, that she will work hard 
to convince the men otherwise.  She described the Municipal 
Council as an octopus with tentacles in many aspects of 
Kuwaiti administration.  One area of concern that she hopes 
the Council will address is the environment since, as she 
described, Kuwaitis lack formal education in such issues, 
thereby creating a culture of disregard for the environment. 
She told the press shortly after being appointed, that 
although the Council is a technical institution, she would 
not hesitate to use her position to support women's issues. 
 
3. (SBU) Fawziya Al-Bahar told the Ambassador, on June 15, 
that she was surprised to be chosen as a member of the 
Council.  She explained that every minister provided the 
resumes of their top people for consideration for the 
appointed posts, and only six out of 1000 were chosen.  She 
expressed confidence in the growth of the women's movement in 
Kuwait.  Saying that a good engineering education could be 
obtained in Kuwait, she lamented that most young Kuwaiti 
women are more concerned about clothes than politics or 
engineering.  She stated that the overall number of female 
engineers is growing relative to men and there is a 
significant number of women engineers already working in 
various ministries. 
 
4. (SBU) Al-Bahar further stated that one of her priorities 
for her work on the Council is to beautify Kuwait.  She said 
that when she looks at the UAE she feels "jealous" because 
she wants Kuwait to look as good as the Emirates.  She 
highlighted the need for private companies to get involved 
saying that their participation is integral to the success of 
improving Kuwait. 
 
5. (U) Bio note: Shaykha Fatima bint Nasser Al-Sabah, 52, is 
an engineer and until her appointment to the Council, she 
served for 14 years as the Assistant Undersecretary for 
Engineering Affairs at the Amiri Diwan.  She earned her B.S. 
in architectural engineering from Catholic University in 
Washington D.C.  Before her work in the Diwan, she served as 
the manager of the Engineering Department in the Office of 
Planning at the Public Works Ministry.  From 1991-1992 she 
served as a member of the Kuwait Emergency Rebuilding Team 
and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  She is the sister 
of former Minister and Ambassador to the U.S. Shaykh Saud 
Nasser Al-Sabah and is the first of two wives to Shaykh 
Mohammed Al-Hamoud Al-Sabah (brother of Dr. Rasha Al-Sabah); 
they have one daughter, Anud.  Her husband's grandfather was 
Amir Shaykh Jabir II (1915-1917). 
 
6. (U) Bio note: Fawziya bint Mohammed Ahmed AbdelRahman 
Al-Bahar, who wears the hijab, became Kuwait's first female 
engineer after receiving her Bachelor's degree in engineering 
from the University of Cairo in 1973.  During the same year, 
she joined the Ministry of Electricity as a trainee and, in 
1975, the Ministry sent her on a scholarship to the U.S. to 
begin a Master's program in engineering at the University of 
Kentucky, which she completed in 1978.  She spent a total of 
29 years working as an engineer in the Ministry of 
Electricity and Water. (Note: The Ministries of Electricity 
and Oil were consolidated into the Energy Ministry in 2003. 
End Note.)  She spent the majority of her professional career 
working on desalination, including service in a senior post 
as manager of the Technical Oversight Department in the 
Office of the Assistant Undersecretary. 
 
7. (U) Bio note: Of Al-Bahar's six siblings, two are doctors 
and the rest are engineers.  Al-Bahar, who is in her mid-50s, 
has four children, two of whom have completed university 
studies.  She cites her mother, who dropped out of secondary 
school, as the driving force behind her family's academic 
success. 
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LEBARON