US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT3224

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 003224 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR NEA/ARPI AND NEA/PI; ABU DHABI AND TUNIS FOR MEPI; 
LONDON FOR TSOU; PARIS FOR ZEYA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PHUM, KDEM, KWMN, KMPI, KU, WOMEN'S POLITICAL RIGHTS 
SUBJECT: ACTIVISTS LAUD WOMEN'S RIGHTS ACCOMPLISHMENTS; 
STRESS EDUCATION AND TRAINING AS BASIS FOR FUTURE PROGRESS 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 3178 
     B. KUWAIT 2931 
     C. KUWAIT 2091 
 
1.  (U)  Summary:  The Charge hosted on July 19 a tea for the 
three delegations of Kuwaiti women who traveled in early July 
to the U.S., the UK, and France to talk about women's rights 
(ref b).  Other attendees included political activists, 
Members of Parliament, journalists, and members of the 
diplomatic community.  The euphoria over the May 16 decision 
granting women full political rights and the subsequent 
appointment of a female minister and two Municipal Council 
members remains, but there is a growing realization that much 
still needs to be done to prepare women to exercise their 
rights.  Most talked about the need for a broad voter 
education campaign during the run-up to the 2007 
parliamentary elections and the immediate need to prepare 
women to take part in the February 2006 voter registration. 
End summary. 
 
Education the Key to Women's Political Participation 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
2.  (U)  Twenty-five Kuwaitis, including seven women 
delegates from the Ministry of Information-sponsored tour on 
women's rights to London, Paris, and Washington, and 10 
representatives of the diplomatic community attended the 
Charge's tea on July 19.  The event was an opportunity for 
advocates of women's rights, representing groups and 
organizations which rarely interact with each other, to 
discuss recent political changes and how to sustain the 
reform efforts. 
 
3.  (SBU)  Dr. Abdullah Sahar, a political science professor 
at Kuwait University, talked about the need for civic 
education for Kuwaiti women, whom he said had a 40-year 
disadvantage to overcome.  He told PolChief that he and a few 
colleagues were developing a curriculum on campaigning, 
including how to develop a campaign message, which buzz words 
to use, and how to deal with Kuwait's diwanyia culture (ref 
a).  He said he had 25 years of campaign experience, most of 
which he honed as a student in the U.S., and he was eager to 
share his knowledge with Kuwaiti women and the next 
generation of voters.  He added that political education 
efforts needed to be "home-grown," arguing that an outside 
NGO would be looked at with skepticism, would be accused of 
interfering in Kuwait's internal affairs, and would never 
fully understand how Kuwaiti society functions. 
 
4.  (SBU)  When asked how the U.S. could best support women's 
political participation, Dr. Sahar called for the translation 
into Arabic of books and pamphlets on democracy and 
exercising one's rights.  He further commented that there was 
a big gap in the average citizen's understanding of Kuwait's 
political system.  Civics is not taught at the secondary 
school level and courses offered by Kuwait University are 
limited in scope because the state-run school does not fully 
encourage analysis or a critique of the government.  (Note: 
Post's strategy for the Freedom Agenda recommends translation 
and distribution of the "Journal of Democracy" (ref c).  Post 
welcomes guidance on securing funding for this project that 
would be well received in Kuwait.  Post also welcomes 
guidance on whether it is still possible to use MEPI small 
grants funding for some of the activities described by Dr. 
Sahar.  End note.) 
 
5.  (SBU)  Similarly, Khaled Al-Fadallah of the National 
Democratic Alliance (NDA) said the organization had formed a 
committee, "16-05" (May 16), to oversee voter registration of 
women and training.  In addition, NDA advocates reducing the 
number of electoral constituencies, a move that could limit 
vote-buying and facilitate women's participation.  He 
requested U.S. assistance in campaign training, voter 
registration drives, and candidate training. 
 
Women's Delegation Leaves Washington with a Positive Outlook 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
6.  (SBU)  Dr. Nibal Al-Boursly, who was part of the 
delegation that visited Washington, said she was impressed 
with the warm reception she received in the U.S. and 
surprised to discover that "women face the same problems 
wherever you go."  She looked forward to developing 
professional relationships with the American women she met 
and commented that Kuwaiti women needed to be more active in 
Vital Voices.  Amal Al-Khalid, a journalist with the Kuwait 
News Agency (KUNA), was also one of the Washington delegation 
participants and praised the group's visit.  She told PolOff 
that she was happy to portray a different image of Kuwaiti 
women to her American counterparts, one that broke the 
stereotype of voiceless, abaya-clad women.  Al-Khalid 
enthusiastically recounted how shock flashed on the faces of 
some American hosts when they first met the fashion-conscious 
and Western-oriented Kuwaitis.  While the tour received wide 
media coverage in Kuwait and, to a more limited degree, in 
the U.S., women cannot rest, she added. She admitted that 
Kuwaiti society was splintered and that her group represented 
a small percentage of politically-active women while most 
females remain apathetic.  The women will need to cross 
religious, class, and geographic lines in order to 
incorporate the currently marginalized majority of potential 
female voters, she stated.  Al-Khalid welcomed U.S. and 
international training to prepare activists for voter 
registration drives, campaign training, and consensus 
building among women. 
 
Focus on the Future:  Encouraging Youth Interest in Politics 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
7.  (SBU)  Columnist Muna Al-Fuzai, who earlier in the week 
was widely criticized for a column in which she wrote that 
the women's delegations were not representative of the 
majority of Kuwaiti women.  Calling them "Kuwait's 
aristocracy," she questioned their vision about Kuwait's 
political future.  She welcomed the opportunity to confront 
her detractors and had several lively discussions on bridging 
religious and economic differences as women exercised their 
rights.  She explained to her audience that her comments were 
not personal attacks, rather an effort to raise awareness 
about Kuwait's large middle class and the fact that many of 
these women are from conservative families and do not 
identify with the worldly academics associated with the 
women's rights struggle.  She said following the publication 
of her column, a group of young Shi'a women -- Al-Fuzai is 
Sunni -- invited her to speak to them about women's issues 
and college students have also reached out to her.  She told 
PolChief she found her new target audience and would use her 
English and Arabic columns, and public speaking appearances, 
to encourage them to become politically active. 
 
The Islamist Threat 
------------------- 
 
8.  (SBU)  Kuwait National Petroleum Company Training and 
Development Manager told PolAsst that Kuwait was split into 
three categories of women:  one group that really supports 
women's rights and was working hard for them; "the lazy women 
who don't care and don't want to hear about it (women's 
rights);" and women who believe the appointment of a female 
minister and women in Parliament was "the end of the world." 
She hoped that all three groups could meet to find common 
ground. 
 
9.  (SBU)  Dr. Haila Al-Mekaimi of Kuwait University also 
stressed the need for a broad education campaign.  She noted 
her concern that Kuwait's moderates and liberals are not well 
organized, and commenting on a recent announcement by the 
Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM), the political arm of 
the Muslim Brotherhood, that it would begin recruiting women, 
said they would "stop at nothing" to maintain or increase the 
Islamist presence in Parliament.  Ministry of Social Affairs 
and Labor Assistant Undersecretary Adnan Al-Omar and women's 
rights activist Bader Mousa Al-Saif echoed Al-Mekaimi's 
concerns.  Al-Omar strongly urged the "three to four" groups 
within the women's movement to unify to defend their 
political rights. 
 
10.  (SBU)  Shamael Al-Sharikh, a member of the Women's 
Cultural Society and an officer with the Kuwait Petroleum 
Company, also commented on the Islamists, telling PolOff that 
the goals of women's rights activists in Kuwait were much 
different than those of the Islamists -- their key political 
opposition.  She said that for Islamists, political goals 
were easy to accomplish because of the relative simplicity of 
their agenda.  Unlike Islamist groups, she explained, the 
women's movement in Kuwait was not a homogenous group and was 
not as well organized or funded.  She stated that political 
success was more difficult for a women's political agenda in 
part because of the cultural barriers; however, the greater 
challenge was due to the fact that the women's movement was 
comprised of a more diverse group of people, resulting in 
objectives more sophisticated than anything on the Islamist 
political agenda.  She also commented on the injustice of the 
bidoon -- stateless Arab -- situation in Kuwait and expressed 
a concern that the issue needed to be addressed in the future. 
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