AMBASSADOR CALLS ON FIRST WOMEN MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

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 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