LIBERAL KUWAITI WOMEN SEE NEW LAW AS MEANS TO KEEP

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 000271 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR NEA/ARP AND G/IWI E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/21/2017 TAGS: PGOV KHUM KWMN KU WOMEN POLITICAL RIGHTS SUBJECT: LIBERAL KUWAITI WOMEN SEE NEW LAW AS MEANS TO KEEP WOMEN DOWN REF: KUWAIT 174 Classified By: ADCM Timothy Lenderking for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (SBU) Aisha Al-Reshaid, a women's activist, journalist, and former candidate for parliament, told POLOFF on February 19 that the proposed new law on women's social and civil rights (reftel) is an Islamist project to buy women's support while at the same time keeping them out of public life. "The law pays women to sit at home so they won't get involved in politics," said Al-Reshaid, citing the fact that it gives added paid maternity leave, lowers women's retirement age, allots women with children a monthly stipend if they are not working, and affords them partial salaries if they accompany their husbands abroad. She said that the proposed law includes other benefits for women as well, but that most of these rights are already in existing laws. This concerns Al-Reshaid because she thinks women do not know this and thus are deceived into believing that the Islamists who introduced the bill are strengthening women's rights. ¶2. (SBU) In a separate meeting, Dr. Rola Dashti, another former candidate for parliament, criticized the law as well. She agreed with Al-Reshaid's assessment that the law was an attempt to buy women's quiescence. She also noted that the creation of a separate law for women's benefits was inherently discriminatory. While some of the laws' provisions might seem beneficial, setting separate laws for women would be a dangerous precedent, according to Dr. Dashti. She expressed concern that future additions to this women's law might not be so beneficial. She favors a unified law that treats men and women equally in areas where it currently does not, such as housing benefits and passing citizenship onto children. ¶3. (SBU) Al-Reshaid said that the Women's Network (WIN),a grouping of prominent female activists (including Dr. Dashti) that advocates for women's rights, would take up the issue and would work to expose it as a tool for women's repression disguised as a law enhancing their rights and privileges. ¶4. (C) Comment: While it seems paradoxical that a law giving women additional benefits would be so strongly opposed by women's activists, there is a great deal of validity to their arguments. Al-Reshaid, Dashti and other women's activists note that the dearth of women in leadership positions is a key factor that limits women's progress. This bill will provide further disincentives to work and and to stay in the workplace when nearing the lowered retirement age, thereby exacerbating the lack of women in leadership positions. The bill also seems destined to hand the Islamists a victory: either the bill will pass and the Islamists will proclaim their achievements for women's rights, or the Government will oppose this as a populist boondoggle and the Islamists will accuse the Government of opposing women's interests. Finally, creating a separate law for women's civil and social rights creates a vehicle for future amendments that might harm women's interests, perhaps again masked by financial benefits. End Comment. ********************************************* * For more reporting from Embassy Kuwait, visit: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/?cable s Visit Kuwait's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/kuwait/ ********************************************* * TUELLER