Kuwaiti woman's campaign
Ayesha Al-Reshaid bids for parliament as women vote in their first national election.
Unveiled, unmarried, and unafraid, Ayesha Al-Reshaid is determined to break the social and political taboos against women in Kuwait. But simply exercising her newly won right to vote in national elections was not enough for this 40-something businesswoman and journalist.
Instead, she has made a brash bid for a parliamentary seat in the Islamist-controlled district of Keifan, 10 minutes from downtown Kuwait City. Dominated by former member of parliament (MP) Waleed Tabtabae – infamous for his opposition to women's rights, public dancing, and women wearing shorts during sports matches – Keifan is a conservative stronghold where most of the women wear the body-length abaya, hijab (head scarf), and the face-covering niqab.
Armed with a broad winning smile, Ms. Reshaid – one of 28 female candidates among 253 hopefuls – says that she chose to take on the Islamists directly because "I'm very competitive and this area [Keifan] is very difficult. If I succeed, then that success will be that much more special."
While women's prospects for winning seats are considered remote, many observers have already hailed the parliamentary elections as a success because they mark the first time Kuwaiti women have taken part – as voters and candidates – in a national election. Now, Saudi Arabia is the only Middle Eastern country that holds national elections but doesn't allow women to vote.
Kuwaiti women won the right to universal suffrage in May 2005, and voted for the first time in municipal elections in April. The local polls were widely considered to be a test case for parliamentary elections in 2007. But after a row in parliament this spring over the number of electoral districts, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah dissolved the parliament and called for new elections June 29. Suddenly, women – who account for 57 percent of Kuwait's 340,000 voters – were being courted by would-be MPs, even conservative Islamists opposed to universal suffrage.
Reshaid jumped at the chance. She's been actively campaigning ever since women's rights were approved by parliament. And she was the first woman to visit diwaniyas, the traditional male-only salons where Kuwaitis talk politics.
But Reshaid has ruffled more than a few feathers with her aggressive tactics and open personality. She has received death threats warning her to stay out of the diwaniyas and to quit the race "or else." She has been called everything from a "mouse" – a slur – to words mothers wouldn't want their children to hear. After two men were seen in early June driving around Keifan tearing down her posters, cutting her photo out of them and writing crude slurs on them, Reshaid filed a complaint with local police.
"This is an act of terror.... I believe they were sent by certain people to force me to withdraw. But I will continue in the race and I will not back down," Reshaid told reporters a day after the incident.
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