WUNRN
Kuwait National Assembly Speaker Al-Khorafi
Kuwaiti Women in National Legislation Conference
Kuwait Times - 22 April, 2007
Kuwaiti women must realise that attaining their political
rights "incorporates rights and responsibilities, and is the beginning of the
road toward improving their social conditions," said National Assembly Speaker
Jassem Al-Khorafi yesterday. Speaking at the inauguration of the Kuwaiti Women
in National Legislation Conference organised by the parliamentary women's
affairs committee, the Assembly Speaker instructed women on bearing the
responsibilities of political participants by not seeking distinction (based on
their gender) over justice, nor resorting to what he labelled 'positive
discrimination'.
Al-Khorafi also called on female voters to reject calls
for a quota system that would ensure a woman wins a seat in parliament. The next
parliamentary elections are expected to be held sometime in 2010.
Moreover, he said women had to deeply analyse results of the previous
parliamentary elections and prepare for coming political events with a more
objective understanding of Kuwait's political reality.
The speaker
stressed that establishing a modern legal entity based on justice and equality
was "a great challenge" for all societies that sought advancement and modernity,
noting that it could only be achieved through democratic practice, constructive
and objective criticism, and national unity. This also requires the commitment
of the legislative and executive authorities, he said, and efforts on their part
toward constitutional cooperation.
The parliament speaker said the
Kuwaiti society continued its march toward building a modern society that was
secure and stable, saying that despite tensions and stumbles, Kuwaiti women were
able to continue to push forward.
Improving conditions of women is an
important factor in the improvement of national conditions in general, he said,
and as citizens, Kuwaiti women had rights and responsibilities "that affect and
are affected by the social principles and its flexibility in terms of
advancement."
Al-Khorafi called on women to rightly employ their rights
and responsibilities in order to improve their conditions, adding that the legal
and judicial status of women, as was the case in any society, were "strongly
linked" to the level of maturity of legal and judicial infrastructure and
political ethics when it came to commitment to liberties, justice, and
equality.
He said it is unlikely the conditions of Kuwait women could be
improved without working on all of these issues, adding that this point offered
an important perspective from which to understand different aspects of women's
issues and arriving at transparent solutions.
Kuwait's endorsement in
1994 of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women
(Cedaw) came to highlight national efforts in this respect and is an expression
of the society's beliefs in social justice and equality, he
said.
However, Al-Khorafi said that "we must admit" that despite all that
was achieved by Kuwaiti women, there remained obstacles in employing their
abilities and skills. Women's activities in the economic sector were still lower
than anticipated despite the high levels of education, he said, and if women's
participation in boards continued to be limited, then so would their
participation in decision-making processes.
Al-Khorafi also said
improvement of legislative performance and amending legislations was the basis
for elevating the legal conditions of Kuwaiti women and all related
issues.
All of this could not be achieved without national action and
consolidating the role of the civil society upon which fell the greater
responsibility in this area. The speaker thus called on organisations and
women's societies to expand their
activities.
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