the Fabs and Arabhamid Show

Women win parliamentary seats for first time in Kuwait 

(CNN) —Kuwait elected its first female lawmakers in the conservative Gulf state where men have dominated parliament for nearly five decades.

Rola Dashti is one of four women who won parliamentary seats in the recent elections in Kuwait.

Four women won parliamentary seats in the general elections Saturday, the official Kuwait News Agency said.

Women were first granted the right to vote and run four years ago, but they failed to make inroads in the country's parliament in the past two elections.

Preliminary results released Sunday show that university instructor Aseel al-Awadhi and economist Rola Dashti were among four women who won seats.

The U.S.-educated Al-Awadhi has a doctorate and has been a member of Amnesty International, Kuwait News Agency said.

Dashti has worked as a consultant for several companies and chairs the Kuwait Economists Society, according to the news agency.

Two hundred and ten candidates ran for 50 seats in the general election, and 16 of the candidates were women.

The elections were called after the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, dissolved parliament, which is made up mostly of opposition politicians.

The parliament had been locked in a feud with the government, which it accuses of corruption and abuse of power. It has been pressuring the government for the right to question ministers on deals.

The parliament is made up of elected lawmakers, but ministers are appointed.

The emir said he was dissolving parliament to put an end to a crisis that had paralyzed decision-making.

The al-Sabah family has run Kuwait since it came into existence more than two centuries ago.

yes, good news indeed, but it doesn't seem as if the parliment has too much power.

what a progress!!?! )

hey, what a piece of news!

Is this the beginning?

ooh, Go ahead Kawuit, thus u will be on the front of nuclear technological countries…..

hmmm wish she could do sth to her country I watch on Tv they have pblms in parliament …..

Go ahead Kawuit woman or man doesn't matter :D ….

The only Kuwaiti parlaent has some power on Gov in the regione ,and it is better than any Arabic parlaments …tell me where in Saudi Arabia ..is better ?

that may be true, and the Saudi Kingdom certainly can't be seen as a beacon for women's rights. Nevertheless, I still don't think the parliment in Kuwait has so much power if the emir can disolve it at will. It's a step forward, though. 

Good news.

However I doubt they'll admit the impact of foreign culture and US pressure on even allowing women to vote in the first place.

the woman's suffrage isn't a very old right even in the western culture…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage

The regimes in power in Arab countries are the ones that the Arabs themselves are responsible for bringing into power.

If the US refused to deal with these regimes, they'd be labeled anti-Arab by the people of those countries.