VOA: Kuwaiti voters go to the polls for their parliamentary elections Saturday. Some Kuwaiti Islamic fundamentalists are urging women candidates and voters not to participate in politics, saying it is anti-Islamic. But others are dismissing this claim, saying it is politically motivated.
Aseel al-Awadi is running for a parliamentary seat. She is a university professor of philosophy at Kuwait University. She says it is time to see reform in Kuwait and no one is going to stop her from running for parliament.
"I think women have to have a seat in parliament," she said. "It is about time that women have a role in politics in general. Practically speaking women should have representation in parliament, this is one reason. Another reason is [that] I am capable of doing something different in parliament given my credentials."
But some members of Kuwait's Islamic Salafi political party have called for a boycott of women candidates on the grounds that public offices are reserved only for men according to their interpretation of Islam. Walid al-Tabtabaei is a Salafi political member who is a candidate in the elections.
He says having women in positions of power goes against the teachings of Islam. He says they are opposed to women being a member of parliament for religious reasons because all the prophets are men not women for good reason and Islam says the burden for office is too great for women. >>> By Mandy Clark | Friday, May 15, 2009
