Disenfranchised Kuwaiti women have reacted with caution to a decision by the emirate's cabinet granting them full political rights, saying past experience was not encouraging.
It was the same day five years ago that Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah issued a bill granting women the right to vote and stand for office, a bill which was eventually rejected in parliament by Islamist and tribal MPs.
"I am happy that the cabinet took this timely decision. But I am not totally optimistic because past experiences are not encouraging," Lulowa al-Mulla, secretary general of the Women's Socio-Cultural Society, told AFP.
"In 1999, the government did not push enough to get the bill approved. I hope that this time they take it more seriously to see this law get through," Mulla said.
The Kuwaiti cabinet Sunday in its weekly meeting approved a bill to amend the first article of the emirate's election law that limits political rights of voting and standing in election to men over 21 years of age.
"In line with the government's keen interest to broaden popular participation, the Council of Ministers reviewed a draft law to amend the election law of 1962 to allow Kuwaiti women to practise their rights in voting in and contesting parliamentary elections ... and approved it," said an official statement after the cabinet session.
The bill must go to the emir for his approval before the emirate's 50-member parliament votes on it.
The new bill is likely to meet with stiff opposition in parliament which is dominated by Islamists and tribal members, who are traditionally against women's rights.
"I am afraid the cabinet decision is part of the ongoing political wrangling with Islamist MPs. I hope its genuine and the government will accord it the urgency it deserves," said Rula Dashti, a board member of the Kuwaiti Economic Society.
"I hope the outcome is positive. We should look around us to see that women in Bahrain, Qatar and Oman, all Gulf states like us, have secured their rights. These states even have female ministers," Dashti told AFP.
After presenting his government's legislative programme to parliament in July, Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah promised to renew efforts to amend the election law to grant women political rights.
The 16-member cabinet in the Gulf Arab state, which includes one elected MP, also has the right to vote in Kuwait's 50-seat parliament, giving a total number of 65 votes.
The next general elections in Kuwait are scheduled for July 2007.
"Will the government let us down this time like it did five years ago?" asked lawyer Kawthar al-Jouan. "I am afraid because there are some obstacles. Last time, the bill was rejected by two votes only," she noted.
"We know that the government has the means to secure the necessary support for the bill. We want the government to do whatever it takes to pass the bill in parliament," Jouan said.
Women activists are particularly worried that the current parliament is controlled by conservative tribal and Islamist MPs, both arch-enemies of women's rights.
"The composition of parliament does not give you much hope, but let's be optimistic that pro-women MPs and the government will push the bill through," Mulla said.
Due to restrictions in the election law, only 136,000 men out of a total Kuwaiti population of 910,000 were eligible voters in the July 2003 parliamentary polls.
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