Women and Politics in Kuwait

On May 17, 2008, Kuwait conducted its Twelfth election of its National Assembly. The most remarkable aspect of the election was the active participation of women, who gained their right to vote in May 2005. This paper argues that the main impediment for women’s inability to win any seat in the 11th and 12th Assemblies is their failure to work with each other and support their political rights. The objective of this article is to examine the Kuwaiti women’s struggle for political rights, their participation in the last two elections and investigate their inability to win any seats, in spite of the conduciveness of the political environment to their electoral success