Commending the State of Kuwait for Granting Women Certain Important Political Rights

COMMENDING THE STATE OF KUWAIT FOR GRANTING WOMEN CERTAIN IMPORTANT POLITICAL RIGHTS -- (House of Representatives - July 11, 2005)

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Mr. CROWLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution. I thank, again, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for his kind words of support for this resolution as well.

Mr. Speaker, on May 16, 2005, after many years of opposition, the Kuwaiti Parliament finally granted women the right to vote and to run for public office. If you and I, Mr. Speaker, had drafted this bill in the Kuwaiti legislature, I know it would have read somewhat differently. As worded, it states that "a Kuwaiti woman, voting and running for political office, should do so while fully adhering to the dictates of Islamic Sharia."

That suggests the possibility of limiting the application of this law.

However, my Kuwaiti friends assure me that the law indeed will be applied universally to all of Kuwait's women citizens, and it is my hope that that will indeed be the case. In any case, the Kuwaiti parliament's action marks an important step on the path towards full democratization.

It should also be noted that, with the enfranchising of women in Kuwait, women in every nation that holds elections now have the right to vote, except in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, there still remain nations where neither men nor women have the right to vote, a peculiar and regrettable form of gender equity.

Mr. Speaker, I support this resolution. I urge my colleagues to support it as well.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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