Headscarf
Kuwait constitutional court rules women lawmakers not required to wear headscarf
The Kuwaiti Constitutional Court ruled Wednesday that female lawmakers are not required to wear the hijab, or traditional Muslim headscarf. The ruling was in response to a petition brought by four voters seeking to invalidate the election of two of the four women who became the first female members of the Kuwaiti National Assembly in June because they refuse to wear the hijab.
The petitioners claimed that women who choose not to wear hijab should be excluded from the legislature because they are in violation of a clause in the 2005 electoral law, which gave women the full right to vote and run for parliament, but stipulates that women voters and candidates must comply with Islamic Sharia law. The court held that the clause was vague and failed to specify to what regulations women must adhere. It also stressed the primacy of the 1962 Constitution and the guarantees of personal freedoms it includes.
In another landmark ruling on women's rights, the Constitutional Court overturned an article of the Personal Status Law that required a woman to obtain approval from her husband, parents, or guardian to apply for a passport. The court found that the law was also in conflict with the guarantees of personal freedom and gender equality inherent in the constitution.
(Published by Jurist - October 28, 2009)