Wooing Women April 29, 2008
Posted by jewaira in Kuwait, Life, Women.6 comments
It still makes me wonder how all those Kuwaiti women who were against women’s suffrage, are now keen to attend candidate gathering and very interested in discussing who they should vote for and why.
It also makes me wonder how all those Kuwaiti men (members of parliament and conservative men in our families) who were staunchly against any involvement of women in politics, are now actively seeking to influence the feminine vote.
And one only has to see how many women’s headquarters are set up for male candidates to meet the female constituencies in all districts to believe how seriously they are taking the female vote. With their numbers, women can certainly sway the vote in favour of certain candidates.
I heard an interesting account that displays the difference between the elections of 2006 and the present elections. In 2006, my friend tells me, her conservative brother influenced all the women in his family of voting age to vote for a certain candidate who represented a certain Islamic group. This candidate went on to win but did not do much in parliament, she says.
This time around, the women in the family have told their conservative brother outright that they will not vote for his friend again; and that they have other candidates to choose from.
It seems to me this is a good sign. Hopefully these women, and others, will make an effort to make up their own minds about who they will vote for on May 17th based on their own sound judgments. If one is looking at candidates who were previous members of parliament, one should find out about their achievements since 2006 and their performance. If they are new candidates, then one should look at their previous political and social record. It is always important to see how involved a candidate has been.
Women can make a difference in many ways if they make educated choices.
