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Kuwait women face host of challenges, problems Published Date: March 09, 2010 By Rawan Khalid, Staff Writer KUWAIT: As the world marked the 100th International Women's Day, Kuwait's First Women's Forum was held yesterday under the patronage of the Speaker of the Kuwaiti Parliament, Jassem Al-Khorafi. "Kuwaiti women are faced with problems and challenges," Al-Khorafi said. "Their political activity must serve as an effective tool in addressing the issues affecting women as well as society as a whole." He noted that women's contribution to society is a testament to the honorable role they play in developing and s erving society. "This involves a grave responsibility," he stressed. "Their contribution must remain within the restraints and norms of Kuwaiti society and culture. Al-Khorafi pointed out that, as important as it is, recognizing women is more important than their "mere appointment to leading positions in the Cabinet or Parliament." On empowering women, Al-Khorafi said that "women and women's groups in our civil community must pay attention to the tools of social and economic empowerment. They should also work on providing social security to those groups of Kuwaiti women who need it the most," he added, "and address all forms of discrimination against women in the state's legislative and administrative structure. A woman's role in preserving the fabric of Kuwaiti society and family should be strengthened. These," the Speaker stressed, "are the greatest challenges facing women at this stage, in my view. Minister of Information and Oil, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Sabah said, "Women represent half of this society if not more; she is my mother, my sister and my daughter. Wherever you go she is there. I was the first minister to vote for women's rights and I believe they deserve as much support as possible. They need to be an active part of our daily lives because, after all, they are everything in our life. Dr Masuoma Al-Mubarak, President of the Women and Family Affairs Committee, and MP in the National Assembly (NA) said, "International Women's Day should be celebrated openly. I wish there were demonstrations and something more than just a forum. For the first time in Parliament we are studying a draft demanding that current laws regarding women be more equal and offer more opportunities for women in legislation. We held this forum to discuss issues regarding women as civil workers, women in public housing, social security laws and family laws. All the laws we have implemented at this time." Al-Mubarak added. "Our task at this point of time is to go through these laws and amend them in order to have more gender equality in these laws. We want to implement the United Nation's slogan; 'equality in rights, equality in opportunity' and this means progress for all. This is what we are looking for. It is not a war again st men, it is the logical and legal demands necessary to improve the status of women." Al-Mubarak concluded. MP Dr Aseel Al-Awadhi added that "this is the first forum organized by the Women Committee and we are working on changing some legislation that does not treat men and women's civil rights equally. Dr Rola Dashti, also an MP said that the Parliament's women committee hosted the event in order to highlight issues facing women today. The women's committee will propose laws to empower women and encourage them to be more active in society, she added. We have a lot of experienced and qualified women and we want to see them get leading positions, decision making positions," she said. The challenges that a woman faces in the work place is a topic of importance to us, she stressed, and we are working on providing women more rights in the workplace. She pointed out that the housing issue and the rights of Kuwaiti women married to non-Kuwaitis is also a very important issue to the committee. We acknowledge the challenges that women face here," Dashti continued. "The fight is continuous. We are going to move the process forward to ensure that women get full partnership in the development of society and make sure she is treated like a real citizen. The Speaker of the House is extremely supportive of our cause and is advancing it. We thank him, and I thank the Kuwaiti men and women for electing four women to parliament to ensure their part of society," Dashti concluded. "I think it's a great idea to commemorate and reflect on the advances that women have made, particularly in political sphere and the economic sphere," said Deborah Jones, American Ambassador to Kuwait. "I believe that every day is women's day because women play such an integral and im portant role in our society. When we don't include women as full members of society we don't grow as much as we can. I am impressed by the courage of individuals, both men and women, who advance these causes," Jones continued. "I've never seen a weak women anywhere in the world. Women know their responsibilities, they carry a heavy load for the family and the society and it's nice to see that things have progressed to the point where they can put all the talent they develop into raising a family into the very foundation of our society. All the multi tasking and political debate that goes on inside the family is applied to society. We always remind people that economics come from managing finances at home. The more we have both parts of our society involved in making solutions, the more productive our societies become," Deborah concluded.