Hijabs in Parliament still a challenging issue

Ghenwah Jabouri Staff WriterKUWAIT:

"The Constitution of Kuwait does not accept any laws that are built on sexism; all men and women are equal before the Constitution and Kuwaiti law," stated Labeed Abdal, an attorney, Constitutional expert, and Head of the International Committee at the Kuwait Bar Association, when asked his opinion on the recent parliamentary issue of women not wearing the hijab while serving in the public sector as an MP or minister."There is a law that talks about Islamic guidelines, but this is not entirely clear and can be considered unconstitutional."The expert added that, "there is no direct law that would prevent women MPs that do not wear the hijab from attending the sessions, and (proponents) must prove that the law exists. Actually, two other ministers attended Parliament in the past and did not wear a hijab, which can be a precedent for women members of the Parliament.

"The victory of four women in parliament has opened up room for further differences between MPs; both Aseel Al Awadhi and Rola Dashti do not wear the hijab, and are being closely scrutinized by Islamists MPs.Several of them, including, Faisal AlـMislem, Waleed AlـTabtabaie, Dhaifallah BuRamiah, Jamaan AlـHarbash, Mohammed Hayef and Mubarak AlـWalaan, have stated that women MPs must adhere to their perspectives of Islamic Sharia and wear the hijab, but neither Dashti nor AlـAwadhi have complied to their demands.

This brings the issue of the hijab to the forefront of political discussion.Both MPs Dashti and Awadhi do not wear the hijab, but have been officially allowed to enter Parliament''s grounds and perform their duties.Some may wonder where the problem lies and on what grounds some MPs are calling for the enforcement of the hijab on female members of the political sector.

In pursuit to understand this contention, Al Watan Daily spoke to a constitutional expert, quoted above, as well as some MPs to hear what their views are on the matter that might escalate in the near future and cause further tension in the National Assembly.Islamist MP Mohammed Hayef AlـMutairi stated that women must abide by Islamic Sharia and wear the hijab. Hayef stated that "even though there are women voters who do not wear the hijab, this does not necessarily justify women MPs to not wear the hijab, and that it is the government''s role to ensure women MPs adhere to Sharia law."He further pointed out that women who are politically active and who are representing the country officially should wear the hijab.

"The government cannot oblige each and every women citizen in the country to wear the hijab, but it can force women ministers and MPs to wear the hijab," Hayef concluded.

MP Saleh Ashour has an opinion that is in strong contrast to Hayef''s view, and he noted that the issue of the hijab is a matter of personal choice."God is the only one who can judge humans for their deeds," he stated. He further pointed out that there were women ministers who performed their duties without wearing the hijab, yet no legal action was taken against them."Some women voters do not wear the hijab; does this mean that their vote is not legitimate?" Ashour asked.Many commentators have echoed a similar sentiment that the hijab, above all, is a "freedom of choice" issue and, ultimately, wearing the hijab is understood to be a choice that one might consider a responsibility when the time is right for their personal considerations.

Furthermore, the two women ministers that do not wear the hijab have been exercising their political duties without any authoritative figures demanding that they step down, so far.

Compelling someone to wear the hijab may bear ill towards the democratic and, some may argue, Islamic sensibilities that Kuwait as a country promotes as foundational to its national character.

Furthermore, The National Assembly has often its fare share of problems and disputes; hence, the issue of hijabs seems to be another political thorn to hinder toward the development of other key issues that Parliament is facing. Kuwait urgently needs to focus on major projects in order to allow the country to once again thrive and flourish and help its citizens to succeed in all their endeavors.

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