The Fight for Women's Citizenship Rights: The Case of Kuwait.

A growing literature on the politics of inclusion/exclusion points out that a complete conceptualization of democracy includes women's access to government, their participation in society and the economy, and their right to claim state protection of personal status. In the Middle East, it is difficult for women to win elective office and hard to change national laws that discriminate, even though women in nearly every Middle Eastern state have formal political rights, such as the right to vote and the right to run for elective office. Kuwaiti women, among the most publicly assertive and active women in the Middle East, were denied political rights until May 2005. This paper examines the struggles related to achieving political rights in Kuwait and the changing status of women, paying particular attention to the context surrounding the recently achieved enfranchisement of women and the potential for increased participation in and protection by the state. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]