“THROUGHOUT the history of Kuwait, women have been distinguished by many achievements at all levels, and have played a leadership role in many areas, and even contributed to defending the homeland during the Iraqi occupation of the country,” columnist Sattam Al-Jarallah wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.

“Many have laid down their lives, so when the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali took a decision for women to join the Kuwaiti armed forces is based on the fact that they have made great historical contributions and raised their status in this great national mission, unfortunately, this was not appreciated by some backward people who fear the participation of women in any national action, based on patriotism have nothing to do with true religion. “These people employ everything for the benefit, forgetting that Kuwaiti women who contributed to education and medical care, to nation building and imparting knowledge on others.

“Therefore the best response to such people, is to enlist young women in the military. Take for example Asrar al-Qabandi, during the occupation she faced the invaders with courage and was an example of patriotism. Little did she think that a day would come that some backward people will say that a woman’s place is in the house. These people forget that it is the Kuwaiti women who took to the streets to resist the occupation forces and worked from their homes and helped their brothers who formed the resistance force to consolidate the legendary steadfastness, and not one of them thought as the ‘obscurantists’ think.

“This blessed step taken by Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al-Ali expresses the confidence of the army, officers and soldiers, in the pioneering role of the daughters and sisters of Kuwait who do not shy away from their service to their country. It is also the confidence of the political leadership, which has given women all the attention and made them an essential part of the renaissance at all levels.

“The time has come for the retarded mentalities to do away their obsolete ideas , shun their backwardness who have until now ‘under the cover of darkness’ controlled the society through a series of unfair and backward legislation, the aim of which was to push the society into the dungeon of their backward ideas, but the decision of Minister Sheikh Hamad Jaber Al- Ali has poured cold water on such mentalities.

“There are many legislative errors committed in the past, and we hope that this bold and patriotic decision with distinction will be the beginning of a series of decisions and procedures to correct all backward legislations by backward people who once controlled the National Assembly, foremost of which is the abolition of the law that calls for segregation in schools and universities.” — Compiled by Zaki Taleb