First women elected to Kuwait parliament


Rola Dashti, one of the four women elected to Parliament
This past Saturday, four women won seats in the Kuwaiti parliament–the first time ever women have been represented in the parliament. Women in Kuwait were only given the right to vote and run for office in 20062005, so this is a huge step forward in a short amount of time.
From CNN:

‘The Kuwaiti women have been able to notch up this great victory at a crucial time and set a precedent in the history of Arabian Gulf parliaments,’ Mohammad Al-Feili, a constitutional law professor at Kuwait University, told the official Kuwait News Agency.
Two-hundred-and-ten candidates ran for 50 seats in the general election; 16 were women.
Al-Awadhi said the elections proved Kuwaitis want political change.
‘Yes, they do, absolutely,’ she said. ‘Yes, I mean, this is my second time running for election. I ran last time … and yes, people were talking about change. But this time, I realized that people are determined — that they want to achieve change, they want to see change happen.’

UPDATE: On a related note, Lithuania just elected it’s first female president, Dalia Grybauskaite.

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