Kuwaiti women's study abroad under threat from extremists

A law requiring the segregation of female students at Kuwait University could lead to a ban on Kuwaiti women studying at co-educational institutions abroad, says the country's undersecretary for higher education.

Rasha al-Sabah, who opposes such a measure, said it is logical to assume that Muslim fundamentalists may seek next to restrict the increasing number of women travelling to foreign, co-educational universities and colleges.

Women account for 200 of the 900 Kuwaitis studying in the United Kingdom, and 450 of the 2,750 in the United States, up dramatically since 1993.

Study-abroad scholarships for Kuwaiti women seem safe for now. The Muslim fundamentalists lost three of their 19 seats in the last National Assembly elections, and the law they passed last year requiring women at the university be segregated has been stalled by more pressing economic issues.

"It's there on paper, but it's difficult to execute,'' Dr al-Sabah said in an interview in Boston, where she spoke at Harvard University.

"We as academics and administrators feel that it is impractical to implement this law. One cannot afford to make separate facilities, basically a new campus, for the women.'' Dr al-Sabah, a member of the Kuwaiti royal family and the highest-ranking woman in government, said she would work to ensure the study-abroad scholarships, which she oversees, are "never ever" restricted to men.

"If one bans women from being able to study abroad, one would deny them exposure to other schools of thought and deny Kuwait women leaders such as myself, who have contributed to the enhancement of women's status in Kuwait,'' said Dr al-Sabah, a product of two English preparatory schools, and Birmingham and Yale universities.

Kuwaiti women cannot vote or run for office, but they can work, drive and travel unaccompanied. Boys and girls attend separate schools and vocational colleges are segregated.

"Things are not as dire as in Algeria and Afghanistan, but one still has to speak out,'' Dr al-Sabah said.

"People on the other side are saying 'separate but equal' and we're saying, 'No, together and equal'."