On October 12, 2021, Kuwait’s minister of defense, Hamad Jaber al-Ali al-Sabah, issued Ministerial Decree No. 657 of 2021, allowing women to enlist in the Kuwaiti armed forces for the first time. Previously, women were not allowed to serve in the army, although they were permitted to serve in the police. In accordance with the ministerial resolution, women will be assigned to noncombat roles in the ranks of noncommissioned officers and specialists. Additionally, they will serve in military support units and as military medical personnel.
According to the statement of the assistant to the Kuwaiti Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Khaled al-Kandari, women will not stay overnight in camps during military training. General al-Kandari added that women would serve in a variety of military sectors, including the Inspection Department of the Emiri Guard, Engineering, Programming, and Signal Corps.
Colonel Tariq al-Sabr, the head of the General Enlistment Department, stated that women could apply for the Kuwaiti military through the website of Ministry of Defense and that their military basic training in the medical and Emiri guard sectors would last for three months. Further, the head of the Legal Affairs Department, Colonel Dr. Mohammad al-Enazi, said that he expected that the first group of enlisted women would reach 150 and that registration would be opened at the end of this year.
Law No. 32 of 1967
The ministerial resolution allowing women to enlist served to implement Law No. 32 of 1967 on the Army. Law No. 32 details the various ways a person can be admitted to military service. (Law No. 32 of 1967, art. 5.) Moreover, it grants the minister of defense the authority to determine the functions, powers, and competencies of military personnel (art. 11.) and to determine the conditions that individuals must meet to enlist in the army and the enlistment period. (Art. 41.)
Reaction to the Ministerial Resolution
Ministerial Decree No. 657 of 2021 on allowing women to join the army has divided Kuwaitis into two groups. The first group endorses the minister of defense’s decision and considers it a step in the right direction. The second group, on the other hand, opposes the decision, arguing that it violates the family values of Kuwaiti society.
Those who support the enlistment of women in the military, including the Kuwaiti minister of defense, argue that the decision to allow women to become military officers adheres to the provisions of the Kuwaiti Constitution, which states that the people have “equal public rights and obligations” and that “[t]here shall be made no differentiation among them because of gender, origin, language or religion.” (Const. art. 29.) Additionally, women’s rights activists, including Sheikha al-Ali, have endorsed the minister of defense’s decision, with al-Ali also calling for women to receive pay equal to their male peers.
The second group of Kuwaitis, including the conservative and Islamist members of the parliament, oppose women’s participation in the military. Member of Parliament Osama al-Munawar claims that the decision of the minister of defense violates Kuwaiti family values, while another member of parliament, Fayez Ghannam, has stressed that the move constitutes an undesirable westernization of conservative Kuwaiti society that shows no respect for the distinctive nature of women. Maintaining that there is no need for women to join the military, Ghannam says he will submit a bill prohibiting women from becoming military officers. Finally, Member of Parliament Mohammad al-Mutair has argued that women who will serve in the medical sector in the military do not need to receive military training, only medical training.