The Constitutional Court yesterday issued a landmark ruling by abrogating an article in the 1962 passports law that banned Kuwaiti women from obtaining their own passports without the prior approval of their husbands.This is a big deal, because it is directly against sharia law (as I understand it.)
The ruling, which is final and cannot be appealed, said that the article in the law violates a number of articles in the constitution, especially articles 29, 30 and 31 which guarantee personal freedom. In the ruling, the court also stated that under the constitution, women right to travel cannot be denied by anyone including their husbands because this is one of their basic rights in the constitution.
A fluffier but similarly good story for women from Jordan (and the UAE):
A Royal Jordanian flight from Athens to Amman could have passed off as any other routine trip except this RJ 132 flight was a little different as it boasted a female pilot leading an all female crew.
Carol Rabadi captained her first flight of 100 passengers after working as a co-pilot for six years, a move that has been hailed as a new era set to end the male domination of the Jordanian aviation industry.
“It was a wonderful feeling,” Rabadi told Al Arabiya. “It was a very safe and we proved ourselves as women without any problems.”
Meanwhile in related news the UAE saw two of its nationals become the first women to complete the first level of pilot training with the Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways.
The two women were expected to become fully fledged first officers, or co-pilots, in just eighteen months, a landmark achievement in the country, which for generations has kept women out of fields such as aviation.