Islam and the Extension of Citizenship Rights to Women in Kuwait

This paper examines the compatibility of Islam and the extension of women's rights, one element of democratization, with attention to social complexities within Muslim societies and to religious distinctions within Islam. A random sample of 1,500 Kuwaiti citizens, surveyed in 1994, provided data on individuals' status differences, their religious beliefs and practices and their embeddeness into social networks which are sources of attitude support and formation. OLS regression analysis demonstrated that Islamic orthodoxy was compatible with extending women's rights while Islamic religiosity was not, regardless of the respondents' sects. Respondents occupying positions of social status were more inclusive. However, respondents' ties to the social system around them predicted differently for members of Sunni and Shia sects. Also, intrasect differences probably reflected respondents' connections to different schools of Islamic thought in different geographical locations which hold differing ideas and opinions regarding the place of women.