Kuwaiti Women Gain Passport Rights

Kuwait’s constitutional court ruled today that married women do not need their husbands’ permission to obtain passports. Lulwa al-Mulla of the Women Social Cultural Society welcomed the decision: “This is a move that pleases everyone and not just Kuwaiti women, because I think it is democracy that won this time.”

Matthew Yglesias points out that the most encouraging part of this news is that the change was made through a judicial process, and not by royal decree. Kuwait seems to be making progress, he says, citing women’s acquisition of voting rights in 2005 and the election of female MPs this year.