Kuwait's highest court granted women the right to obtain a passport without their husband's approval, the case's lawyer said Wednesday. Women in Kuwait can vote, serve in the Parliament and drive - and now can obtain their own passports. Attorney Adel Qurban, whose case the court was ruling on, said the landmark decision “freed” Kuwaiti women from the 1962 law requiring their husband's signature to obtain a passport. His client, Fatima Al-Baghli, is one of thousands of women who have been petitioning courts for this right. The court found the article in the decades-old law “unconstitutional” because it goes against the principle of equal rights. “It undermines her free will and compromises her humanity,” the court explained according to a copy of the decision provided by the lawyer. Activist Aisha Al-Rsheid hailed Tuesday's ruling, but said females in this traditional male-dominated society were still a long way from the equality promised by the 1962 constitution. “We want to see women judges and prosecutors, we want women to give their citizenship to their children, and we want women to have the right to state-provided houses,” just as men, she said.
