Q8NRI.com

Kuwait: The issue of female police officers is sizzling and progressing towards becoming hot issue. It has already caused commotion when it was first announced in 2006, and was already a hot issue when the first batch celebrated their graduation in March. This week, newspaper reports involving harassment of the female police has brought the subject back to the spotlight.

Conservative members of society reacted to the news by suggesting that this ‘mistake’ be corrected as soon as possible. Conservative parliament members Mohammad Hayef and Waleed Al-Tabtabaei condemned the Minister of Interior Sheikh Jaber Al-Khaled Al-Sabah.

Although the Parliament is out on summer vacation until October, MP Hayef threatened to grill the minister of interior upon the start of the next term. Hayef stated to the press that this is "an abuse to the female identity, a violation of Islamic ethics and values and a blind imitation of western and Westernized countries." Hayef said that the minister’s negligence is inexcusable, and that there will be dire consequences if he fails to correct this mistake.

Local press reported earlier this month that the Ministry of Interior is discussing proposals to allow female police to join the rank of patrolling officers. While this news has received a lot of criticism, many women’s supporters believe that the situation will cool down and people will get used to all of this. Alaa Al-Ajmi, a 31-year old Physical Education teacher in an all-girls high school believes that the society will soon begin to see women in better light. "This is a rough phase of denial we’re going through. I come from a very conservative background, but I was allowed to play soccer with my brothers as a young girl and this passion has turned into my profession. I train girls in school to play soccer and other sports. Not a lot of people think girls can do it, but they are getting used to it," she mused.

Alaa says that having female police officers is important to society, and that it will make a lot of things easier especially for conservative people, "Many people find it inappropriate for a girl to be questioned by men. And when women go through problems that necessitate going to the police station, we often hear them say ‘oh, it is a place for men, I’ll just stay where I am and pray that my husband will stop abusing me,’ for example. When you have female officers, this barrier will no longer be present, she said. She quickly noted that this is not the only reason why it is a great idea to let women join the police force. It is an argument that many conservative people must remember before speaking against the female police.

Abeer Al-Khashti, 26, believes that there are pros and cons to having female police officers in the country. Women must not be attacked and marginalized. "I understand that if politicians argue that the dress code must be more fitting to a conservative society like ours – although I disagree with that point; our society is not totally conservative – but to say that women must remain at home, and to use archaic excuses like the nature and physique of women; it is really embarrassing. They should have better excuses than this," she noted.
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