Kuwaiti MP: Women should stay home

Kuwaiti MP Hamdan Azemi said during an interview on the Kuwaiti Al-Adala television station that a woman’s place is “nowhere but home,” and that women were the reason that the streets were so crowded.

Citing Japan as an example of encouraging what he viewed as proper conduct in women and its supposed beneficial effect on society, Azemi said, “They give the woman a choice between working and staying at home. After all these years, look at Japan and look at us.” Azemi said he had proposed a bill that would mandate paying women to stay at home, but was unsuccessful in getting it passed.

As further justification for his opinion that women should never stir outdoors, Azemi said, “Women are the enemies of women,” and added that women did not vote for female candidates in the general elections. (Women were given the right to vote when voting was introduced into Kuwait in 1985. The right was later rescinded, but granted anew in May 2005.)

When the interviewer observed that if Azemi had his way, women would not even be allowed to go to the hospital but would die for lack of medical care, Azemi assured him that sharia (Islamic law) made allowances for emergencies.

“What about human rights?” the interviewer pressed.

“Well, that’s my opinion,” Azemi said.

Apparently, the idea that women should be allowed to set foot outside their homes is not the only thing that bothers the MP. On Wednesday Azemi, a Sunni Muslim, reportedly made insulting remarks on Wednesday to fellow Kuwaiti MP Faisal al-Duwaisan, a member of the Shia minority group in parliament, about his faith, according to the Iranian news site PressTV.

Duwaisan resigned from parliament on the spot, saying that he would not return until Azemi either apologized or suffered disciplinary action, the report said.