Kuwait women’s rights backlash - in pictures

  • Women might be progressing across part of the Arab world, but in Kuwait, the guardians of conservative morals have increasingly cracked down on their rights in recent months, prompting activists to take to the streets last week. All photos: AP Photo
    Women might be progressing across part of the Arab world, but in Kuwait, the guardians of conservative morals have increasingly cracked down on their rights in recent months, prompting activists to take to the streets last week. All photos: AP Photo
  • When an instructor in Kuwait this month advertised a desert wellness yoga retreat, conservatives declared it an assault on Islam. Lawmakers and clerics thundered about the 'danger' and depravity of women doing the lotus position and downward dog in public, and persuaded authorities to ban it.
    When an instructor in Kuwait this month advertised a desert wellness yoga retreat, conservatives declared it an assault on Islam. Lawmakers and clerics thundered about the 'danger' and depravity of women doing the lotus position and downward dog in public, and persuaded authorities to ban it.
  • “Our state is backsliding and regressing at a rate that we haven’t seen before,” says feminist activist Najeeba Hayat (pictured). For some Kuwaitis, it’s an unsettling trend in a country that once prided itself on its progressivism compared to its Gulf Arab neighbours.
    “Our state is backsliding and regressing at a rate that we haven’t seen before,” says feminist activist Najeeba Hayat (pictured). For some Kuwaitis, it’s an unsettling trend in a country that once prided itself on its progressivism compared to its Gulf Arab neighbours.
  • Hamdan Al Azmi, a conservative, has led the tirade against yoga, accusing outsiders of trampling on Arab heritage and bemoaning the aerobic exercise as a cultural travesty. “If defending the daughters of Kuwaitis is backward, I am honoured to be called it,” he said.
    Hamdan Al Azmi, a conservative, has led the tirade against yoga, accusing outsiders of trampling on Arab heritage and bemoaning the aerobic exercise as a cultural travesty. “If defending the daughters of Kuwaitis is backward, I am honoured to be called it,” he said.
  • Some attribute the conservative backlash to a sense of panic that society is changing.
    Some attribute the conservative backlash to a sense of panic that society is changing.
  • Activists in recent months have struggled to sustain the momentum as they themselves have faced rape and death threats. Hayat has little faith in the government to change anything for Kuwait’s women.
    Activists in recent months have struggled to sustain the momentum as they themselves have faced rape and death threats. Hayat has little faith in the government to change anything for Kuwait’s women.