Msouma Mubark takes oath, joins the Kuwaiti parliament today

The Kuwaiti minister of planning and minister of state for development affairs, Masouma Mubarak, the first woman to assume a ministerial post in Kuwait, took her constitutional oath on Saturday before the Kuwaiti crown prince Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah.

Masouma Mubarak attended the first meeting of the Kuwaiti cabinet on Saturday. She also welcomed the Iraqi prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari upon arriving in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti liberal academic, who was appointed in her post last week, will join today ( Monday) her post as a member of the Kuwaiti parliament ( Ummah council) to be the first woman in it in Kuwait. The Kuwaiti law states that member in the government is also a member in the parliament and has the right to vote, like other parliamentarians.

The appointment of Masouma, a professor of international relations at Kuwait university, as a minister came one month after Kuwaiti women gained the right to vote and to be elected. However, her appointment in this post raised a controversy. Several Islamists parliamentarians who oppose the rights of women indicated that Masouma's appointment is a violation of the law because she is not registered on the voters list. Islamists parliamentarian Deif Bu Remieh said he collected scores of signatures from parliamentarians for a petition demanding the opinion of the constitutional court on her appointment. However, such a request can only be considered valid at the consent of the whole parliament.