The most recent parliamentary elections in Kuwait resulted in two-thirds of incumbents losing their seats including the sole woman MP. Leaving a parliament with no female representation despite 29 women running for office. Due to limited empirical evidence available on the Kuwaiti gendered political landscape, particularly following the 2020 elections, WFD undertook a project seeking to generate insights. The key obstacles to women’s candidacy and the means by which to determine the appropriate entry points, actors, and knowledge required to more effectively support women as candidates were explored.  

The purpose of the project was to 

• Generate new insights, which has been achieved through production of a gender-sensitive political economy analysis (PEA) and companion research on the role of technology during the 2020 Kuwaiti elections.
• Generate recommendations for programming to support women’s political participation, which has been achieved through the development of an implementation plan. The insights generated through the PEA and the linked implementation plan directly explore actions for creating a more gender-responsive political sphere in Kuwait at multiple levels. 

Kuwait is also represented in the Coalition of Women MPs to Combat Violence Against Women, comprising MPs representing 13 Arab countries.