Gulf Crisis Opens Doors for the Other Half : Islam: Saudi, Kuwaiti and even Iraqi women are finding new freedoms. The change could tap a flood of resources.

The crisis in the Persian Gulf may be a disguised blessing for women in the Middle East, where strict cultural and religious norms generally relegate them to traditional, subservient roles.

After the Iraqi invasion, Kuwaiti women took to the streets, staging public demonstrations and providing secret relief to resisters. Iraqi women have been recruited into the military. A small group of Saudi Arabian women publicly defied the law to drive their own cars. Even the outraged Saudi backlash only illustrates the fears of the conservative ruling class that pressures for change are intensifying. For instance, Saudi women are now permitted to go out on the streets alone, and are for the first time being hired by other than female-owned and -operated businesses. These are significant steps, abetted by a sudden decrease in “manpower” as well as by a sudden influx of Westerners, both men and women.

Once the situation normalizes, Muslim women, lacking political and social clout, may find themselves pushed back into their homes. It is more likely, however, that the current easing will lead to far-reaching changes in women’s status in the Muslim world. The leaders of both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are discussing the rights of women as part of a broader debate on more democratic political systems, if and when Iraq is forced back to its own borders. Before the crisis, women were simply not on the agenda.

Contrary to popular Western beliefs, it is not the Islamic religion itself that prohibits women from participation in economic and political life. The Koran has never excluded women from equal access to paid employment, public office or education. Rather, social custom and backward leaders in male-dominated societies have dictated the status of Muslim women.

Although laws and customs governing women vary somewhat among nations, the Muslim world shares one alarming trait: an unusually low rate of growth and an unusually high rate of poverty. It’s unlikely that the correlation between failing economies and the exclusion of women from public life is merely coincidental.

According to Fatima Mernissi, a noted Muslim scholar from Morocco, traditional private-public, female-male activities are an anachronism in a developing society. Women aid the goals of development and represent untapped resources. Once women enter the economy, it becomes apparent that their increased economic and political participation is necessary to advance government goals.

Despite the prevailing prejudices and obstacles faced by Muslim women, a few are succeeding in public life, even without politically powerful families like those of Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto or Semra Ozal, the Turkish president’s influential wife. One pathfinder, also in Turkey, is Imren Aykut, the minister of labor and social welfare. Formerly a member of Parliament and the first elected woman official ever appointed to the Cabinet, Aykut symbolizes what women can achieve in a male-dominated Muslim state with a more democratic and secular leadership than those of the gulf states.

A self-made politician from a modest background, Aykut has demonstrated the ability to survive in a male Muslim political world while using her gender to advantage. The respect accorded to women in Turkey and the perception that women prefer harmony to confrontation have served her well in labor-management mediation. Her sensitivity to the welfare of women has built a strong following among female constituents. Girls express to her their desire to be cabinet ministers. Men accept these new circumstances and often refer to her as “Mr. Minister,” disregarding gender to defer to her authority.

Aykut’s example demonstrates that, given the chance by a more open political system, women in Muslim cultures can gain the acceptance of men even while campaigning for the welfare of women. If the gulf crisis can keep open the door for others like her, then within that vast pool of untapped talent there may even be a leader with the capacity to edge a war-torn region toward harmony.