Some of the fiercest opposition to women’s public work comes from conservative women who dutifully attend public lectures or workshops organised by groups to dispute women’s voting and other rights…“But, in general, Gulf societies still look down on women and think they should not compete for men’s jobs.”[says the minister of social affairs and labour]...Compared with other Gulf states, Kuwaiti women are more emancipated. They make up 70 per cent of university students and represent 40 per cent of the workforce...Though the government likes to emphasise that Islamist members are responsible for blocking women’s progress, activists say the government is responsible for the radicalisation of society…Changing the laws is not the only difficulty. Ghada al-Ghanim, an activist, says that many women do not even realise that they have rights that have been granted in the laws or the constitution…“Men and women are not aware of their rights,” says Ms al-Ghanim. “It is not enough to change the laws, it is very important to engage the society and explain that equal rights are not anti-Islamic.”…