BACK	GULF: Omani Women Lead The Way in Conservative Region

Radio news presenter Taibah bint Mohammed Al Mawali and Shakour bint Mohammed Al Ghamari were first admitted to the council by Oman's ruler Sultan Qaboos in November 1994. The Shura is a non-government advisory council, nominated by the people of the 59 'wilayats' or districts.

In June this year, Sultan Qaboos widened the popular participation of women in a royal decree which allows women across the country to stand for election to the Shura. The government has time and again reaffirmed the importance of the participation of women in public life.

Oman was the first Gulf state to admit women into the political domain. Women in Kuwait have been demanding the right to vote and run for elections since the Gulf war in 1991, and their counterparts in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been promised a role in political decision making by President Sheikh Zayed's wife, Sheikha Fatima.

As a country with considerably less oil reserves than its immediate neighours, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Oman is investing in its people, in schools, health services and infrastructure.

Oman's commitment to involving women in political decision making has been cheered by local and international women's groups, which said the move was unprecedented in the tradition- bound region.

Gulf women activists contacted by IPS after the election in October, praised the Omani experiment and expressed the hope that it would encourage other Gulf countries to grant women the right to vote and run for office.

A member of the Abu Dhabi Women's Society said the re-election of the two women was a good sign. ''People seem to have a great deal of confidence in their abilities,'' she observed.

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in Oman, Shahnaz Firouzgar has complimented Oman for stepping up efforts to promote the rights of women, including the opening up of the Shura system to women across the sultanate.

Speaking during a workshop on gender and development in the Omani capital Muscat recently, Firouzgar said Oman has been ''especially progressive in its promotion of women and social development''.

''This was reflected by the phenomenal expansion of educational opportunities for girls, the large numbers of women serving in government, the opening of women participation in the consultative council and the enactment of laws safeguarding important women rights,'' she said.

She added that UNICEF's overall policies and programmes were based on several factors including a growing understanding of the gender-based discrimination that affects girls and women throughout the life cycle and a growing concern to address the needs of women in their multiple role.

Oman was singled out as a ''global pace-setter in human development'' in the 1997 Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Omani Shura is an Islamic-style council that has no formal powers but is consulted by Sultan Qaboos, on new laws and public policy. Its members study proposed legislation, and advise the ruler.

During the last Shura Council elections in 1994, the Omani government granted women living in the capital Muscat the right to stand for election and make nominations, but their participation was limited to the capital's six provinces.

Women in Oman, like the rest of the Gulf, are veiled and largely segregated from men except in their homes.

But since coming to power in 1970, Sultan Qaboos has gradually expanded women's education and career opportunities. Women now hold positions as engineers, journalists, police officers and business executives, and one women is an undersecretary at the Social Affairs Ministry.

With a population of a little more than two million, Oman is a small independent oil producer and a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which also groups Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE.

Among the GCC states, only Kuwait has an elected Parliament but women are excluded. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE have all-male consultative councils made up of

designated members.

With the exception of Saudi Arabia, women receive equal opportunities in comparison to their male counterparts, in education and various occupations.

Kuwaiti women are now in the army. The first locally-trained women doctors have graduated from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the UAE University. The first woman pilot has graduated from the Dubai Aviation College.

They may be veiled, but women in the Gulf are bankers, academics, medical professionals, in the police and in some countries even in the army. In Oman, though, they are also in politics. (End/IPS/am/an/97)