Massouma al-Mubarak | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1947 (age 76–77) |
| Education | University of North Texas (M.A.) Josef Korbel School (Ph.D.) |
| Occupation | Academic |
Massouma al-Mubarak (born 1947) is Kuwait's first female government minister, sworn in on 20 June 2005.[1] She was educated in the United States and is a professor of political science.[2]
Massouma went to the US for higher education in 1971. In 1976 she completed an MA from The University of North Texas. She later earned a doctorate from the University of Denver.[3] Since 1982 she has been teaching political science at the Kuwait University.
She has been active in the field of equal rights for women and also writes a daily column for Al Anba newspaper.[4] In 2002 she collected signatures on a petition opposing segregation by gender or abolishing coeducation in Kuwait.[5]
In June 2005, she was appointed minister of planning and minister of state for administrative development to the cabinet led by prime minister Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah.[6] On 25 August 2007, she resigned as minister of health following a fire in a hospital in Jahra which killed two patients.[7]
In the 2009 Kuwaiti parliamentary elections, she and three other women won seats to become the first women to enter the Kuwaiti parliament.[8]