In 2021, a wave of femicides shocked the people of Kuwait. The small Gulf state, bordering Saudi Arabia and Iraq, long positioned as comparatively progressive within the Gulf, confronted a surge of gender-based violence when three women were murdered by male relatives in the span of only two weeks. These brutal incidents came on the heels of an earlier killing that had already exposed critical shortcomings in the state’s response to gender-based violence earlier that year: the murder of 32-year-old Farah Akbar. Despite repeated reports of harassment and threats, the perpetrator had been released on bail and went on to murder Akbar. The case triggered widespread public outcry, including a nationwide social media campaign under the hashtag #lanasket (“I will not be silent”), which gave the matter unprecedented visibility. It underscored systemic gaps in legal protection, institutional accountability, and the enduring influence of social norms that discourage serious consideration of women’s concerns. Akbar’s killing was not an isolated case but part of a broader rise in femicides in Kuwait, which, according to World Population Review, records the highest number of femicide cases on the Arabian Peninsula. 

On 16 March 2025, after years of campaigns, initiatives, and repeated yet unfulfilled parliamentary promises, the so-called “honour killing article” – Article 153 of the 1960 Penal Code – was finally repealed. In Akbar’s case, the perpetrator was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment following an appeal that overturned the initial death sentence imposed by the criminal court, thereby underscoring the urgent need for strengthened legal protections and systemic reforms to better safeguard women from abuse. 

The Repeal: Legal and Symbolic Significance

Although Kuwait’s laws never explicitly referred to the idea of “women’s honour,” Article 153 of the Penal Code effectively gave legal cover to so-called honour killings. In practice, this reflected long-standing social norms linking family honour to women’s chastity, with the responsibility for its protection placed on male relatives. The article allowed men who killed a wife, daughter, mother, or sister caught in the act of adultery to face only a light sentence of up to three years in prison or a small fine. Long condemned as one of the country’s most discriminatory provisions, Article 153 drew sustained criticism both inside and outside Kuwait, including at international human rights fora where it was often cited as a barrier to Kuwait’s compliance with its obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Civil society was at the forefront of pushing for change: groups such as Soroptimist Kuwait, the Women’s Cultural and Social Society, and the Abolish Article 153 campaign brought together lawyers, academics, and activists to call for its repeal. Their efforts gained momentum over years of petitions, awareness-raising, and lobbying, until in February 2025 the Minister of Justice, Nasser Al-Sumait, publicly acknowledged that the law not only contradicted the principle of gender equality but also had no basis in Islamic law. A month later, Article 153 was finally abolished. 

The repeal was a pivotal moment, both legally and symbolically. It aligns Kuwait’s domestic framework with Article 29 of its Constitution, which guarantees equality in dignity and rights without discrimination, while also fulfilling international human rights commitments. More broadly, it underscores the impact of sustained grassroots activism and marks a cultural as well as legal shift in how women’s rights are understood and protected in Kuwait.

Reform without Recognition

While its repeal is a landmark achievement for women’s rights in Kuwait and the wider Gulf region, the reform has received surprisingly little international attention. This is striking given the sustained international advocacy, including the Abolish Article 153 campaign, which gained visibility in global fora, yet beyond Arab news outlets, European and US media coverage has been sparse – especially compared with the extensive reporting on Kuwait’s 2021 wave of femicides in outlets such as BBC News, the LA Times, and the Associated Press. Western discourse on women in the Arab world has often been framed through the lens of white saviourism, a narrative that paradoxically sidelines genuine local reform when it occurs. By contrast, the repeal of Article 153, a legal breakthrough dismantling a long-standing provision legitimising violence against women, was largely ignored in international media. From a policy perspective, this is significant: a recent brief by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (April 2025) identified legal discrimination as a principal barrier to women’s political participation across the Arab world, and thus a structural obstacle to gender equality. In that light, Kuwait’s reform represents not only a domestic achievement but also a regional precedent with potentially far-reaching implications.

The repeal of Article 153 is therefore more than a legal milestone: it is a precedent-setting reform in the Gulf, embedding gender equality within both constitutional principles and Islamic values. Yet the lack of Western reporting highlights a persistent imbalance. Major global news outlets tend to amplify narratives of oppression while sidelining reforms driven by local activism. Recognising such progress is essential not only to honour the efforts of civil society but also to encourage further legal advances across the region.