The first bill which would have given women the right to vote in Kuwait was put to the parliament in 1963. It was ultimately overturned due to pressure from conservatives. Bills continued to be denied through 1985 and 1986. Kuwait then became heavily involved in the Iraq-Iran war, and women began demanding recognition for their efforts in keeping their families and society functional. The parliament agreed and the first woman was finally appointed as the ambassador of the Persian Gulf in 1993. In 1996, 500 women stopped working for an hour to show solidarity in their right for suffrage, and demonstrations continued throughout the next 6 years. In May 1999 a decree that allowed women the right to vote and run for office was issued by the emir, however it was overruled again by the parliament 6 months later.

In the 2003 election, women created mock ballots that allowed hundreds of women to cast symbolic votes for real candidates. In March 2005, 1,000 people surrounded the Kuwaiti parliament and on May 17, a bill was passed 37 votes for and 21 votes against, granting Kuwaiti women the right to vote and run for an elected office. Four years later, in May 2009, four female candidates won parliamentary seats in a general election out of fifty available seats. Although this was 8% of parliament, by the 2013 election, no women had been elected to the current parliament, and the last woman elected resigned in May 2014. Safa Al Hashem became the first and only woman elected to two consecutive terms of the Kuwaiti parliament in 2012 and 2016, but lost her seat in the 2020 elections.

Kuwait ( (listen); Arabic: الكويت al-Kuwayt, Gulf Arabic pronunciation: [ɪl‿ɪkweːt] or [lɪkweːt]), officially the State of Kuwait (Arabic: دولة الكويت Dawlat al-Kuwayt), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south. Kuwait also shares maritime borders with Iran. Kuwait has a coastal length of approximately 500 km (311 mi). Most of the country's population reside in the urban agglomeration of the capital city Kuwait City. As of 2021, Kuwait has a population of 4.67 million people of which 1.45 million are Kuwaiti citizens while the remaining 3.2 million are foreign nationals from over 100 countries.Historically, Kuwait was a strategic trade port between Mesopotamia, Persia and India. Oil reserves were discovered in commercial quantities in 1938. In 1946, crude oil was exported for the first time. From 1946 to 1982, the country underwent large-scale modernization, largely based on income from oil production. In the 1980s, Kuwait experienced a period of geopolitical instability and an economic crisis following the stock market crash. In 1990, after oil production disputes with neighbouring Iraq, Kuwait was invaded, and later annexed into one of Iraq's governorates by Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi occupation of Kuwait came to an end in 1991 after military intervention by a military coalition led by the United States and various other countries.

Kuwait is an emirate. The Emir is the head of state and the Al Sabah is the ruling family which dominates the country's political system. Kuwait's official state religion is Maliki Sunni Islam. Kuwait is a developed country with a high-income economy backed by the world's sixth largest oil reserves. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world. Kuwait is the fifth richest country in the world by gross national income per capita. In 2009, Kuwait had the highest Human Development Index in the Arab world.Kuwait has the largest number of stateless people in the entire region. Kuwait is a founding member of the GCC and a major non-NATO ally to the United States. Kuwait also has strong economic ties to China and ASEAN. In 2020, the Kuwaiti government experienced its first fiscal deficit since 1995. Under the Belt and Road Initiative, Kuwait and China have many important cooperation projects including South al-Mutlaa and Mubarak Al Kabeer Port. Kuwait currently has the largest US military presence in the Middle East.