UN Women’s Approaches in Addressing Gender Inequality in Kuwait (2021–2022)

Abstract

This thesis examines UN Women’s strategies in Kuwait during 2021–2022, focusing on how these initiatives addressed structural barriers in legal, cultural, and economic domains. Using Joachim’s (2008) framework, the study emphasizes the interplay between normative and managerial approaches in promoting gender equality, without relying on coercive enforcement mechanisms. Normative strategies included public advocacy, engagement with religious leaders, and campaigns to shift social attitudes, legitimizing women’s participation in leadership and public life. Managerial strategies operationalized these norms by strengthening institutional capacity through judicial training, gender-responsive budgeting, gender-disaggregated data systems, and private-sector partnerships via the Women’s Empowerment Principles. These combined efforts contributed to measurable outcomes, including a reduction in dismissed gender-based violence cases from 42% to 18%, enhanced reporting rates, increased adoption of workplace equality policies, and greater female representation in leadership positions. The findings demonstrate that sustainable progress in Kuwait depends on context-sensitive normative measures and robust managerial interventions that translate international commitments, such as CEDAW and SDG 5, into practical institutional change.