In a paper she presented at the first session of the Kuwaiti Women in National Legislation conference organised by the parliamentary women’s affairs committee, she said the law overlooked the rights of employed, single women and did not equate them with women who were married, divorced, or widowed.
She said the law placed employment as a condition for granting pension and not the social condition of the insured person. All women equally paid insurance instalments, she said, and thus there was a clear violation of the principles of justice and equality stipulated in the constitution.
But the Deputy Director General of the Public Institute for Social Security (PIFSS) disagreed with Al-Ajmi, saying that the Kuwait’s social security law guarantees women social security rights that are comparable to those of men, alongside a set of rights that favourably set women apart.
He said this distinction took into consideration social customs as well as health and working conditions. Social security rights that both men and women shared, he said, included pensions and any hikes in these, as well as minimum pension levels and temporary pensions.
Women alone are granted end-of-service compensation, grants, and salaries in cases of a spouse’s death and for women caring of those with special needs or non-curable disabilities.
Moreover, women who are married, divorced, or widowed with children are allowed to retire after 15 years of service or at 40 years of age with no deductions in salary. The official also noted that employed women received their husband’s pension if he had passed away.
