Page 227 - Culture Technology Communication

210 Deborah Wheeler

frustrations, some of which are avoided when relying upon locals for im-
plementation, as well as student populations as subjects, students being
more apt to answer frankly. For more on this subject see, O’Barr et al.
(1973), especially the sections by Mark Tessler.
12. <http://www.nua.ie/surveys/>
13. These figures were obtained from two sources: Network Wizard’s
Web site <http://www.nw.com> and personal e-mail correspondence with
Grey Burkhart, CEO Allied Engineering, g.burkhart@computer.org, who
provided the 1/99 data from his forthcoming publication, “15 January 1999
GITAG Survey of the .kw Domain.”
14. For more information see the cafe’s Web site at
<http://www.ole.com.kw>; or e-mail the cafe directly at
webmaster@ole.com.kw
15. “Kuwaiti Women Strongly Resent Idea of Staying at Home.” Arab
Times, 8 January, 1994.
16. A comment made during a conversation with a senior female
member of the American diplomatic mission in Kuwait.
17. See for example, al-Samra (February 1997), and Muntada al-
Marah wa Sana’ al-Qirar: Bahath wa-Awraq al-Amal (Kuwait: Women’s
Cultural and Social Society, 1996), 61-73.
18. Interview with a working woman at the Ministry of Education,
8/6/97.
19. Note: the names of the women interviewed here have been
changed to protect their privacy.
20. If one looks at the employment classified ads, those calling for
high-tech jobs rarely specify job qualifications along gender lines. By contrast,
jobs which require driving and selling, or are management related are likely
to use gender-specific language in their advertisements for the position.

21. When pressed on this issue, several women responded that in
Kuwait, the women who needed to be reached the most with regards to their
rights were not computer literate: thus the Internet would do little to help
them. Rather, according to a number of women’s rights advocates I inter-
viewed, the best channels of communications for campaigns to increase
women’s access to social justice in Kuwait would include: hotlines for do-
mestic abuse; special counseling offices for dealing with marital problems;
social agencies dedicated to dealing with post-traumatic stress problems
created by the terrors of the Iraqi invasion; and pamphlets printed in simple
Arabic explaining women’s legal rights under the Sharia [the tradition of
Muslim law] (such as the fact that women can write into the pre-nuptial
agreement that a man cannot take another wife).