KUWAIT, 11th September, 2026 (WAM) -- Kuwaiti women have played a longstanding and influential role in volunteer and humanitarian work, evolving from individual community initiatives into organised and sustainable national efforts.
They moved from helping those around them to contributing to an organised volunteer system that left a lasting mark on society.
Kuwait has steadily empowered women in humanitarian and volunteer work through national policies, plans and strategies, while strengthening partnerships with international and regional organisations.
The 2004 Amiri Decree establishing the Volunteer Work Centre helped institutionalise volunteering, encouraged public participation in its projects, provided training, and promoted them through various media outlets.
Today, Kuwaiti women account for about 74.5 percent of the country's relief sector workforce, while nearly 26 percent head charitable associations and 25 percent serve on their boards.
Since Kuwait's establishment, women have contributed to volunteer work through donations for mosques, traditional schools, furnishings, endowments and charitable bequests, as well as Quranic schools, healthcare and educational initiatives.
Historical references indicate that more than 80 Kuwaiti women volunteered to establish and manage traditional schools, while women contributed about 224 of the 440 charitable endowments recorded in Kuwait at the time.
Chairperson of the Volunteer Work Centre Sheikha Amthal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah said the roots of volunteering in Kuwait stem from the society's traditions of solidarity and mutual assistance, which encouraged women's participation in serving the community from an early stage.
Sheikha Amthal told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that an early example was the construction of the third wall, when men built the wall before iftar during Ramadan while women prepared meals and supplied water.
She described the effort as an early model of volunteerism and community cooperation, with everyone contributing according to their abilities.
Sheikha Amthal recalled the late Sabeeka Al-Khaled, who donated her home to expand Al-Mubarakiyah School.
Another historic example was Shaha Al-Hamad Al-Saqer, who donated a shop to house the National Library and contributed a sum of money in support of the Palestinian cause.
She recalled the first Kuwaiti women's delegation to Egypt in 1956, which coincided with the Tripartite Aggression against Egypt.
Members of the delegation volunteered at Egyptian hospitals to help treat the wounded, demonstrating that Kuwaiti solidarity extended beyond the country's borders.
Volunteer work expanded alongside Kuwait's development, moving from families, neighbors and friends toward organised institutional efforts.
School activities launched in 1957 marked an important stage in this development, followed by the establishment of women's associations and the transition toward organised teams and institutions.
Sheikha Amthal affirmed that national unity, citizenship and belonging are deeply rooted values among Kuwaiti women and form an essential part of their national legacy.
She highlighted women's role during the Iraqi invasion, when they supported resistance efforts and assisted men.
She stressed that Kuwaiti women were also key partners in the educational renaissance and in shaping the modern state.
As girls' education expanded during the first half of the 20th century, Kuwaiti women increased their participation in education and social work.
She praised the late Maryam Abdulmalek Al-Saleh, Kuwait's first female teacher, and Lulwa Al-Qatami, who studied abroad and later helped develop education in Kuwait.
Al-Qatami also served as head of the Women's College at Kuwait University, contributing to the advancement of education and knowledge in Kuwait.
Sheikha Amthal said education and volunteering are directly linked, noting that greater awareness and education enhance people's ability to serve their communities in an organised manner.
She cited literacy campaigns as an example, when women moved from being beneficiaries of education to helping other women learn and serve society.
She called for strengthening volunteerism through school curricula and activities, encouraging students to volunteer during school holidays.
She also proposed counting volunteer hours toward students' academic records to encourage participation and promote giving, citizenship and social responsibility.
She said the Volunteer Work Centre had developed a national volunteering strategy and adopted technology and innovation through its volunteer work platform.
Kuwait, she added, was among the first Gulf Cooperation Council countries to propose a national volunteering strategy.
Sheikha Amthal stressed that current achievements build on a legacy established by previous generations, whose experiences laid the foundations for volunteering, giving and solidarity in Kuwaiti society.
For her part, honorary chairperson of the Women's Cultural and Social Society Lulwa Al-Qatami told KUNA that Kuwaiti women played an early and active role in social and charitable work.
She said her personal experience began while studying at the University of Edinburgh, where she joined the student union and became involved in social work and assisting people in need.
Upon returning to Kuwait in the 1960s, she taught English and French at Al-Mirqab Secondary School, where she met Fedha Al-Khaled.
They discussed the importance of social work and establishing a women's association in Kuwait.
The association's founding statute required members to be Kuwaiti and able to read and write.
The strong response revealed widespread female illiteracy at the time, prompting the association to launch its first project: teaching women to read and write.
Its second project was a childcare centre to provide a suitable environment for children of working Kuwaiti women.
The association established a free nursery in Kaifan called Al-Bustan Nursery, which received children from the age of three.
Al-Qatami recalled an initiative in the 1960s when association members cleaned streets and sidewalks in several areas of Kuwait.
The association later expanded its volunteer activities abroad, focusing on Arab children's issues and supporting children in need outside Kuwait.
It established a village for children in Sudan's Kassala region after obtaining 50 acres of land, naming the project "Kuwaiti Hanan Village."
The project provided childcare and basic needs, drilled water wells in neighboring areas and established several income-generating projects.
The association also established initiatives for children abroad, including a village in Lebanon during the war for displaced Palestinian children.
It also supported Hind Al-Husseini's initiative in Jerusalem to care for and educate Palestinian children.
Regarding the Arab-Israeli occupation wars, Al-Qatami said the association launched the "Warrior's Bag" initiative after the 1967 war.
Members prepared about 1,000 bags containing personal necessities for soldiers and traveled with volunteers to the Golan Heights to deliver the aid.
Al-Qatami said women's volunteer work in Kuwait had passed through several stages, stressing that its future depends on younger generations assuming and developing this responsibility.
Chairperson of the Kuwait Society for the Care of the Disabled Sabeeka Al-Jasser told KUNA that Kuwaiti women contributions extended beyond supporting community efforts to establishing initiatives, leading public-benefit institutions and developing services and programmes for vulnerable groups.
Al-Jasser said volunteering was not limited to providing assistance or donating money and time, but represented a national responsibility and institutional development work.
Its goal, she added, is to empower people, develop their capabilities and provide opportunities that strengthen their rights to education, independence and effective participation in society.
Kuwaiti women helped establish public-benefit associations and specialised centres, manage humanitarian programmes, train national cadres and build partnerships with government and private-sector institutions.
Al-Jasser said her volunteer work began in 1984 when she joined the Kuwait Society for the Care of the Disabled.
The focus was on developing services for people with disabilities and moving from traditional care toward a comprehensive system based on education, rehabilitation, empowerment and independence.
This included developing educational curricula and programmes, enhancing teachers' and specialists' capabilities, and adopting specialised practices.
Among the initiatives she highlighted was introducing the Makaton language programme to Kuwait and adapting its materials to the Arab and Islamic environment.
She also contributed to establishing the Portage early intervention programme in 1997, strengthening family participation in assessment, training and rehabilitation.
She stressed that current volunteer and charitable work needs a new generation of women combining initiative, knowledge, specialisation and leadership.
She called for moving from individual initiatives toward institutional work based on planning, governance, capacity building and impact measurement.
Women's committees in public-benefit associations, charitable societies and foundations continue to play a vital role in strengthening women's leadership in various forms of volunteer work.
The Kuwait Union of Women's Associations was established in 1994 to represent women's associations, promote solidarity and coordination, and strengthen ties with Gulf, Arab, regional and international women's organisations.
Women's associations have also gained a presence internationally. In June 2022, UNESCO designated the Kuwaiti Sadu Handicraft Cooperative Society as a non-governmental organisation in official partnership.
Kuwaiti women have received numerous medals, certificates and awards for humanitarian work.
Most recently, Kuwaiti Hind Al-Hajri won the "Hope Makers" award in February from the Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation.
The award recognised her work serving and raising orphaned children in impoverished communities.
In 2005, the Nobel Prize Board honored the late Moudhi Al-Sultan, who devoted more than 70 years to volunteer and humanitarian work.
She received a humanitarian award for her efforts supporting people with disabilities as one of 1,000 women recognised worldwide.
Kuwaiti women have also maintained a strong volunteer presence during crises, disasters and wars, supporting affected populations and establishing committees for national and humanitarian causes, particularly Palestine. Such efforts date back to the 1920s and 1930s.
Among institutions launched from Kuwait in recent years is the Entisar Foundation in Britain, established to support and rehabilitate one million Arab women affected by regional wars.
The foundation began its work in 2018 in refugee camps in Lebanon.
Domestically, Kuwaiti women responded individually and collectively to various crises, including floods that destroyed hundreds of homes.
During the Iraqi invasion, Kuwaiti women displayed acts of heroism that remain part of the country's collective memory, from resistance operations to media campaigns and demonstrations abroad.
Women also played active roles in institutions and committees during the invasion and volunteered with the Kuwait Red Crescent Society and other organisations.
They provided psychological, social and media support, raised the morale of those remaining in Kuwait and supported solidarity committees.
Women also volunteered with committees established worldwide to advocate Kuwait's liberation, including committees formed in GCC countries and elsewhere.
Kuwaiti women stood on the front lines during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, volunteering in healthcare, cooperative, engineering and other vital sectors.
Many women participated in screening teams for people arriving in Kuwait, random testing campaigns by the Ministry of Health, public awareness efforts on prevention and sterilisation, and medical mask production.
This volunteer momentum is now supported by a legal framework established by Law No. 49 of 2024 on the unified legal system for volunteer work in the GCC states.
It is further supported by its executive regulations issued under Ministerial Resolution No. 112 of 2025.
The long record of Kuwaiti women's contributions demonstrates their success in transforming volunteering from spontaneous solidarity during hardship into a sustainable legacy and an inspiring model of humanitarian leadership.