On 7 March 2005 a group of women held an unprecedented rally outside the Kuwaiti parliament. They were trying to force the all-male body to change the electoral law. Two months later they succeeded. Zeinab Dabaa has been hearing from Rola Dashti, one of the organisers of the protest, who later became one of the first women to be elected to her country's legislature.

(Photo: Kuwaiti candidates for the 2006 parliamentary election, Aisha al-Rashid (R) and Rola Dashti (C), the first ever women to be allowed to stand for office Credit: Yasser al-Zayya/AFP/Getty Images)