Kuwait city: 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. According to Emirates News Agency, 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Historical references indicate that more than 80 Kuwaiti women volunteered to establish and manage traditional schools, while women contributed about 224 of the 440 charitable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 highlighted the roots of volunteering in Kuwait, stemming 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 recalled the late Sabeeka Al-Khaled, who donated her home to expand Al-Mubarakiyah School, and 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 also mentioned the first Kuwaiti women's delegation to Egypt in 1956, which volunteered at Egyptian hospitals to help treat the wounded during the Tripartite Aggression against Egypt.
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. During the Iraqi invasion, women supported resistance efforts and assisted men. 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 called for strengthening volunteerism through school curricula and activities, encouraging students to volunteer during school holidays.
Chairperson of the Kuwait Society for the Care of the Disabled Sabeeka Al-Jasser said Kuwaiti women's contributions extended beyond supporting community efforts to establishing initiatives, leading public-benefit institutions, and developing services and programmes for vulnerable groups. Al-Jasser highlighted the goal of empowering people, developing their capabilities, and providing opportunities that strengthen their rights to education, independence, and effective participation in society.
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.
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.