ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to approach the topic of nation-building from the point of view of gender relations among Kuwaitis, which are enacted within a context pervaded by modernization and ethnicity. It argues that need to move the discussion of gender relations among the Kuwaitis beyond the analytical confines of kinship patriarchy into the wider framework of ethnic pluralism and nation-building. In this context, Kuwaiti men and women do not only face each other in an asymmetrical confrontation, they also cooperate closely in a national project: not only men but also women are active in establishing the current pattern of gender relations. Although Kuwait was ruled by the Kuwaitis, it was built and maintained by the migrants. Education in general, and female education in particular, was among the social achievements of which Kuwait was most proud. The assumption that Kuwaiti women never worked for money in the old days was true for the well-to-do women but not for the poorer women.
