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From Reuters:
"KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwait's parliament agreed on Monday to discuss a bill that would grant women the right to vote and stand in elections, after pressure from the pro-Western Gulf Arab state's government.
Analysts said the government, which hopes for success on the controversial issue before a likely trip by the prime minister to Washington next month, tempted lawmakers with a concession on a bill on salary hikes for most public and private employees.

"They are facing strong American pressure. Kuwait's leaders have promised the United States that they back women's rights," said political analyst Jassem al-Saadoun.

After the cabinet agreed on Monday to discuss the pay rises, a majority of parliament members agreed to debate the women's suffrage bill -- a major shift in the long battle to get conservative MPs to grant women full political rights.

It was not clear when they might pass the bill, but parliamentary sources said it could be soon.

Kuwait's all-male parliament said earlier this month women could not vote in June municipal polls after delays to a vote on a limited bill that would have allowed women to participate. But it said similar polls in 2009 could be opened to them.

Some women's groups in Kuwait -- a key U.S. ally in the Gulf -- reacted angrily to the news they could not join this year's local polls and said they doubted a broader suffrage bill would pass."