Head of the Kuwait Economic Committee Rola Dashti at a campaign in support of women?s rights in Kuwait City. (AFP)

Kuwait, April 19 (Reuters): Kuwait?s parliament gave its initial approval today to a law allowing women to vote and run for the first time in municipal elections in the Gulf Arab state, fuelling hopes for wider female suffrage.

?The National Assembly approves women?s participation in the Municipal Council elections,? the state news agency KUNA reported.

The agency later said the approval covers a first round of voting. Parliament meets again in two weeks for a second vote. ?This step prepares the ground for women?s political rights in full at parliament,? said deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Sharar.

?There is acceptance and understanding ... for the need to have women participate in elections and political life in general,? Sharar, who is also minister of state for parliament and cabinet affairs, said.

Kuwaiti women are barred from participating in parliamentary polls but the government has introduced a bill to grant full female suffrage that has yet to be approved by the 50-man house.

Similar government moves have failed in the past in the pro-western country, including a 1999 law narrowly defeated by an alliance of conservative Islamist and tribal MPs. Kuwait was the first Gulf Arab state with an elected parliament but women have been fighting for decades for the right to vote.

Women activists gave a cautious welcome to today?s decision, saying more was needed. ?Any move by parliament towards granting women their right is seen as positive even though it is very late,? said Masoumah al-Mubarak, a Kuwait University professor.

Last month, lawmakers passed a municipal election law without a state-proposed article to let women participate, setting back hopes the House would approve broader female suffrage.