ABSTRACT

Women Empowerment in Bahrain : an introductory outlook

The main aim of this study is to highlight the situation of women workforce in Bahrain. If we see
around in other Gulf countries we find that Bahrain is far well off than many of the other GCC
countries when it comes to women empowerment and equal opportunities across all the sector of
the economy, be it political, legal or social sectors. This paper aims to discuss about a short
background of history of women empowerment activities in the kingdom and of the current
National Plan for the Advancement of Bahraini women 2013-2022.The paper aims to see how
the kingdom plans to attract, encourage, train, develop and promote more women into the
mainstream economy of Bahrain.

The National Model for the Integration of womens needs will also be covered in the paper. This
model is considered as a guide for programme executors, policy makers and legislators to
ensure a true and long lasting integration of Bahraini women in the development process. It also
aims to achieve a balance in equal distribution of opportunities between men and women in
Bahrain.

Keywords : women empowerment bahrain, equal opportunities for women, integration of

women into mainstream.

Dr.Irfan Shaikh.

1. Introduction

2. Literature review

Definition of Empowerment
The need for Empowerment
Objectives of the Study:

1. To evaluate the level of empowerment in manufacturing with that of Banking, Insurance

organizations coming under service sector.
2. To study the influence of education and experiences on empowerment in manufacturing
with that of Banking, Insurance organizations coming under service sector.
3. 3. Research Methodology
4. Research Design and statistical analysis
5. 5.11 Suggestions.

CONCLUSION

1.Introduction:

There is a fampoyus saying which goes like this, There is a woman behind every successful
manwell it is correct to a very large extent.But what contributes to the success of a woman?
Aprt from many other factors, the most important one is the Equal Opportunity factor.This Equal
Opportunity factor leads to Woman Empowerment.When equal opportunities exists, every one
gets an equal chance of making progress as per their own existing talents.Bahrain has always
been regraded as a pioneer in womaen empowerment activities.

Lets go back in history to see how women have entered the mainstream workforce globally.Lets
have a look at the reasons as to why woman were thought of as a workforce.

In words of research Scholar Ms.Lisa Quast following are the reasosn for woman participation in
the otherwise male dominant workforce:

World War II labor shortages: Men heading off to fight in the war caused a labor
shortage. From 1940-1945, the female labor force grew by 50% and female employment
in defense industries grew by 462% (AllAboutHistory.org). This also shifted cultural
attitudes, making it okay for middle class women to work, where previously it had been
taboo.

Rise of the feminist movement: The movement pushed for equal rights and liberation
for women.
Economic necessity: With the increasing cost of living, for many women, working was
an economic necessity in order to support their family.
 Passage of governmental equal rights acts: Examples include the Equal Pay Act of
1963, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Presidential Executive Order in 1967 (all in USA).
Rise of the service sector and decline of the manufacturing sector: As there was a
decline in manufacturing sector gradually the service sector demand increased providing a
hidden opportunity for female workers.This caused a growing demand for female workers.
Expansion and increased access to higher education: This has allowed more women
to go to college, thus increasing their ability to obtain jobs. In the 1949-1950 school year
women earned 120,796 college degrees, or roughly 24% of all degrees earned. By the
2008-2009 school year, women had earned 1,849,200 college degrees, or roughly 60% of
the total degrees (Digest of Education Statistics).

Consequences of the increasing number of women in the workforce:

Increased purchasing power of women: With female consumers controlling 85

percent of all purchase decisions, responsible for $7 trillion in spending, and 78 percent of
women considering purchases more carefully, a womans wallet is more influential than
ever before (AdweekMedia).
Business result improvements: According to research and advisory company, Catalyst,
companies with the highest representation of women board members attain significantly
higher financial performance than those with the lowest representation: 53% higher Return
on Equity; 42% higher Return on Sales; and 66% higher Return on Invested Capital (Joy, et
al, 2007).
Increased Gross Domestic Product: The Economist article states, Goldman Sachs
calculates that, leaving all other things equal, increasing womens participation in the labor
market to male levels will boost GDP by 21% in Italy, 19% in Spain, 16% in Japan, 9% in
America, France and Germany, and 8% in Britain.
Increased number of women owned businesses: In the U.S., nearly 10.4 million firms
are owned by women (50% or more), employing more than 12.9 million people, and
generating $1.9 trillion in sales (2007 Wow! Quick Facts: Women, p.50).
Less time for mothers to spend with children due to their work schedules: There are
definite downsides to women working. For example, mothers working full-time means they
have busier schedules and less time to spend with children. One third of all school age
children in the United States are, for some part of the week, latch key kids; that is, they go
home to an empty house or apartment (Alston, 2007). As The Economist article warns,
Even well-off parents worry that they spend too little time with their children, thanks to
crowded schedules and the ever-buzzing iPhones.
Increased stress levels and changing roles: Harper and Leicht (Exploring Social
Change: America and the World, 2007, p. 91) state, The most pressing problem of dual-
income families is not money, but the problem of managing ragged family schedules and
 adjusting husband/wife roles. Women are currently juggling full-time careers, managing
household chores and child rearing duties, as well as taking care of aging parents, thus
greatly increasing their level of daily stress compared to women of previous generations.
Family relationships have also been shifting in dual-income families from patriarchal
authority and from fixed role scripts toward more flexible role negotiation and
equalitarian relationships (p. 93).
Difficulty accessing quality child care: Another pressing problem due to the increasing
numbers of women working is access to quality child care, which Harper and Leicht (2007,
p. 92) state is in short supply and expensive. For poor parents, the struggle can be even
worse because childcare eats a terrifying proportion of the family budgetbut quitting
work to look after the children can mean financial disaster (The Economist, 2010, p.2).
Changing how people work: In order to help workers meet both job and family
requirements, more and more companies are allowing a portion of jobs to be completed via
telecommuting and home-working is increasingly fashionable (The Economist, 2010, p.
3).
Changing the school schedules of children: Even school districts are making changes
in order to better match the school days of children with their parents dual-job households;
thus alleviating some of the child care burden. Some of the most popular American charter
schools offer longer school days and shorter summer holidays (The Economist, 2010, p. 4).

The Bahrain Scenario.

Coming back to Bahrains efforts for bringing the women in mainstream, it must be noted that
Bahrain has always stood apart from its other counterparts in the GCC.According to Bahrain
Central Information Office, the participation of women workforce in public sector employment
was only 5% in 1971, which gradually rose to around 46% by the year 2011.It must be noted that
most countries if not all, were far behind Bahrain in this regard.

The Royal family of Bahrain has always been a champion of women empowerment in Bahrain,
its not a surprise then that Bahrain was the first country in the Gulf to open its public education
system to women way back in 1929.

As time passed this woman empowerment was made more powerful by the Royal family.A new
beginning for woman empowerment was seen during the year 2000 when an order was issued for
establishing the committee in charge of drafting the National Action Charter . The National
Action Charter is considered one of the most important and prominent basic principles assuring
the rights of Bahraini women.
The initiatives of her Royal highness princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa in this regard
proved as a boon for the cause which saw the establishment of Supreme Council for Women
during the year 2001.

Vision of Supreme Council for Women :

Equitable partnership to build a competitive and sustainable society.

Mission:

"To empower Bahraini women and merge their needs in the development programs to
ensure the sustainability of their family stability and familial bond. To consolidate the
principle of equal opportunities in order to ensure competitiveness of Bahraini women,
continuity of lifelong learning and providing diverse opportunities to Bahraini women in
order to enhance the standard of their quality of life within a framework of legislation and
supporting policies. To integrate with allies and partners within institutional work to
enhance the status of women and to establish a house of expertise specialized in women's
affairs according to international standards with national expertise".

*Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King
chairs the council, which includes 16 members of public women figures experienced in womens
affairs and represent all sectors of Bahraini society. By Royal Order the appointment of the
Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Women in the rank of a Minister was issued, as
the first appointment of a woman in ministerial ranking in the Gulf region in 2001.

The personal interest and efforts of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al-
Khalifa saw establishment of National Strategy for the Advancement of Bahraini Women.
2001 -2004 were marked as the preparation phase wherein Permanent Committees were
established. And also 10 specialized committees including representatives and specialists from
all the ministries and governmental entities, along with private sector entities and civil society
organizations, and representatives of international organizations in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
These committees formed the basis for the pillars of the National Strategy for the Advancement
of Bahraini Women.
The National Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy on the
Advancement of Bahraini Women:
The specialized committees translated the National Strategy into an executive plan including 7
main pillars (decision-making, economic empowerment, family stability, civil society, education,
health and environment).

The Award of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim AlKhalifa for the
Empowerment of Bahraini Women is considered one of the pioneering initiatives with regards to
supporting the principle of equal opportunities.

National Plan for the Advancement of Bahraini Women:

*The Supreme Council for Women (SCW) launched the National Plan for the Advancement of
Bahraini Women (2013-2022), with the royal approval of His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al-
Khalifa. This plan consists of 5 impacts, aiming to assure family stability for women, in the
context of family bonds. Also, to empower women to enable them to meet development
competency requirements, based on the principle of equal opportunities and mainstreaming
womens needs in development. This will lead women to excel with their quality of life and
lifelong learning, through interdependence with 10 partners and allies in institutional work,
enabling the Supreme Council for Women (SCW) to become a national center for expertise,
specialized in womens affairs.
Illustration: High values of the National Plan (2013-2022)
Women Empowerment Programs:
 1) Economic Empowerment:

In order to achieve women empowerment the Supreme Council for Women has developed many
initiatives , like economic development programme.The main target to be achieved here was to
reduce the number of unemployed females thereby bringing them in the mainstream economy so
that they can contribute to the national economy in best of their abilities.

Some project undertaken under economic development programmes included:

- Improving the hospitality project.

- Transportation project (Tawseel).

- Designing project.

- Instant translation project.

- Photography project.

- Women empowerment in media and communications.

- Training the visual impaired women to use computer.

Also, Bahraini Women Development Fund for Commercial Activity Riyadat is an initiative
that offers loans to women entrepreneurs of small to medium sized businesses and is managed by
Bahrain Development Bank and supported by Tamkeen (Labor Fund).

2) Family Stability

During 2004 wmens Support Center were started , these were not only limited to Bahraini
females but also extended to Non Bahraini females married to Bahraini males.It attempts to solve
the following issues, the list is only indicative and not complete:

Provision of free legal advice in Sharia based cases (Alimony, divorce and custody).

Provision of free legal advice in civil cases related to marriage.

Provision of free legal advice (Sharia based civil criminal labor)

Provision of social services (preventive therapeutic family guidance)

Preparing amicable agreements between the two parties to grant the family stability and
preparing safe divorce settlements.
 Help widowed, divorced and abandoned custodian women to obtain housing services in
coordination with the Ministry of Housing.

3) Political Empowerment Program

It was during the year 2002 that the Political Empowerment programmes were initiated as
election were round the corner then. Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa herself took the
initiative on this front and started visiting mostly mosques in all the five governorates for the said
purpose.

** In preparation for the 2006 elections, the General-Secretariat of the SCW finalized a
comprehensive program for the political empowerment of women under the title Together we
build the country, conducted in cooperation with the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP). The program focused on providing a technical support kit including intensified training
for every woman willing to participate in the political life.

After evaluating the experience of 2002 and 2006, the political empowerment program was built
to support the participation of women in the elections of 2010, based on 3 key themes:
awareness, partnership and qualitative training. This was implemented through national expertise
and was able to achieve significant success in the supplementary elections with the success of 4
women in the elected council.

The program was able to achieve significant results, through the election of 3 women in the
elected chamber of parliament and 3 other women in the municipal council. The Supreme
Council for Women from there, launched in February 2016 the Political Empowerment Program
for Women Electoral Program for the duration (2016-2018) in partnership with the concerned
organizations and specialists.

4) Bahraini Womens Day

Bahraini Womens Day is one of the pioneering initiatives by Her Royal Highness, and obtained
the esteemed patronage of His Majesty the King in 2008. The celebration of this event coincided
with the National Day and Accession Day. His Majesty the King delivered the National Days
speech from the headquarters of the SCW, confirming His Majestys support to Bahraini women.

Apart from these initiatives, Bahrain constantly works to enhance its partnership in area of
women empowerment with other Arab and western countries in order to achieve the desired
results.

Bahrain is also a signatory to the Convention on Elimination of All forms of Discrimination

Against Women (CEDAW).
Apart from these, many legilations have been passed keeping in mind women empowerment like
:

Article 2 States Parties condemn discrimination against women in all its forms, agree to pursue
by all appropriate means and without delay a policy of eliminating discrimination against
women.

Article 16 States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against
women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations and in particular shall ensure, on a
basis of equality of men and women.

Article 15 Para 4 States Parties shall accord to men and women the same rights with regard to
the law relating to the movement of persons and the freedom to choose their residence and
domicile.

Article 9 Para 2 States Parties shall grant women equal rights with men with respect to the
nationality of their children.

Conclusions: To conclude we may say that Bahrain is progressing very effectively on paths of
women empowerment and soon may be regarded as a role model for other countries in the GCC.
Holistically, women represent half the community, and have the capacity, determination and
ambition for their country's progress and development.

Sources : www.careerwomanic.com

https://cy.revues.org/2144

http://www.scw.bh/en/MediaCenter/Publications/SupremeCouncilforWomen/Supreme
CouncilforWomenPublication/Supreme%20Council%20for%20Women%20(2001-
2016).pdf