THE Supreme Council for Women (SCW) yesterday praised Bahrain’s notable advancement in the 2025 Global Gender Gap Report, released by the World Economic Forum, as a strong international endorsement of Bahrain’s ongoing efforts to empower women and promote gender equality.
SCW secretary-general Lulwa Al Awadhi said that Bahrain climbed 12 places globally, now ranking 104th out of 148 countries, with a score improvement from 66.6 per cent last year to 68.4pc this year.
Ms Al Awadhi
The GDN reported yesterday that Bahrain was ranked second among GCC and Arab nations, after the UAE and followed by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Oman.
Qatar was not covered in the 19th edition of the index which covered four basic parameters: Economic Participation and Opportunity, Educational Attainment, Health and Survival, and Political Empowerment.
The kingdom was ranked 116 in the 2024 index, 113 in 2023 and 131 in 2022.
Ms Al Awadhi emphasised that the progress reflected Bahrain’s comprehensive national strategies and the consistent support of the kingdom’s leadership, notably the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad, and the direction of the King’s wife and SCW president Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa.
Bahrain ranked first in the Gulf in key areas such as economic participation and opportunity, income equality and the percentage of women ministers, which now stands at 21.7pc.
These results, noted Ms Al Awadhi, underscored the effectiveness of national policies aimed at increasing women’s representation in leadership and ensuring equal access to opportunities in the workforce.
She attributed these achievements to the implementation of the National Gender Balance Model and other targeted initiatives, aligned with Bahrain Economic Vision 2030 and the National Plan for the Advancement of Bahraini Women 2025-2026.
She further highlighted that the report recognised Bahrain as one of the top-performing countries in the Middle East and North Africa region in terms of economic inclusion and opportunity for women, reinforcing the kingdom’s contribution to UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality.
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