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BAHRAINI women’s participation in the labour force has increased by 10 per cent, revealed the National Gender Balance Report (2019 to 2020).
Forty-three per cent of the Bahraini workforce are women, up from 33pc in 2017-2018, while the kingdom’s overall gender balance index increased to 69pc from 65pc (2017-18), reaching 73pc in key areas reviewed.
The report, released by the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), revealed that the institutional performance index reached 65pc with an increase in participation of women in specialised jobs, the legislative authority, commercial activity, and representation in boards of directors and committees.
SCW secretary general Hala Al Ansari reaffirmed that the positive results highlighted Bahrain’s success in promoting women while praising the contributions and efforts of all public establishments.
“The report monitored significant progress in indicators in several areas such as the economy, which grew by 3pc. It was due to an increase in the number of women in the labour force who constituted 43pc of the total Bahrainis,” added an official statement released by the SCW.
“There are a number of detailed indicators that have witnessed an increase such as the percentage of female ambassadors – 17pc – which has increased by 8pc compared with the 2017-2018 report.
“In the field of education, 49pc of Bahraini academics are women, which is a 2pc increase compared with 2017-18. Women in leadership positions in higher education reached 46pc.”
Meanwhile, the average marriage age of Bahraini women was 24 and 27 for Bahraini men.
The Cabinet approved a memorandum by Finance and National Economy Minister Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa on the National Gender Balance Report (2019 to 2020) prepared by the SCW, which will be endorsed officially.
“The second edition of the report, which was scientific in its methodology, measurement and analysis, reaffirms the support and conviction of decision makers for the need to build on the achievements of Bahraini women,” Ms Al Ansari said in an official statement.
“This was proven through the participation of 45 public establishments which were the subject of the study, which provides a comprehensive analysis of the national performance of Bahraini women’s competitiveness compared with men in all fields.
“This report serves as a national guide and a qualitative reference in the field of gender balance and it provides decision makers and policy makers with a scientific diagnosis of areas of development and improvement.”
She praised the Finance and National Economy Ministry and all the government institutions and authorities which co-operated with the SCW task force in charge of the report.
Ms Al Ansari also announced that round-table discussions, workshops and other events will be held next month to shed light on the results of the report as well as to agree upon the follow-up on its recommendations.
reem@gdn.com.bh
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