Bahrain Highlights Model for Women’s Empowerment

TDT | Manama 

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

Parliaments should turn pledges on women’s political participation into practical, measurable steps, Dr Jameela Al Salman said as she presented a final report at the Global Conference of Women Parliamentarians 2026.

Dr Al Salman, a member of Bahrain’s Parliamentary Group delegation, served as rapporteur for the second discussion group at the conference’s seventh session. The group examined how men and women can work together against stereotypes and harmful social norms under the Women and Youth Democratic Engagement (WYDE) initiative.

The report said political and parliamentary leaders should give real weight to joint work between men and women, strengthen parliamentary committees and structures, and help build a culture in which decisions are shared rather than made through old habits.

It also called for laws and policies that give women and men fair opportunity, along with independent bodies to track progress. International agreements and reference texts, the report said, can help states measure their work, but laws and pledges need to lead to steps that can be applied, checked and judged.

Dr Al Salman said Bahrain was among the stronger regional and international examples in fair opportunity between women and men, citing the royal vision of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the care given to women’s advancement by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

She said Bahraini women’s gains in politics, lawmaking and executive work had come through a countrywide approach in which the Supreme Council for Women, chaired by Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King, had played a main role.

That work, she said, helped turn fair opportunity from an aim into practice across public bodies and other sectors.

Bahrain’s model, she added, had shown that women and men working side by side in posts of responsibility could strengthen women’s political presence and their role in shaping public life.