Housewives’ Welfare Plan Back Before MPs
A plan to give Bahraini housewives a right to social welfare payments is heading back to Parliament, despite government warnings that it could make the state a permanent stand-in for husbands who are legally bound to provide for their wives.
The bill, proposed by MP Maryam Al Dhaen and expected to come before MPs in the next legislative session, would amend the Social Security Law to add housewives to those entitled to assistance.
Ms Al Dhaen argues that the change would take account of the circumstances faced by women who stay at home, raise their standard of living and give greater weight to the role they play in family life and society.
The measure was due to move through Parliament in the previous session, but the government asked for it to be sent back to the Services Committee.
Its explanatory memorandum mounted a wide-ranging case against the change, saying welfare under the current law is based on need, not social status or a person’s place within the family.
The present system is meant to help those who cannot secure a minimum decent standard of living. The proposed bill, the government said, would break with that rule by granting a housewife assistance once she reaches a given age and devotes herself to caring for her family, without first proving financial need.
Nor would the means of her husband or another person legally required to support her have to be taken into account.
The government said that would turn state aid from a last resort, used when a husband or family cannot provide support, into a standing replacement for the breadwinner.
It also argued that the label “housewife” was too blunt a test for welfare. Some women live in wealthy households or have money of their own, while others are in real financial need.
Giving all housewives the same right to aid, it said, could weaken the welfare system and lead other groups to seek similar treatment without clear legal or economic grounds.
The government also said the bill would breach equality and social justice rules by giving housewives terms not offered to other groups covered by the law.
Under the existing rules, orphans, older people, people with disabilities and others can lose their right to aid where they have someone financially able to provide for them.
Housewives, under the proposed change, could receive payments even where a husband or other relative required by law to support them had the means to do so.
The memorandum said this would cut across the husband’s duty to maintain his wife for as long as the marriage remains in force, regardless of her own income or ability to work. That duty, it said, is rooted in Sharia and recognised in law.
The government also warned that some women could qualify twice where they already fall under another welfare category.
It further criticised the lack of a financial study showing what the bill would cost the state budget.
The proposal also ran against government policy aimed at helping women enter and remain in work, the memorandum said.
The government concluded that no change in the law was needed, arguing that the current welfare system already provides aid to those who need it.
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