Bahraini women’s strides outcome of royal support: EDB chief

Manama, June 23 (BNA): The remarkable progress achieved by Bahraini women is a fruitful outcome of the visions of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and the support of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of His Majesty the King. The King and the Supreme Council for Women said, CEO of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, Khalid Ibrahim Humaidan.

He also praised the tremendous efforts made by the Supreme Council for Women to launch strategies that contributed to the advancement of Bahraini women on the social and political levels, and to strengthen their role as a key partner in the Kingdom’s economic development process.

The EDB Chairman was commenting with reference to the Global Gender Gap Index 2023, recently released by the World Economic Forum. The report measures progress towards gender parity and compares 146 countries’ efforts to close gender gaps across four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, as well as political empowerment.

In the report, the Kingdom of Bahrain achieved good results in achieving gender parity, as it ranked second in the field of gender balance at the level of the GCC countries. Its overall rank in closing the gender gap jumped 18 places in 2023, compared to last year. In addition, Bahrain’s ranking increased by 38 places in political empowerment and 9 places in terms of economic participation and opportunity.

Humaidan highlighted the competitive advantages enjoyed by the Kingdom of a qualified workforce, which contributes to attracting direct investments in vital economic sectors and creating job opportunities in the local market that benefit Bahraini women in terms of job opportunities.

He expressed the Economic Development Board’s pride in this global achievement, pointing out that investing in women, refining their skills and creating conditions to ensure their advancement contributes to enhancing economic growth, which is the current situation in Bahrain.

It is worth noting that the Economic Development Board won the award of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka for the Advancement of Bahraini Women twice, the last of which was in 2020, when it jointly obtained it with the Shura Council.

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