Despite reforms, Bahraini women has little say in the country’s political affairs, a top human rights activist said yesterday.
Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) deputy secretary-general Abdulla Alderazi said that women’s participation rate in the decision-making levels in the government is just around seven to eight per cent which is not a good indicator for a democratic country.
“Reforms are being done but the participation rate is very low – we have only one female judge, two female ministers, one female MP and ten appointed Shura members,” Alderazi told the Tribune.
“That accounts for only about seven or eight per cent if you would base it against the government positions that require decision-making. There should be more considering that women account for 49 per cent of this country’s population,” he said.
Alderazi spoke to the Tribune on the sidelines of a seminar on “Women’s Participation in Public Affairs in the Gulf” at the Ramee International Hotel.
The seminar is being held by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) with Arab Institute for Human Rights and the BHRS.
The seminar culminates a fact-finding mission done in the region by the FIDH in January this year where the institute gauged the extent of women’s participation in the Gulf countries.
“This initiative represents an opportunity to evaluate the progress smade over the past years in the region to seek new strategies to enhance the political, social and economic empowerment of women,” said Marie Camberlin, FIDH programme officer for the Middle East and North Africa.
While the FIDH is campaigning to prevent human rights violations, it is also implementing a global programme to promote women’s rights.
“Our activities focused on a series of initiatives designed to significantly increase the participation of women in decision-making processes and ensure the equal representation in the management bodies of all our member organisations,” Camberlin said.
The FIDH currently unites 155 national human rights organisations from all the continents.
An important agenda in the seminar, which will run for three days, is the call for the Gulf states to ratify without reservations the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).
Bahrain is one of many countries that ratified the CEDAW with reservations.
The seminar is being attended by some 40 representatives from different women’s and rights organisations from Bahrain and around the Gulf.
Bahrain’s low score in women’s participation in public affairs is shared by most other GCC and Arab countries. Best performers among Arab countries include Morocco, but even their women’s participation rate in public affairs is just around ten per cent.