Ayman shape
The “2025 – 2026” plan .. 70 indicators to monitor the progress towards sustainable empowerment
About 28 thousand Bahraini women in the governmental and official sector, with a participation rate of 55% for 2024, of whom more than 21 thousand government employees make up 60% of the workforce in this sector, and 1901 women who occupy executive positions by 50%, all these remarkable numbers revealed by the national plan for the advancement of Bahraini women reflect the size of the progress achieved by Bahrain in empowering women, and draws the features of an ambitious plan for the period (2025-2026) includes 5 areas, 42 initiatives and 70 indicators to enhance women’s participation in decision sites, economics, quality of life, and sustainability of empowerment towards leadership.
Given the details of the national plan report for the advancement of Bahraini women, issued recently by the high rates of participation and presence of women in some sectors, specialties and vital fields in all sectors for the year 2024, where they number 21263 women in the government sector by 60%, and in the public sector (governmental and official) 27909 women by 55%, and in the executive jobs in the same sector 1901 women by (50%), and included the promotion plan. Women for the period (2025-2026) 5 areas, 42 initiatives and 70 indicators.
The report that the Supreme Council for Women monitored “empowerment, progress and pursuit of leadership” the reality of Bahraini women’s participation, as it was able to overcome the stage of empowerment in political participation and public life and the pursuit of leadership in accessing decision -making and decision -making sites, and women took ministerial positions in the areas of: health, housing, tourism, youth, sustainable development and executive functions as the indicators of participation in the public and private sector.
Bahraini women achieved a presence in the elected councils and assumed the presidency of the House of Representatives, as well as qualitative centers within the legislative authority, as well as their participation in municipal councils, the judiciary and the public prosecution, which reflected the success of the institutional work of the Supreme Council for Women based on solid constants that adopted the mechanisms of networking and cooperation implemented by the Council since the beginning of its establishment, whether by signing the memoranda of understanding and cooperation agreements with cooperation Ministries and official institutions, or integrate the plan in the government’s work program, and implement the national model for gender balance.
Among the most prominent of these indicators that monitored the reality of empowerment and progress in some sectors and specialties according to the statistics mentioned in the report, in the government sector was the number of Bahraini (21263) at a rate of (60%) for the year (2024), the number of agents (23) at a rate of (38%), and the number of aid agents (41) by (36%), and the number of Bahraini women in executive jobs (1901) (50%), and it includes workers in the executive job schedule subject to the civil service system from the head of the department or higher for the year (2024).
The number of Bahraini women in specialized jobs reached (4177) women at a rate of (64%), and includes workers in the specialized job schedule subject to the civil service system such as accounting, legal, statistics, engineers and workers in information technology for the year (2024), and in the public and official public sector, the number of Bahraini women in (27909) reached (55%).
More than 37 thousand
Bahraini in “private”
On the level of the private sector and entrepreneurship, the number of Bahraini women in the sector for the past year reached (37381) by (36%), and in the executive positions of the sector (2467) women by (36%) for the second quarter of 2024, and these include workers from the head of the department or higher, and the number of virtual records owned by Bahraini women (1220) records of 2024 amounted to (54%).
Political participation
Women held ministerial positions in the fields of: Women, Health, Housing, Tourism, Youth and Sustainable Development, where the number of women in the House of Representatives reached (8) at a rate of (20%) for the year (2024), and women assumed the presidency of the House of Representatives in 2018, and the number of women in the Shura Council was (10) by (25%), and in municipal councils (3) by (10%), and in the Municipality of the Capital (4).
Specific sectors
The qualitative sectors witnessed an increase in the number of women, as the number of Bahraini female doctors (2798) reached (66%) for the past year, the number of nurses (3657) by (83%), the number of academies in higher education institutions (638) at a rate of (57%), and the number of engineers in the government sector (436) by (7).
Areas require
Intensify efforts
However, the report referred to some other areas that require intensifying efforts to enhance the chances of women’s participation in them, including, but not limited to:
The number of Bahraini judges (18) judges is (14%) for the year (2024), the number of prosecutions (a) (2) by (18%) for the year, and the number of Bahraini women is a public lawyer (3) according to what the “Al -Watan” monitored until the date of publication, and the number of female employees in the Constitutional Court (15) at (31%) for the year (2023), and the number of judges in the Constitutional Court (1) (14%) for the year (2024).
The report also monitored the presence of a single Bahraini ambassador outside Bahrain, while the number of ambassadors in the General Court of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (9) by (26%).
The directions of the Bahraini women’s promotion plan «2025 – 2026»
The National Plan (2025-2026) focuses on the continued work to reduce gaps and implement what has not been implemented in previous plans to support women’s participation and achieve gender balance in the sectors in which women are still in the stage of empowerment or progress, by seeking to secure family stability for women by continuing the development of the legislative system and social protection policies and spreading legal culture and family awareness due to the importance of enhancing the role of women in the family and society Preserving the values, constants and national identity.
Among the trends in the plan is to maintain the levels of women’s presence in leadership positions and the sites of making and decision -making in various sectors, and seeking to strengthen the center of women in private sector institutions and their participation in administration councils and civil society institutions, and strengthening the economic center for women to ensure the sustainability of the economic participation of women in the labor market with a focus on modern areas, promising and technical sectors such as artificial intelligence, renewable energy and digital transformation through achieving equal opportunities.
The report also notes the preparation of legal protection to reconcile its responsibility in the family and its work in society, and to enhance awareness of healthy and environmental practices to enhance the quality of life and develop safety services in the work environment, and raise awareness of the repercussions of climate change on women’s health and enable and enhance their contribution to preserving the environment.
The report stated that these axes combined constitute an integrated framework that responds to royal directives, constitutional rights and the powers of the Supreme Council for Women and achieves the goals of the Council in empowering and progressing Bahraini women and seeking leadership.
5 axes of the national plan
The methodology for preparing the national plan for the advancement of Bahraini women (2025-2026) depends on 5 axes, where the first axis focuses on adhering to the national principles and constants that the Supreme Council for Women approved as a curriculum for its official work, considering the “national strategy for the advancement of Bahraini women”, which was adopted by His Majesty the King in 2005, is the basic document that the national plans for the advancement of Bahraini women and the adoption of areas The plan is based on the names of the axes and areas of the national strategy for the advancement of Bahraini women approved in the year 2005, and their national plans, and in line with the terms of reference of the Supreme Council for Women and the priorities of work for the next stage.
The second axis addresses the adoption of clear and specific definitions for all fields, initiatives and vocabulary of the plan, and that the initiatives, programs and projects are clear and implemented.
The third axis depends on monitoring and measurable indicators from its main sources (the authorities concerned with measuring the index), taking into account the specializations of the Supreme Council for Women, and without interference in the jurisdiction of other parties.
The fourth axis focuses on initiatives that have not been implemented from the previous plans, and initiatives from the government’s work program that are implemented in cooperation and coordination with the competent authorities and are compatible with the specializations of the Supreme Council for Women, and to go towards initiatives in the promising fields and modern and technical sciences. In the fifth axis, the national model for gender balance is dependent as a basis for the axes of the plan (2025-2026), as it is the most comprehensive policy of all the vocabulary of the national plans for the advancement of Bahraini women, and the duration of this plan will be two years (2025-2026) that can be extended.
The fields, initiatives and indicators of the national plan
The national plan for the advancement of Bahraini women for the period (2025-2026) includes four main areas that have been adopted as work priorities, and each field includes a number of initiatives that were classified according to the axes of the plan, and distributed as follows:
The field of women’s stability ..
8 initiatives and 15 indicators
The report stressed the importance of continuing to review service policies to raise the efficiency of care, prevention and social protection services provided to women, in a way that contributes to enhancing their role in family stability and building future generations, especially women’s needs in emergency situations, in addition to intensifying family awareness programs of the importance of enhancing the role of women in the family and society and preserving the national identity, intensifying legal culture programs, supporting the continuity of motivational policies that focus On the importance of activating the role of women in civil society institutions by highlighting success stories and highlighting distinguished models in social fields and volunteer work.
Divorce contracts in 2021 (1986) reached a contract, and the council hopes to decrease to 1,800 contracts in 2026, and marriage contracts reached (6369) contracts in 2021, and it is hoped that it will rise to 6,800 contracts next year. The number of friendly divorce cases were 124 cases in 2024, and the council hopes to reach 160 friendly cases. The number of Bahraini beneficiaries of various housing programs reached 271 beneficiaries for the past year, and the plan hopes that the number will rise to 390 cases for the next year. As for the beneficiaries of the family counseling centers, they numbered 277 beneficiaries and 74 beneficiaries during the year 2024, and it is hoped for the next year that the number will reach 600 beneficiaries.
Family stability initiatives
The eight initiatives include development policies and legislation supporting women to achieve family cohesion and stability in the following:
1 – Reviewing the laws related to family affairs by studying and reviewing the Family Law (Family Rulings Law No. 19 of 2017), as well as procedural laws before Sharia courts and other relevant laws, to strengthen the center of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the competitive plan led by the Ministry of Finance and National Economy (2024-2025).
2 – Reviewing policies to raise the efficiency of care, prevention and social protection services provided to women, by reviewing the national strategy for women’s protection from domestic violence, developing family counseling offices services to include all governorates, and unifying the procedures of family protection offices.
3 – Supporting the needs of women with disabilities or women who sponsor people with disabilities, in cooperation and coordination to review the criteria for entitlement to disabled, by adding women without a breadwinner with disabilities, and allocating a building to create a day club for young women with disabilities, and coordination to alleviate financial burdens by applying the exemption from fees and taxes to tools and rehabilitation, medical, educational, technical, technical and compensatory devices.
4 – Improving the housing services provided to women, and following up the inclusion of budgets that respond to the needs of women in housing programs and services for all entitled groups, including the housing project (1-2).
5 – Coordination of national efforts to meet the needs of women in emergency situations and study exceptional and urgent cases that may submit an application to more than one side, or cases that do not apply to the conditions for benefiting from the services provided by all sides.
6 – Family awareness and legal culture through the implementation of awareness programs for the category of those coming to marriage and the development of life and social skills.
7 – Awareness of the importance of volunteer work through the implementation of the “Her Highness Award for Her Highness Sheikha Hasa bint Salman Al Khalifa, volunteer youth work (the fourth session)”, and highlighting the media on success stories in the areas of volunteer work, and studying the impact of the award on volunteer youth work programs.
8 – Monitor the effectiveness of gender balance policies and programs regarding the development of services provided to women and the family, reviewing and developing the national report to measure the indicators of gender balance, and follow up the implementation and activation of the recommendations of the national report for gender balance, with regard to the development of services provided to women and the family, and cooperation and coordination with the Ministry of Justice to measure indicators (the period of marital life when divorce / the age of women and men at marriage / women’s age and men at Divorce).
