By Danielle Doporto
Manama (June 6 – BNA): Following HRH Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa’s achievement as the winner of The International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW International) President’s Gold Award, a group of prominent BPW International Goodwill Ambassadors and representatives have journeyed to Bahrain to personally present HRH the Prime Minister with his award.
This group includes three of the four jurors of the Nomination Committee: Annette Lu Hsiu-lien, former Vice-President of Taiwan, Dr. Dong-Sung Cho, Professor of Strategy at Chueng Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing and head of the committee, Princess Fay Jahan Ara, International businesswoman and philanthropist, as well as Dr. Insil Lee, National President of BPW Korea Federation.
At a press conference in Manama on Friday, they congratulated HRH the Prime Minister once more on the outstanding achievement, lauded the myriad advancements made for women under the tenure of HRH the Prime Minister and explained the origins of the auspicious award and the criteria used to select its recipient.
The BPW International President’s Gold Award recognises a male leader who has been instrumental in the empowerment of women, within his sphere of influence.
Women’s rights have been a cornerstone of the reforms initiated by HRH the Prime Minister. Through the enhancement of education and entrepreneurship amongst women in both the private and public sectors, Bahraini women have become established as the most empowered in the Middle East, topping the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP’s) Gender Inequality Index in 2012.
In the political arena, women gained the right to vote and become candidates in national elections following the National Action Charter which was reflected in the constitutional amendments of 2002. Since then, many women have been appointed in top decision-making roles, including ministerial positions, and won seats in the parliament.
The formation of the Supreme Council for Women is another notable development. Together with Bahrain’s Economic Development Board (EDB), they produce important research reports on ‘Women Living and Working in Bahrain.’
“Your Prime Minister has done a great job to promote your women’s status, to empower capable women economically, politically and socially,” Annette Lu Hsiu-lien said. “He definitely deserves a Gold Award.” She highlighted with particular admiration the great speed at which women have been able to seize equal rights and opportunities at all levels, economically, politically and socially.
HRH Princess Fay Jahan Ara conveyed her appreciation that HRH the Prime Minister has had to navigate strong traditions and culture with great sensitivity in order to reach this point of enlightened development, making him a role model on the world stage. She furthermore encouraged all women to educate themselves, in order to continue the trend of increased representation at the highest levels.
“The legacy of behaviour and the way that you are empowered, this is important… leave something behind yourself that your family, your children, they are going to be proud of,” she said.
Dr. Dong-Sung Cho explained the significance and implications of female empowerment for national competitiveness, as identified in his academic research, which seems to become more important as overall levels of development increase: “Women’s empowerment is a decision of the government to deal with women resources… Women [have] a kind of sensitivity, a discerning power and sophistication… as a nation becomes more advanced the products and services need to be more sophisticated, more refined… It is almost impossible for a nation to become an advanced nation without women playing a very important role, not only as a supplier of labour but also as a consumer,” he said.
He went on to explain that rather than conferring the Gold Award based on absolute levels of performance, it was much more meaningful to consider improvements across a period of time as the main criteria.
All of the adjudicators from the Nomination Committee present expressed hope that the prize would reinforce achievements made to date, and encourage other political and corporate leaders to enact similar reforms in the future.
In a statement on its website, BPW International’s President Freda Miriklis said “While there is still so much more to be done, Bahrain is making progress towards the empowerment of women in a way that is inspiring other countries in the Middle East to follow their lead.”
The International Federation of Business and Professional Women was founded in 1930, and today has affiliates in 95 countries including Bahrain, with consultative status on numerous United Nations bodies and participatory status on the Council of Europe. It advocates the economic empowerment of all women, as vital to the sustainable success of the global economy at all levels; financial, environmental and social.