Women’s work in parliament will be focused on issues that overall benefit the Bahraini nation and any topic that support works in favor of women, they said marking another benchmark in the history of the Kingdom by reserving total four seats in parliament.
Two women candidates in Bahrain’s run-off parliamentary race defeated male competitors on Saturday, becoming the first women in Bahrain history to win contested races for seats in parliament.
The two women, Ebtisam Abdulrahman Hijris and Sumaya Abdulrahman Ali Ebrahim Al Jowder, give women four seats in the new parliament. And third female candidate, Sawsan Haji Ghaloom Taqawi, was declared a victor two weeks ago after her competitors withdrew.
At the event Secretary General of SCW, Hala Al Ansari said, “Today’s victory represents the will of the Bahraini people. Now we have four women in the parliament the three new members and Latifa Al Ghaoud who has been there since 2002, in addition to the 11 ladies who are already in the Shura council.”
“The SCW prepared Bahraini women for the campaigns that were a bit tough in the absence of any political societies who are related to the political work behind them and give them the lessons and means to reach the parliament.”
She said that it’s part of SCW role to be supportive to women and therefore it started the Women Empowerment Programme in 2002 and it’s still ongoing to date. The elections empowerment programme was a voluntary programme not mandatory on the candidates. The programme did not provide any funding to the candidates as previously stated by others.
Al Ansari said: “The elected female MPs will not be given any instructions or have any interference from SCW when it comes to their work. We are here to motivate, support and provide them with right training but when it comes to their performance it’s up to them. At the end of the day they reached the parliament with the votes of the Bahraini public.”
“At the same time they faced many challenges there was a fatwa for Bahraini women which forbid women to be in the political field and they based it on wrongful thinking while everybody else is trying hard to show that Islam supports women in all field and walks of life.”
She said: “Also Sawsan Tawaqi faced lots of challenges because she comes from a district where majority of people are members of Al Wefaq, where it become very difficult for her in the beginning but thankfully the candidates in her area decided to withdraw because they were convinced with her abilities.”
Al Ansari said: “Bahraini women should have faith in their abilities, though our country went through a lot of obstacles and unrest lately and it’s about time that we get back together face those challenges it is a tough time for women and men to bring back things to normal as Bahraini community we are not used to what we are seeing right now. The situation we face today is odd for all of us and it’s always the government or officials that are being blamed.”
“We all have responsibilities no matter it is the political or women societies, NGOs and individuals to get things back to normal. Today Bahrain is waiting for its people especially young women who need to refocus and look into matters seriously other than being involved unnecessary activities. Young women involved in those activities are educated and know the difference between wrong and right. Bahrain has invested in its people and its time we for each of us to pay back to our country.”
“A huge congratulations to all Bahraini women and citizens in this achievement by Bahraini women,” said Al Ansari. “We have to recognize the role of Princess Sabeeka Al Khalifa for her role in advocating women’s rights and role in having them place in the parliamentary elections.
Sawsan Taqawi said that as she steps in to the parliament to work for the progress and development of the country she has short and long term plans. “The short term plans will be to show the people that we are capable of taking challenges and achievements will be shown directly. While the long term plan is that we would like to achieve with support of legislations that serve Bahrainis as citizens and involve more parties in it. The national dialogue is our priority. There are two parts of the dialogue; one in which the executives of the ministries work in and second part of which we have to put legislations.”
Al Jowder said that entering parliament was because of the support of the Council, and Her Royal Highness during their training programmes trained by a Bahraini woman, Dalal Al Zayed of SCW.
Taking part in the session Seema Al-Langawi said that she faced a lot of challenges that included forbidding the voters to vote for Bahraini women.
Also Bahraini journalist, Saeed Al Hamad congratulated the Bahraini women for running under unusual circumstances in the country. He said that Seema Al-Langawi did not fail, but instead succeeded greatly in the number of votes received. Religion is not against women although certain ideologies instigate in the name of religion for them to participate in politics. Religion ultimately has provided equality for women.
In 2004, Bahrain appointed its first female minister, Dr Nada Haffadh to the position of Health Minister, and in 2005, Dr Fatima Al Balooshi, the second woman minister was appointed to the cabinet. In April 2005, Shura member Alees Samaan became the first woman to chair a parliamentary session in the Arab world when she chaired the Shura Council. The head of the main women’s organization, the Supreme Council for Women, Lulwa Al Awadhi, has been given the title of ‘honorary cabinet minister.’
In June 2006, Bahrain was elected head of the United Nations General Assembly, and used the honor to appoint Haya bint Rashid Al Khalifa as the Assembly’s President, making her the first Middle Eastern woman and only the third woman in history to take over the post.
Nine new members of parliament were elected in Saturday’s run-off elections after no candidates in those districts received more than 50 percent of the vote in the bye-election one week earlier. In all, 18 new members of parliament were elected to fill seats vacated in February by the resignation of members of the political opposition. Some of the newly elected have already started their new duties.