Bahrain Bourse rings Bell for Gender Equality in collaboration with stakeholders

Manama, Mar. 8 (BNA): Bahrain Bourse (BHB) virtually rang the bell for gender equality for the third consecutive year in parallel with the celebration of International Women’s Day. The virtual Ring the Bell event, as part of BHB's commitment towards UN’s Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, was held in collaboration with several stakeholders to demonstrate best practices in the implementation of gender equality across listed companies and other market participants. “We strongly believe in the importance of achieving gender equality and our influential role, as a stock exchange, to advance gender equality initiatives across listed companies and other market participants," Narjes Farookh Jamal, Chief Operating Officer, said. "Setting Bahrain Bourse as an example, we have rolled out a series of 'Working From Home' initiatives to promote and empower employees across the organization, particularly female professionals in the workplace. These initiatives stem from the recommendations proposed by the ‘Gender Equality Committee’ and are in line with our ESG guidelines and sustainability roadmap.” Narjes added, “within Bahrain’s capital market, we have 5% in terms of female Board representation, but we are slightly exceeding the global benchmark where we stand at 4.65% for female CEOs across listed companies. "Recent statistics show that the representation of female investors at Bahrain Bourse reached 28%, and the value of shares held by females is currently BD208 million, and the total volume of shares traded by female investors was 734 million shares," she said. Bahrain Bourse has joined 88 other global exchanges to mark the occasion of International Women’s Day over a week of bell-ringing activities in partnership with the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) Initiative, the World Federation of Exchanges, International Finance Corporation (IFC), UN Global Compact, UN Women, and Women in ETFs to help raise awareness. The event is being held for the seventh consecutive year globally. This year, the UN’s International Women Day is themed “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world.” The global bell ringing events aim to bring attention to the pivotal role the private sector can play in advancing gender equality to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to raise awareness about the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs). Bahrain Bourse, a self-regulated multi-asset marketplace operator established in 1987, has announced in 2019 its voluntary commitment towards the United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative in promoting sustainable and transparent capital markets. The SSE initiative focuses on sustainable disclosure of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Bahrain Bourse aims to offer to its investors, issuers, and intermediaries a comprehensive suite of exchange-related facilities including offering listing, trading, settlement, and depositary services for various financial instruments.