Bahrain participates in OIC’s 8th Ministerial Conference on Women

Cairo, July 12 (BNA): Bahrain’s experience in adopting a permanent national strategy to contain the repercussions of the novel Coronavirus pandemic that takes into account women’s needs and their participation in the national development process has been praised by the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The stances were voiced by OIC member states’ ministers and officials responsible for women affairs during their participation in the eighth session of OIC’s Ministerial Conference on Women, themed “Preserving the Achievements of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Light of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond”, held recently here under the patronage of the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. The Supreme Council for Women (SCW), represented by the Secretariat-General’s Affairs Advisor, Ezzaldin Khalil Al-Moayyad, participated in the conference on behalf of Bahrain. During the conference, the Bahraini delegation gave a presentation about the kingdom’s efforts to combat COVID-19, and the role played by women to preserve the gender balance gains for the post-pandemic period. The presentation included several recommendations that were adopted by OIC’s 8th Ministerial Conference. They included the need to develop the national plans to adapt to the pandemic, and take pre-emptive measures to reduce its effects. The kingdom also proposed, along with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, a resolution regarding the protection and empowerment of women across the OIC member states during epidemics and exceptional circumstances. The proposal calls on member states to develop national strategies and policies to confront epidemics and emergency situations, including legislative and institutional measures that ensure the protection of women’s rights. It also urged member states to devise strategies to advance women, and adopt flexible policies and measures to deal with crises and disasters, through preparing the necessary legislation and laws to regulate digital transformation processes in all sectors and services, and adopting and applying new methodologies to manage health, environmental and economic risks. The kingdom also proposed the activation of innovative plans that ensure the sustainability of women’s contributions to the labour market, alongside their family responsibilities, developing means of access to justice and social protection services, enhancing digital educational content and capacity development and facilitating the process of technical innovation and information openness in order to develop local industries. It also submitted a proposal to scrutinise the content of media materials to clarify the renewed image of women and the qualitative roles they play in community development, as well as investing in OIC’s media channels to establish an electronic media network to unify the media discourse and highlight the development of women’s participation and their role in their countries’ progress..