Theme of Bahraini Women's Day 2017 announced

Manama, Feb. 14 (BNA): Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of His Majesty the King and President of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), has announced the theme of the Bahraini Women’s Day 2017 which will celebrate Bahraini women in the engineering field. She hailed the unlimited support of HM the King to Bahraini women and his appreciation of their role and contributions to all development fields. This came during a special meeting held today at SCW headquarters to announce the theme of Bahraini Women’s Day for this year. HRH Princess Sabeeka received Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, a number of ministers and officials, SCW members and female leading figures and competencies in the engineering field, academic institutions and specialised civil society establishments. HRH Princess Sabeeka welcomed the audience, lauding the efforts of Shaikh Khalid in developing the engineering sector in Bahrain, especially as he is one of the first engineers in Bahrain and the first Housing Minister and one of the founders of Bahrain Society of Engineers. She praised the urban development in Bahrain, stressing Shaikh Khalid’s remarkable contribution to optimising housing services and urban projects in the kingdom. She also underlined the importance of the efforts made by ministries and relevant institutions in boosting the presence and contribution of Bahraini women to the engineering field. HRH Princess Sabeeka pointed out that celebrating Bahraini women in the engineering field is a recognition of her remarkable contributions in this respect over the past forty years. She said those contributions started mainly in the seventies and more precisely in chemical and civil engineering in 1977, architecture in 1978 and agricultural and electrical engineering in 1979. HRH Princess Sabeeka noted that Bahraini women have been able to cope with new engineering disciplines, like computer and aviation engineering, and proved their competence in them. She pointed out that around 43% graduate from that discipline while women’s participation as engineers in the labour market accounts for 25% in the public sector and 21% in the private one. She also noted that active women in the public sector account for 53% according to the latest statistics by the Civil Service Bureau. HRH Princess Sabeeka expressed hope the Bahraini Women’s Day 2017 would achieve forecast goals, especially after the series of successes over the past nine years when HM the King declared December 1 as a national occasion to celebrate Bahraini Women’s Day. She underscored the importance of the occasion which is highly appreciated by HM the King, pointing out that the initiatives and proposals which will be presented by the partners of SCW in the engineering field will cast light on the advanced status of Bahraini women and their quality achievements in the development process.