Bahrain women eyeing polls told to draw up strategies

Manama: The head of Bahrain Women's Union has urged women planning to run in next year's parliamentary elections to draw up strategies.

"It is never too early to get ready for such important events, and we should draw very crucial lessons from what happened in the past two elections," Mariam Al Rouaie said.

"The experiences lived by the women candidates in the 2002 and 2006 elections should serve as important sources of learning and inspiration," she said at the launch of a book on women's personal rights in Bahrain on Wednesday.

Only one woman, Lateefa Al Gaood, was successful in the 2006 parliamentary elections after she ran unopposed in her constituency.

In 2002, none of the female candidates made it to the 40-seat lower house, following strong opposition from religious leaders and conservative societies to the presence of women in the legislative body.

The book, a compilation of studies and research on women's rights, will be used by several NGOs and researchers to assess the status of women and how events related to women have been unfolding in the country, Al Rouaie said.

"One conclusion reached by the authors of the book is that the most dangerous challenge to women in Bahrain is the level of domestic violence. The problem is compounded by the fact that women, mainly for social reasons, do not wish to go to the police station and report on the acts of violence perpetrated against them," said Shaikha Al Zayani, a member of the women's union.

"We do need to set up special centres where women will feel more at ease in reporting any act of violence against them. Those that are in place today have not been effective."

Bahrain, one of the most open societies in the Arabian Gulf, has two women ministers, one elected and ten appointed female lawmakers, several women judges and one ambassador, while many of its women hold decision-making positions.

However, the country has failed to promulgate a comprehensive personal status law that would help women in courts where decisions are often left to the discretion of judges whom women have often accused of bias and prejudice against them.

Campaigns by the Supreme Council for Women and women's rights activists led to the adoption last month by the parliament of a law that covers only Sunni families.