5th HRH Princess Sabeeka Women Empowerment Award launched

Manama, June 4 (BNA): The Supreme Council for Women (SCW) has announced the Launch of the fifth edition of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa’s Award for Women Empowerment for ministries and government and private establishments. SCW Secretary-General Hala Al-Ansari is among the key national initiatives aiming to enhance women’s status, and a practical tool that contributes to paves the organizational and administrative way for working women in Bahrain through implementing scientific, objective and measurable criteria that support the efforts of public and private sectors’ institutions to achieve equal opportunities at the level of sustainable development. Al-Ansari added that the award provides an opportunity for competing institutions to showcase their efforts in the field of integration of women’s needs in their work, noting that since the issuance of Royal Order 5 for the year 2004 on establishing the biennial award, the SCW has been entrusted with overseeing it, developing its criteria and promoting it. The award aims to encourage ministries, public and private institutions to support and empower working Bahraini women, enhance rehabilitation and training programmes, integrate them into the national development plans, consolidate their access to leadership and decision-making positions and make sure that they are committed to non-discrimination against them. On the privileges of the two-category award, she asserted that each winner is presented with a certificate signed by Princess Sabeeka, a shield, and cash prize which should be used to support training programmes for female employees. They are also granted the right to use the logo of the award on their official letters and buildings for a period of two years. The award also specified standards and conditions required by ministries and both government and private establishments to qualify for receiving it. Nominees must be licensed, operating in the kingdom and committed to the highest standards of transparency and credibility. Entrants will be assessed regarding the percentage of woman staff and their access to leadership positions, commitment to integrating women’s needs in their budgets, commitment to involving them in committees and delegations to conferences and organisations, provisions of supportive services, supporting women-directed activities and contributing to developing research on women’s issues. The Central Informatics Organisation and Al Ahli United Bank were the winners of the first edition in 2006, while Tamkeen and the Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company (GPIC) received those of the second in 2008. In 2010, the Economic Development Board (EDB) and Takaful International clinched the prizes, whereas in 2014, the Gulf Petrochemicals Industries Company (GPIC), Alba and Royal University for Women (RUW) won the award after ranking first, second and third respectively.