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SCW Secretary General delivers Bahrain’s address at 69th session of UN CSW
Lulwa bint Saleh Al Awadhi, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), delivered the Kingdom of Bahrain’s address at the 69th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW69) in New York.
Al Awadhi highlighted the importance of the high level meeting, which is dedicated to reviewing the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action after 30 years and assessing current challenges affecting gender equality, women’s empowerment, and their contribution to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Al Awadhi emphasised that Bahrain’s experience in women’s empowerment has been a model to take pride in since its early stages, beginning with participation in municipal elections and access to formal education in the 1920s, followed by the establishment of women’s voluntary social activities in the 1950s.
She noted Bahraini women’s growing role in national development, holding ministerial positions and leadership roles in the legislative and executive branches.
Al Awadhi said that Bahrain has closed 66.6% of the gender gap, ranking 116th globally in the 2024 World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. She added that the Kingdom scored 68.1% in the World Bank’s 2024 Women, Business and the Law Index.
She called on UN member states to encourage public and private institutions, civil society organisations, and individuals to participate in the Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Global Award for Women’s Empowerment.
The award has been officially adopted by UN Women since its first edition in 2017, as a global initiative to promote women’s empowerment programmes.
She described the award as a global initiative aimed at encouraging government institutions, private sector entities, civil society organisations, and individuals to adopt and support women’s empowerment programmes. She emphasised that the initiative aligns with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and contributes to international efforts to advance progress for women worldwide.
On the sidelines of CSW69, Al Awadhi met with Dr. Maimoonah Khalil Al Khalil, Secretary-General of the Family Affairs Council in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to discuss SCW’s programmes supporting Bahraini women.
She commended Saudi Arabia’s rapid progress in women’s empowerment and highlighted the role of the Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University National Observatory for Women, which analyses gender-related data in collaboration with the General Authority for Statistics.
Al Awadhi invited Dr. Al Khalil to participate in the third edition of the Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa Global Award for Women’s Empowerment, emphasising its role in recognising outstanding initiatives worldwide.