Bahrain ranks second among Arab countries with regards to the percentage of women in civil service top management among countries in the Mena region, according to a new OECD report.

The kingdom also ranked first with regards to the presence of women in middle management in the public sector, at the level of Arab countries which took part in the report, published by the Mena program at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD-Mena) for 2013 in cooperation with the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR).

The report included 9 Arab countries (Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen), and addressed three areas reviewing women’s participation in political life, public and private sectors.

Bahrain won laurels for being one of the countries which has a national institution in charge of women empowerment at all levels as well as for being one of the pioneering countries in formulating a national women advancement strategy in line with international conventions.

The report addressed the extent to which local legislations and gender based strategies in the Mena are in line with international conventions with regards to equality between the two genders. The report has also reviewed the efforts made by countries included in the study with regards to women empowerment through setting policies and strategies for equality between the two genders, as well as providing gender based budgets and data.

The report highlighted important details regarding the participation of women in political life, public and private sectors in decision making positions, illustrating disparity among the Mena region countries in terms of the percentage of women in decision making positions in political and public life.

The percentage varies between 10 to 30 per cent, especially that some of these countries implement the quota system. In the judicial field, the percentage of women in the Ministries of Interior and Justice increased to 25 per cent in most countries included in the report, therefore, getting closer to the global average in this field.

Regarding the participation of women in the public sector, Bahrain was ranked second place after Tunisia. According to the report, the percentage of women working in civil service top management reached 37 per cent, passing the regional average of 29.1 per cent.

Also, Bahrain reached the first position in comparison with the countries included in the report with regards to the participation of women in middle management public sector with a percentage of 59 per centm, stated the report.

The report addressed the participation of women in the private sector as well, highlighting that Bahrain is one of the countries which has established non-judicial national organizations to protect human rights which includes the rights of women.

The Kingdom provides free legal aid services in the fields related to family and civil law. The report has recommended to the countries included to lift the reservations on CEDAW and to review discriminatory laws to empower women.

The report also addressed a number of measures, legislations and laws which enabled Bahrain to be placed in such advanced positions in this field.

"For example, labour laws in the Kingdom stipulate the principle of equality between men and women which resulted in many women reaching top management positions in the public sector as well as non-discrimination in terms of wages and the provision of suitable opportunities which enable women to achieve a work-family balance.-TradeArabia News Service