Bahrain yesterday (December 1) marked its annual Women's Day, announcing a series of events to celebrate the occasion.

A two-day event will be held on December 7 and 8 to pay tribute to Bahraini women, Supreme Council for Women (SCW) Women Empowerment Programme director-general Shaikha Azza bint Abdulrahman Al Khalifa said.

The first day will consist of an exhibition for female entrepreneurs, in which 45 young women will showcase their abilities in four sectors - service; retail and cosmetics; event planning; and food and beverages.

"According to the slogan of this year's celebration, we are planning an exhibition that aims to promote women entrepreneurs in various fields and support them," said Shaikha Azza. "This will be a good exposure for the women and will also encourage others to join the entrepreneur world."

Women can also participate in an Economic Forum on the second day of the event, which will highlight challenges faced by women, their success stories and focus on how to create a business and move up as a young woman entrepreneur.

"This forum will tackle all the issues that women face in the private sector and as an entrepreneur," added Shaikha Azza.

"It can help new entrepreneurs set up their businesses after hearing success stories and they can also learn from the mistakes. This forum will also help the council in creating strategic development plans to overcome challenges faced by young Bahraini businesswomen."

Bahraini Women's Day was first launched by Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of His Majesty King Hamad and SCW president.

The slogan for this year's events is: "Bahraini Woman and Economic Development... Participation and Dedication".

The SCW will also honour organisations that have contributed to the development of Bahraini women and have assisted in the progress and implementation of the SCW's National Strategy for Women Empowerment.

The council had two reasons to celebrate yesterday as this year's Woman's Day coincided with the SCW's 10th anniversary.

Shaikha Azza praised Princess Sabeeka's role in forming the council and her continuous support for women's empowerment.

Among the council's achievements are amending laws relating to family disputes in Sharia courts, where women continue to face obstacles.

It has also set up a Woman Support Centre, which provides free consultation, legal advice, legal aid and reviews complaints and grievances.

One of the council's most historic achievements is the National Strategy for Women Empowerment, which tackles seven sections; economic empowerment, political empowerment, family stability, health, education, environment and civil societies.

"The council has focused mainly in the past 10 years on economic and political empowerment and family stability, but has not ignored the other sections as we have conducted training sessions and awareness programmes to tackle those issues," said Shaikha Azza.

She also revealed the Political Empowerment of Women Programme had already generated a plan for the next national elections and would focus on the youth in its future projects. – TradeArabia News Service