Fifth Equal Opportunities
Conference

With great satisfaction, I am pleased to announce the theme of “The Fifth Conference on Equal Opportunities,” organized jointly by Ahlia University and Brunel University London, that focuses on the important theme of “Partnership, Fairness & Competitiveness.” This annual conference under the patronage of Her Excellency Mrs. Fawzia Bint Abdulla Zainal, the Speaker of the Council of Representatives, has highlighted issues of salient importance to the development of women. Her Excellency hardly needs an introduction as a champion in the cause of the empowerment of women and her acclaim as a leader in this cause is without parallel world-wide. As Speaker of the Council of Representatives, Her Excellency has been instrumental in orchestrating initiatives designed to inject fairness and competitiveness into the society in Bahrain by catalyzing participation of women in the economy as equal partners of men. To attain full human resource potential, the Speaker advocates unequivocally for the full and equal participation of women in the economy recognizing such an injection of talent in the work-force as a vital element for the acceleration of the development of communities and organizations in society. Under her leadership, the Council of Representatives relentlessly champions and indefatigably promotes women’s development as a sine qua non of the broader initiatives in pursuit of social justice and equity it undertakes.

Inspired by our steadfast commitment to equal opportunity through gender-responsive policy design achieving a coherent linkage with the national legislative/policy framework in Bahrain and beyond on inclusion of, equal opportunity for and empowerment of women, Ahlia University, in conjunction with its UK partner Brunel University, highly values this opportunity to cohost a conference dedicated to the theme “Partnership, Fairness & Competitiveness.” Our mission to elevate the social and living standards of all members of society aligns us with community development initiatives, undertaken by enlightened and path-breaking Supreme Council of Women, designed to promote inclusiveness of women in the economy. The theme “Partnership, Fairness & Competitiveness” resonates across the entirety of the Arab world today in reflection of persistently low levels of participation of women in the work-force — consistently ranking lowest among all regions — with human capital development consequently lagging regionally. Indeed, the conference is dedicated to the proposition that the promotion of fairness and competitiveness in labor markets holds promise of benefits to society of far-reaching, transformative proportion.

Our admiration of the Supreme Council for Women, whose activities in furtherance of the empowerment of women in Bahrain stand out as the implementation of policy initiatives virtually without parallel in the world at large, is unabashed and boundless. As the leader of the Supreme Council of Women, H.R.H. Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim AI Khalifa, as a renowned exponent of women’s empowerment, stands out as a global role-model of female leaders in governmental authority. Her relentless and indefatigable efforts in the service of women’s equality are yielding fruit in the form of increased gender equity between men and women in the Kingdom. For these efforts, we are all very indebted and we all feel humbled by her guiding inspiration in this sphere.

Issues of partnership, fairness and competitiveness, as concerns the participation of women in the economy and society, are subjects of current salience in academic literature spanning such divergent topics as the impact of women participation in senior corporate management to the effect of microfinance of the creation of small enterprise by female entrepreneurs. In this vein, research undertaken at Ahlia University cuts across a wide cross-section of topics that fall under this rubric. Accordingly, at Ahlia University, our ebullience for not only organizing but for making academic contributions to a conference that focuses on the advancement of women in the economy and society, is pitched at high level and reflects our exuberance for conducting multi-disciplinary research, employing the latest scholarly methods, in this sphere. Indeed, the conference includes a wide range of empirical studies about “Partnership, Fairness & Competitiveness” in Bahrain involving a set of workshops.

In closing, I offer my unreserved thanks to all contributors to the conference while extending my warmest regards and deepest appreciation to our distinguished guests, and, to give credit where particular recognition is due, I would like to offer my sincerest gratitude to the organizing committee whose steadfast efforts laid the basis for making this conference a resounding success.