MANAMA, Bahrain, December 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

This morning an international high-level conference, " Women in Public Life: From Policies to Impact" was inaugurated under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of the King of Bahrain President of the Supreme Council for Women (SCW), bringing together leading policy-makers, senior government officials, parliamentarians, international organizations, representatives from non-governmental organizations, civil society, academia and the private sector.

The conference is co-organized by the Supreme Council for Women in the Kingdom of Bahrain with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to review the legal settings, conditions and institutional capacities for integrating gender considerations into policies and programs across MENA and OECD countries.

The opening session of the conference focused on the efforts of countries in the Middle East and North Africa to increase women's participation in public life, and measure the progress that has been achieved thus far in implementing the regional recommendations for promotion of gender equality in public life, offered in the OECD's 2014 report: "Women in public life: gender, laws and policies in the Middle East and North Africa" co-published and written with the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research (CAWTAR) .  The first session focused on finding methods to enhance women's participation in public life through inclusive economic policies.
The conference will be held until Thursday, December 10, and it will cover a range of topics: including: promoting access to equal opportunities in the private sector, leveraging civil society in order to advance gender-responsive policies, promoting equal opportunities in parliamentary and electoral practices and building accountability for gender responsive policies - with the ultimate focus on moving from gender-equality strategies, policies and statements to impact.

The 2014 OECD-CAWTAR Report highlighted that the Kingdom of Bahrain has the highest percentage of women in senior and middle management positions in the public sector among countries studied in the region. The percentage of women employed in the public sector in administrative senior positions is 45% (2014), which exceeds the 29.1% regional average for MENA countries. In addition, Bahraini women's share of public middle management positions surpasses that of men, at 59% (2014).

Waleed Al Qassimi, +973-(0)17430001, pr@zajilpress.com

SOURCE Supreme Council for Women and The Kingdom of Bahrain