Confident women unfazed by gender gap

Manama : It’s always hard to face a ‘break the ice’ situation. And it becomes a daunting task if you are the sole woman among a group of men.

But Bahraini women, regardless of their areas of expertise, are acclimatised with facing any such unusual situations through a high level of self-confidence. 

As Reem, a journalist, travelled to the airport to meet other journalists flying with her to Malaysia on a familiarisation trip, she was looking forward to have some fun to make the trip a memorable one. And it was also her maiden trip to an Asian country. As she met the group, who greeted her, she was surprised, they were all men!

“I went to a girls’ only school.  But I never felt uneasy, especially while dealing with my male classmates at college. In our open society, we have been raised to live with all components  without complexes,” Reem said.

Highlighting that the Bahraini society is untouched by the gender divide evil that marks other societies, Reem also pointed out how Maysa Al Dhawadi, the head of the FollowUp department at the Ministry of Information Affairs Bahrain, faced such a situation in the past.  

Al Dhawadi was the only woman to participate in an all men conference that brought together media officials from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Japan. 

There were around 24 well-groomed participants in the conference held in April 2015.

“The trend is that strong, smart and ambitious people intimidate weak and passive people regardless of their gender. The whole issue is attributed to the gaps in their characters, not to their gender,” Amal, a school teacher said.