Bahrain calls for international recognition of women’s merits in confronting COVID-19

TDT | Vienna

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahraini women have been impressively successful in confronting the COVID-19 pandemic thanks to their rapid and effective response in all workplaces, Council of Representatives Speaker has said.

They contributed to the development of an advanced Bahraini model, which demonstrates their remarkable role in national development through their high-profile presence in the front lines to confront the virus, representing 75% of all the workers in the national taskforce to combat the epidemic, Fawzia bint Abdullah Zainal said.

The Speaker was addressing the 13th Summit of Women Speakers of Parliament (13SWSP) in the Austrian capital Vienna.

Zainal was the only Arab woman Speaker participating in the summit.

In her keynote speech, she highlighted the contributions of Bahraini women in confronting the Covid-19 pandemic and indicated that the percentage of female doctors in Bahrain is 66%, higher than the global average of 46%, while the percentage of Bahraini nurses is 76%.

Within the national taskforce to combat the epidemic, women represented 80% of the workers in executive positions, 69% in specialized jobs, and 64% of the total workers in quarantine, isolation and case detection, and 71% of the total number of laboratory staff. The percentage of women working on analyzing and collecting data was 78%.

Zainal hailed the generous commitment and dedication of women to humanity and protecting societies from risks and challenges.

Women’s standing on the front lines to address the Covid-19 pandemic reveals their leadership capabilities and their readiness to assume responsibilities in the treatment and isolation sites, in science and research centers, and in volunteering to serve humanity, she said.

Women were among the first to respond to the challenges of the crisis and the world witnessed their efforts within the medical, nursing and administrative teams, and in scientific laboratories, where researchers and scientists made impressive discoveries about vaccines and contributing to potential treatments.

Within this momentum by women in the front lines to confront the pandemic, it is necessary to take a serious look at the level of women’s representation in leadership positions and decision-making processes in the health care sector and work to consolidate their fair and equal participation in assuming leadership roles and decision-making nationally and internationally, she said.

Putting and end to the pandemic requires, in a fundamental way, the promotion and protection of women’s health and rights, the establishment of an appropriate environment for them and the provision of privileges commensurate with the scale of the simultaneous practical, societal and family challenges they are addressing, Zainal stressed.