Gender Equality in Bahrain

Bahrain
Flag of Bahrain
Population (in Mil.)	0.7
Sex Ratio (m/f)	1,24
Life Expectancy Ratio (f/m)	1.04
Fertility Rate	2.29
Income Ratio (f/m)	0.51
Literacy Ratio (f/m)	0,94
Tertiary Enrolment Ratio (f/m)	1,84
Women in Parliament (in %)	0
SIGI Rank	76
More information on variables
Did you know that Bahrain ranks number 76 of 102 countries on the OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index? To learn more, see the official country note "Gender Equality and Social Institutions in Bahrain" at genderindex.org:

The Bahrain Constitution of 2002 provides equal rights to men and women. While it can be noted that the situation of women has improved in many areas, it continues to be affected by patriarchal norms and traditions in others (as indicated by the country’s poor SIGI Rank). Women’s educational attainment is high, often above that of men, but their employment opportunities are limited. As a consequence, female unemployment is almost twice as high as male unemployment. Changing the traditional outlook on the role of women both in society and the workforce is seen as the main challenge in the first MDG report of Bahrain. The majority of country’s the population are Muslims and hence governed by Sharia laws and courts. Bahrain also has a large migrant and expatriate population, coming mainly from Asia.

Family Code

The average marriage age of both men and women has increased in the Arab world, indicating that early marriages occur less frequent. Until as late as 2007, however, no minimum age of marriage had been defined in Bahrain. This raised concerns among national women’s rights advocates as well as international organs such as the UN Committee for the Right of the Child. Finally, in October 2007 the Minister of Justice fixed the legal age of marriage to 15 for females and 18 for males. The decision was immediately condemned by religious scholars who accused the Minister of “violating Islamic teachings” (Gulfnews, 2007). An estimated 7 percent of girls between 15 and 19 years are currently married, divorced or widowed (UN, 2004).

Polygamy is legal following provisions in Sharia, which allow a Muslim man to may take as many as four wives provided that he can support them financially. The prevalence of polygamy is reported to be low and practiced only by a small number of Islamic fundamentalists and by older generations in the country’s villages (Al-Najjar, 2005).

The father holds legal guardianship over children and his formal parental authority is thereby stronger than that of the mother. In the event of divorce, the mother is granted physical custody of daughters under the age of nine and sons under the age of seven. After those ages are reached, custody is normally reverted to the father. Women cannot confer citizenship to their children (if born to a non-Bahraini father).

Islamic law provides for detailed and complex calculations of inheritance shares. In general, a woman may inherit from her father, her mother, her husband, her children, and under certain conditions, from other members of her family, but her share is often smaller than a man’s entitlement. A daughter, for example, normally inherits half as much as a son. In the absence of a direct male heir, however, Bahraini Shia interpretations allow daughters to inherit everything from their deceased father. Sunni traditions, in turn, oblige daughters to share the inheritance with brothers or other male relatives of the deceased (U.S. Department of State, 2007).

Physical Integrity

Female genital mutilation is no longer practiced in Bahrain.

While there are no specific laws against violence against women, provisions in the Penal Code protect women to some extent. But some of these provisions appear to be contradictory: for example, rape is penalized with life in prison in one article of the law, while another states that no penalty should be inflicted upon a rapist if he agrees to marry the victim. It can also be argued that so-called honour-killings are justified by the law as some provisions in the Penal Code allow for lower penalties when a crime is committed in rage following an unlawful act by the victim.

Domestic and spousal abuse is fairly common and a few shelters and women’s centers have been opened in recent years to assist victims. Still, matters of domestic violence are not often discussed in public and incidents are rarely reported to the police. The concept of spousal rape is not recognized by the law.

Civil Liberties

While the law provides for the freedom of movement for all persons, women’s right to move freely can sometimes be limited by socially imposed restrictions. For example, a woman might have to request permission from the male head of the household to travel abroad (although there are no legal requirements for married women to have their husband’s consent to apply for a passport) or to even leave the residence to visit friends or family. It is not socially acceptable for a woman to live on her own (Al-Najjar, 2005).

The freedom of dress is not legally restricted. Some Bahraini women are only comfortable in public when they are completely covered according to Islamic traditions; others can be seen taking a more liberal approach to clothing. All women, nationals as well as foreigners, are encouraged not to wear revealing attire such as short skirts or sleeveless shirts.

Ownership Rights

The economic climate in Bahrain encourages entrepreneurship among both men and women, but social beliefs still see the world of business as a predominantly male domain.

While the law allows women to own and control both land and property, many women often authorize a male family member to manage such assets. Government-supplied housing, however, can only be owned by a woman if the male head of the household dies or in cases where the woman is granted custody of the children after divorce.

Similarly, women have the legal right to open bank accounts and dispose over their own income. Nevertheless, some women may choose to hand over their salary to their husband for joint disposal.

Sources

• Al-Najjar, S. (2005), Women's Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Citizenship and Justice – Bahrain Country Report, 2005, Freedom House Inc.
• British Council, Bahrain (2005), Short Term Visitors Notes, April 2005.
• Gulfnews, Minimum marriage age ‘must be kept’, 5 November 2007, www.gulf-news.com.
• OECD (2006), The Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base, www.oecd.org/dev/gender/GID.
• Population Reference Bureau (2005), Marriage in the Arab World, PRB Policy Brief, Washington D.C.
• United Nations (2004), Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, World Fertility Report, New York.
• United Nations and Kingdom of Bahrain (2003), Millennium Development Goals – First Report, Manama, October 2003.
• U.S. Department of State (2007), Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2006: Bahrain.