Pioneering ways to help women of Bahrain

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Gulf Daily News - BAHRAIN - 04 February, 2006

The empowerment of Bahraini women is a hot topic today, but the Awal Women's Society (AWS) has been working towards that goal for almost 40 years.

Ever since a group of female students first came up with the idea of raising living standards for the women of Muharraq in 1967, the society has gone from strength to strength.

From humble beginnings in informal meetings at women's homes, to its current dedicated premises in Arad, the society has become ever more ambitious.

It began by pioneering free literacy courses for women and has gone on to opening new employment opportunities in areas normally shunned by Bahrainis.

Its latest project, offering trained female staff to provide hospitality at celebrations and funerals, has proved a massive success and members are now hoping to branch into a new operation.

The next step will be training women to care for the elderly and children in their homes.

The idea is to make women self-sufficient and to encourage Bahrainis to hire locals to do these vital jobs, says veteran society member Aisha Matar.

It all part of a broader aim to empower women to take control of their lives and support themselves whatever their personal circumstances.

"We have always focused on upgrading the status of women, enlightening them about their rights and responsibilities and helping them improve themselves socially and culturally," said Ms Matar, who joined in 1969.

"We have never offered financial help, because if women need money they should be given training not charity so they can help themselves.

"They need to develop their skills and set up a project or get a job which will enable them to upgrade their own standard of living.

"They shouldn't just sit in the house and wait for their monthly payment from a charity, they should depend on themselves."

The society was the first women's group to target Muharraq and members used to walk for miles to get to meetings.

It was a novel idea in a male-dominated society, but Ms Matar said that the members' husbands, fathers and brothers largely supported it.

"Nobody stopped us," she recalled.

"We even got our first premises in a men's sports club...the Bahrain Club.

"The girls would come walking from miles away because they wanted to gather, to learn and to talk."

The members quickly identified illiteracy as one of the main stumbling blocks to the development of women and became the first voluntary organisation to launch free classes.

Before that the only option was to take a fee-paying course in Manama, which was out of the reach of poor women without transport.

It opened up new horizons of independence for women who had previously depended on others to read and write for them.

"We were also the first to open kindergarten classes for the women while they attended the illiteracy classes," added Ms Matar.

"We realised that the main reason women didn't come was because there was no one to look after their children while they were learning.

"This meant that they could bring their children with them and still get an education."

When the Education Ministry set up Adult Education Centres across the country, AWS members volunteered to teach in them and the society sponsored salaried staff.

Summer courses were established for female students to give them a chance to broaden their experiences during the holidays.

These continue today on a limited basis.

"We try to teach them about things which they don't study in school," explained Ms Matar. "We have debates and teach art and handicrafts.

"The girls are given the chance to express themselves."

Other activities to encourage education included the distribution of school supplies to the needy and honouring ceremonies for outstanding students.

There is a small library of books related to women's issues, which members are welcome to browse.

The society also marks national and international days and actively campaigns for a proposed personal status law which would codify legislation on women's rights.

In keeping with the society's aim to educate women, it provides booklets on marriage and women's rights and responsibilities. "They need to be aware of how to protect themselves and their children," explained Ms Matar.

When things go wrong, the AWS legal advice centre is on hand to help.

A hotline is available for those who want to discuss their problems over the phone, while volunteers also meet women in person to offer assistance.

"Since we don't have a personal status law in Bahrain to protect women, women face daily problems," said Ms Matar.

"Women come to the society facing divorce, or they have been left by their husbands without financial help, or they have been abused.

"We deal with many different situations."

All too often the women are unable to get professional help, because they have no independent funds and the society has links with volunteer lawyers to provide assistance where possible. The details of individual cases are kept confidential.

In many cases the problem isn't just legal, but is also financial and the society aims to help where it can.

"A lot of the women need money so we try to find solutions for them" Ms Matar continued.

"We try to find them a job or teach them a new skill while the problem is being dealt with.

"We can also send them to other organisations which can offer them training."

Problems in marriages are made much more daunting when combined with poverty.

If women are in a position to find employment, they are in a much stronger position should the worst happen.

"Too many women are poor in money, education and understanding and believe that if they are not married, their life is not complete," she said.

"Then they get married and they don't know what to do when things go wrong.

"They can't go back to their own families and can't support themselves.

To encourage and support female workers the society runs its own kindergarten and even offers reduced rates to some needy parents.

The Awal Kindergarten caters to about 100 youngsters, aged three to six.

Encourage

"One of our aims is to help working women go to work with a peaceful mind, knowing that someone is taking care of their children," said Ms Matar.

The society offers a wide range of activities to help women become financially independent.

One of these is the distribution of MicroStart loans. This scheme, financed by the government and the United Nations Development Programme, provides would-be entrepreneurs with small loans to help them establish their projects in a wide variety of fields.

Although it is open to both men and women, the majority of the recipients are female.

The Al Naqda project was established in the 1990s to train young women in the traditional embroidery technique.

This has saved the handicraft from dying out and also offered participants a valuable income. "This is one of the most famous handicrafts in Bahrain and the women are real artisans," she said.

"The participants work at the Craft Centre in Manama and at home and their products are on sale in the centre."

However, the hospitality project has been the society's most talked about venture.

"We were thinking of how to change the attitude of women and the community to the hospitality industry," said Ms Matar.

"Everyone said that Bahrainis wouldn't agree to serve at social occasions such as weddings, because they were very shy and this kind of work was beneath them.

"Some Bahraini families were reluctant to hire them because they thought that Bahraini staff would spread gossip from the event.

"But years ago, before all this economic and social change, people didn't look down on this kind of work.

"We accepted the challenge and at the beginning people were astonished to see Bahrainis serving them coffee but it has been very successful.

"Demand sometimes outstrips supply.

"We started with 10 women. Now we have 40!"

The staff have been given professional training, taught how to read and write when necessary and given uniforms.

The service is available round the clock and a 24-hour telephone line is available for emergencies.

"For example, if someone has had a death in the family and needs two women to provide hospitality, they can call in the middle of the night," said Ms Matar.

The next step is to set up the elderly and child-care projects, offering trained Bahrainis to look after clients in their own homes.

The only stumbling block is finance, as the society estimates the costs of training women and providing them with transport, uniforms and other necessities to be BD56,000 for each project.

Members are already encountering scepticism about the plan, but they insist that not only will Bahraini women be prepared to offer the service, but there is also a demand.

"People have said that we will fail, they have said that Bahrainis won't do this, but we want to prove them wrong," said Ms Matar.

"They said that about the hospitality service and now people are proud that the women are working and supporting themselves in decent jobs.

Training is crucial to offering a professional service which people will trust.

Once this is in place, it will provide a desirable alternative to hiring foreign help. "If you are going to ask someone to look after your elderly family member, or your children when you go out, they need to be educated, aware of health issues and good company," she said. The society is always open to new members and prides itself on its official membership of 250 women at a time when so many clubs and societies are operating.