Bahrain Olympic Committee aims to advance gender equality through women’s sporting success

Members of the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC) have encouraged all National Federations to prioritise the growth of women’s representation in sport organisations and use innovative approaches to identify talent at all levels.

The BOC hosted the first-ever Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) Gender Equity Seminar where representatives from 42 NOC gathered in Manama, Bahrain, to discuss the challenges facing women in sport.

BOC Secretary General Faris Mustafa Al-Kooheji believes that the organisation is “heading in the right direction” to advance women’s participation in sport, both on and off the field of play, but emphasised that there is “still more to do”. He highlighted the BOC’s collaboration agreement with the Bahrain Swimming Federation to teach 10,000 children how to swim as an example of how it is possible to discover more talent.

ANOC Gender Equity Commission member and BOC Board member, Sheikha Hayat bint Abdulaziz Al Khalifa, believes that the potential of women’s sport in Asia is “limitless” and expressed her pride at staging the OCA Gender Equity Seminar.

“When I graduated from high school 20 years ago women’s football did not exist, whereas today, we have a youth national team, a senior team ranked second in the Arab world and we have systems in place. We are not just viewing it as a breakthrough or breaking barriers, but that we are here to stay,” said Sheikha Hayat.