RUW CONFERENCE ON WOMEN AND SOCIETY

Royal University for Women

Kingdom of Bahrain

18-19 April 2018

Women are contributors to nation building, the economic sector and community life. However, throughout the world women are under-represented in the majority of employment sectors. Most often, women are paid less than men and fewer reach top positions. The gender gap is not only disadvantaging women themselves; it also has an adverse effect on economies, communities and families. Education is one of the most significant factors for enabling the progression and advancement of women. Higher education institutions must increase their efforts in order to enhance further developments.

Royal University for Women (RUW) is the first private HEC accredited, purpose-built, international university in the Kingdom of Bahrain that is dedicated solely to educating women. RUW held a very successful Conference on Women and Society in April 2016 where more than 45 research papers were presented by participants from over 15 countries. Student poster presentations were a highlight of the event and served to stimulate a research culture among the region’s youth. In 2018, RUW will partner with Gulf Education and GCL to host a conference with the theme of ‘Empowering Women through Higher Education’, which aims to highlight the opportunities for, and challenges women face in higher education. The goal is to discover and share additional methods universities might deploy in order to generate outstanding overall improvement for women in higher education.

The conference will comprise a combination of high official keynote speakers, including but not limited to ministry officials, university leaders and experts/organisations concerned with improving provision for women, as well as workshops, academic paper presentations and student poster presentations. Those not able to attend may still benefit from the conference through the published proceedings and research contributions. Networking opportunities will multiply the impact of the conference. Participants can continue to liaise long after the event and reforms resulting from it can be shared so as to multiply their impact.