Parliamentary panel supports new right for Bahraini women

A parliamentary committee has endorsed a move by a lawmaker to include Bahraini women married with foreigners in all royal benefits accorded to Bahraini families. The Bahraini women must be living in Bahrain with her husband in order to benefit from benefits extended otherwise exclusively to Bahraini families, the Women and children's affairs committee said. Under current citizenship laws, Bahraini women married to foreigners cannot transfer their nationality to their children. Activists have been pushing for the amendment of the laws to allow children to receive education and health benefits enjoyed by Bahraini children. Although women in Bahrain have obtained several political, social and economic rights, the inability to transfer their nationality to their children remains a sensitive issue that the Supreme Council for women, the official body in charge of elevating the status of women in the country, and several NGOs have been raising.