On a lighter note, all three agree that sometimes women's rights have been taken too far, such as when it came to making provision for the nursing and feeding of babies. The law for civil servants was amended to allow mothers two hours' feeding time a day during work hours for the first two years of the child's life, which they concede is excessive. Women are better integrated in Bahraini business life than in politics, but with nine women candidates definitely standing in the November election, and possibly up to 20, it is generally agreed by the delegates that one or two should get in.

The left-wing journalist and author, Sameera Rajab, also a member of the Shura, does not echo the upbeat tone of her female colleagues. "My colleagues in the Shura speak diplomatically," she remarks, adding that women will not be integrated into parliament in the face of Islamist conservatism. The cost of running a political campaign, she says, is prohibitive for women. The cost — well over £100,000 — must be footed by the candidate, not by a political party, or society as parties are known in Bahrain. "It was disappointing for women when not a single female was elected in 2002 and the only woman elected in 2006 ran unopposed," she concludes.

Over dinner, she is openly critical of the kingdom. The last 30 years have not, in her view, been good for women in Bahrain. She blames the malign influence of the Iranian revolution and the rise of militant Islam since 1979. Using her own family as an example she says her mother's generation and her own youth were "very liberal" in Bahrain, but that her daughter, now in her twenties, has enjoyed no such experience: "Before 1979, no woman wore the hijab in Bahrain. Now 85 per cent of females wear it, even nine-year-old girls in school. My daughter can't wear freely what she likes, or go where she wants, because of strong social pressure."

There is, however, no sign of the hijab adorning Shaikha Mai bint Muhammad al-Khalifa's person. The glamorous Culture and Information Minister goes about her job in three-inch heels. She is a woman in a hurry and has several ambitious schemes to beef up Bahrain's tourist industry, such as her bid to have its pearl-diving traditions listed as a Unesco world heritage site. Her influence as a female role model is demonstrated by her nomination by Forbes magazine as one of the "50 Strongest Arab Women". 

Even as more opportunities in the workplace open up to women in Bahrain, though, there is a paradox: women are still reluctant to vote for one another. It is demonstrated by the attitude of Hadija, my taxi driver. When I asked her what her ambitions were, Hadija said that she wanted to own her own taxi company. But would she ever vote for a woman? "No!" The idea of women showing political, as opposed to personal, solidarity with each other evidently still takes some getting used to.

While female emancipation in Bahrain has evidently only just begun, it is hard to see the process being reversed any time soon. The big question raised by this remarkable experiment in the heart of the Arab world is: when will the neighbouring Kingdom of Saudi Arabia dare to follow Bahrain's example?