In Bahrain where the economic and political reforms started to take place in the year 2000, the issue of women's empowerment was taken with noticeable and increased consideration by both the government and civil institutions. Along with the issuance of National Charter and the constitutional amendments, women thrived to develop their social, political, and legal status through participation in national elections and taking part in legislative and decision-making processes. Placing women at the centre of the analysis by utilising a mixed methodology of qualitative and quantitative techniques, this research investigates the perceptions of women towards the determinants of their empowerment in general and to their legal status in particular, where the codification of family law represents an intense controversy that divides Bahraini society especially the women on this matter. Educational means of empowerment appear to have a limited role on the participants' empowerment. There is still lack of awareness, interest and also self-value of participation in public particularly the political and legal spheres due to educational constrains, cultural upbringing and male interpretation to some of the Islamic teachings. One of the manifestations of the controversy over the codification of family law is that women split between the perception that it represents a factor of their enablement and between the perception that it represents a violation of Islamic Sharia and tendency towards Western and secular notions in regard with women's and family's status in a Muslim society. How women perceive the codification of family law as a determinant of their empowerment and therefore their social, legal and political empowerment is so crucial in the whole process of understanding women's and the state's efforts to improve their status, increase their influence in power relations. and increase their agency in the conservative and diverse religious and political orientations in the Bahraini society.