Women in Qatar
Women in Qatar experience certain forms of discrimination, including being subjected to the country's male guardianship law. Qatar is the only remaining country in the Gulf region which continues to require male guardianship for women's travel. Women in Qatar were enfranchised at the same time as men. Labour force participation rates of Qatari women are above the world average and among the highest in the Arab World, which comes mainly as a result of an increasing number of Qatari women who are attaining academic degrees.
There is limited mixing between the sexes, and in public settings Qatari women are largely expected to wear traditional clothing, which typically consists of an abaya and shayla, both of which partially conceal their appearance. Mouza Al Malki, a psychologist, claims that gender separation is influenced more by cultural factors than religious factors. Women in Qatar must obtain permission from their male guardians to marry, to study abroad on government scholarships, to work in many government jobs, to travel abroad until certain ages, to receive some forms of reproductive health care and to act as a child's primary guardian, even when they are divorced and have legal custody. Women in Qatar are also subjected to various traditional practices, including FGM, although this has declined in recent years.
History
Prior to the establishment of an urban society, Qatar was used as rangeland for nomadic tribes from the Najd and al-Hasa regions of Saudi Arabia. In Bedouin society, women were responsible for buying and selling goods on behalf of their tribe. Women often had to assume positions of decision-making within their tribe when men left their families for long stretches of time to participate in pearl hunting trips or to act as merchants.They were separated from men within their own quarters in the tent or house. Education was regarded as unimportant and scarcely available for the majority of women in Bedouin tradition. On the other hand, children in urban areas were taught the Quran until the age of ten, after which the family would celebrate al khatma, the end of memorizing the Quran.
Industrial era
After the country began reaping the financial benefits of oil drilling operations in the 1950s and 1960s, an increasing number of women began receiving formal education. Kuwaiti journalist Hidayat Sultan Al Salem wrote of Qatari women's role in 1968:There was a marked increase of women in the workforce during the early seventies.
Education
When the Qatari government established the Khalid Bin El Walid Boys School in 1951, a woman named Amna Mahmoud Al-Jaidah requested that the government open another school for girls. Her request was denied due to Qatari society heavily opposing the idea of girls learning to read and write. Despite the backlash, Amna Mahmoud created her own impromptu school within her house to educate the girls who would attend. In 1953 the Qatari government formally recognized Amna Mahmoud's school, making her the first female Qatari teacher in the first Qatari school for girls.In 1957 after many changes, Amna Mahmoud's school became known as the Banat Al Doha Primary School and more than 100 female students were attending. Prior to the school's establishment, the only form of education that existed for women was religious education. A 1980–81 report by the Ministry of Education reported that there were 70 girls' schools, with 19,356 students, an increase from 50 female students in 1955.
The first university in Qatar was opened in 1973. It provided separate faculties for both men and women. Out of the 157 initial students, 103 of them were female. The ratio of female-to-male students remained steady over the proceeding years. Sheikha Abdulla Al-Misnad became the first female president of the university in 2003. Females accounted for more than 50% of the university's personnel in 2008. By 2012, there were almost twice as many female students enrolled in the university as there were males.
More than half of the Ministry of Education's employees are female. In 2008 it was reported that the growth rate in the number of female students had surpassed that of males in public schools. Rates of women attending private universities are also growing rapidly. At the Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, for instance, 57% of students are female. Previously male-dominated career paths such as engineering and information technology have been attracting more female participants in recent years. Roughly 40% of students of the Texas A&M University at Qatar, a university geared towards engineering, are women.
Most Qatari women view female education as important for a variety of reasons. Among the forefront of these is to protect themselves from divorce: many young Qatari women are concerned by the country's rising divorce rate, which has been increasing significantly for numerous years, and by about 70% since 2007. The earning of a degree is often perceived by women to be a method of ensuring that, in the event of a divorce, they'll be able to achieve financial self-reliance. Another reason is the growing female Qatari perception of education as a form of women's empowerment — it's viewed as an opportunity to prove their worth to society and to gain true independence for themselves.
Employment
In 2001, Qatar passed the Civil Service Act and Order No. 13 of the Council of Ministers, thereby creating a legal framework protecting of women's rights in the workforce. Another law was passed in 2002 which allowed women retirement benefits as well as granting monetary benefits to widows.According to 2014 statistics, there are upwards of 32,000 Qatari women who are employed. This was an increase of over 7,000 from three years earlier in 2011. One quarter of employed Qatari women work in the construction industry, 27% work in the information and technology industry and 45% are employed in social and natural sciences. Most Qatari women work in the public sector. Despite Qatar's female labor force participation rate being the highest in the Gulf Cooperation Council and higher than the world average, the proportion of Qatari women in the workforce still lags slightly behind that of developed countries. However, due to the increasing number of Qatari women attaining university degrees, Qatar's government predicts that employment rates for women will continue an upward trend.
While Qatari women has caught up with men in the public sector, they still lag behind in the private sector. In business, the higher paying jobs typically go to men and Qatar's finance industry is still male dominated. Qatari women do not yet participate in decision-making in fields such as politics, economics and, legislature. They do have decision-making power in certain civil service fields such as education and social affairs.
On 4 July 2022, MENAFN reported that Qatar adopted specific initiatives directed at promoting women's direct involvement in the labor market, in political participation and in decision-making positions. These policies came in the statement delivered by second secretary for the Human Rights Department at the Ministry of Foreign affairs Hissa Al Sulaiti at the 50th session of the Human Rights Council. Al Sulaiti added that Qatar has adopted relevant legislation in the field of protecting women from all manifestations of violence, and has also established specialized institutions such as the Aman center, which operates under Qatar Foundation.
Among the largest obstacles to employment are family obligations, a low number of job openings and inadequate proficiency in English. Societal views also negatively influenced the job opportunities for women, as certain conservative segments of the population consider it improper for women to work in the hospitality industry, as hotel workers and as actresses. Nonetheless, the majority of Qataris view female participation in the labor force as being positive.
Clothing and attire
Women and men are expected to dress in a manner that is modest, but the dress code is generally driven by social customs and is more relaxed in comparison to other nations in the region. Qatari women generally wear customary dresses that include "long black robes" known as abayahs and black head cover "hijab", locally called bo'shiya. Women may also use black scarf used for covering their heads known as the shayla in place of the bo'shiya.In recent years, the niqāb, a garment which covers the upper body and entire face excluding the eyes, has emerged as the most common way for a woman to shield her face. A burqa, an enveloping outer garment which fully covers the body and the face, is also sometimes worn.
Aside from the abaya, women may wear long dresses with floral designs while at home. In Bedouin society, women wore simple and plain dresses devoid of any designs and usually containing only a limited selection of colors, namely red, black, and indigo. A specific type of dress especially popular among Bedouin women is the daraa. This is a long gown with spacious sleeves. Threads of wool, cotton and apricot were used to embroider this dress.
During celebratory occasions and special events, the colorful and embroidered thawb al-nashal is worn by women. It is generally square in shape, made of silk and has vastly oversized sleeves. It comes in many colors, but vibrant shades of orange, red, green and black are common. Gold and silver zari threads are embroidered into the dress to form what are typically floral or geometric patterns. The daraa may be worn under it. Several other types of luxurious and ornate dresses were used on special occasions, including thawb mufahaha, thawb mujarah and thawb kurar.
Jewelry
, typically gold-adorned, is very commonly used by Qatari women during special occasions such as weddings. Other pieces of jewelry are designed to be used on a daily basis at home. Most jewelry worn by Qatari women are handmade, even after the rise in popularity of more cost-efficient manufactured jewelry.Earrings are common pieces of jewelry seen, varying in size from 10 cm to several millimeters. A popular practice involves affixing a short chain, called dalayah, to the earring with a pearl or precious gem attached to the bottom of the chain. Necklaces vary in length, with some being waist-length and others extending only to the top of the neck. Some are highly ornamental, having a pearl attached to the chain which is called maarah, while others use only simple beads. Perhaps the most common piece of jewelry is the mdhaed, or fine bracelets. More than one is typically worn, some times numbering to over a dozen. Other types of bracelets exist, the miltafah being two plaited cables, while others consist only of colored beads, with the occasional golden one. Rings are often worn multiple at a time, with a popular trend being to connect four rings, each to be worn on their corresponding finger, together with a chain, which may also be attached to the woman's bracelets, if worn.