Qatar
Population size and demographic: 3 million. 25.04% of the population is female and 74.96% is male.
Women at Work:
In 2021, women’s labour force participation stood at 57.2% (1). The unemployment rate for women aged 15 and older was 0.5% in Qatar (2). Women have a strong appearance in the social and natural sciences sector, with 45% of employed women working in this industry (3). About 14.9% of legislators, senior officials and managers are women and 22.2% of professional and technical workers are women (4). In 2018, 12.6% of businesses were owned by women (6). Qatar ranks 132 out of 153 countries when it comes to economic participation and opportunity for women in the Gender Gap Report of 2020 (4).
Women’s Participation in Parliament:
When it comes to political empowerment, Qatar ranked 143 out of 153 in 2020, with 9.8% of seats in parliament being held by women (4). In 2021, the number dropped to 4.4%, meaning that out of the 45 members, only 2 are women (5). Women were given the right to vote in Qatar in 1999 and by 2015, only 2 women had ever been elected for the parliament (6). About 7.1% of all ministerial positions were held by women (4).
Violence against Women:
Not a lot of data is available when it comes to violence against women in Qatar, but the child marriage rate is 4.2% (7). There is no specific law or regulations in place to protect women from violence in Qatar (8). In a 2009 study with 2787 participants, 23% of women answered ‘Yes’ or ‘To some extent’ when asked if they had ever been subjected to violence. The most common form of violence reported was beating, with 64% of those subjected to violence having been beaten. About 14% of the women who had experienced violence had been subject to sexual harassment, and half had been raped. More than half of the participants said ‘Yes’ or ‘To some extent’ when asked if they’d ever suffered from violence during childhood. When asked about the perpetrators, 39% of participants stated their brothers as the offenders, and 38% answered their fathers. (10)
Health:
Healthy life expectancy for women in Qatar is 68.4 years. The maternal mortality rate sits at 9 deaths per 100,000 (4) live births and the adolescent fertility rate sits at 9 per 1000 girls aged 15 to 19 who give birth in Qatar (9). In Qatar 100% of births are attended by skilled personnel and 84.5% of women aged 15 to 49 receive antenatal care of at least four visits.
Education:
The literacy rate among Qatari women is 94.7%, compared to 93.1% for men. Enrolment in primary education sits at 95.2% for women, with 91.8% of girls enrolled in secondary education and enrolment in tertiary education drops to 54.9%, with an astounding difference between women and men, whose enrolment rate sits at 7%. Qatar ranks 83 out of 153 countries when it comes to educational attainment for women. (4)
Current Law and Policy:
Qatar has committed to reducing domestic
violence,[2] adhering to international protocols and strengthening its services.
The State of Qatar commits to implement international protocols on combating violence against women and human trafficking, align national legislation to adhere to CEDAW and other international conventions, and take specific measures to combat domestic violence. In addition to the effort made to increase public awareness about women's rights and their protection from violence, the Qatar National Vision 2030 includes under its umbrella a host of future activities aimed to develop a sound social structure based on effective State institutions and active civil society organizations and, under the intermediate output of
the relevant national strategy, to reduce domestic violence and establish a system for the protection of survivors.
The Family Cohesion and Empowerment of Women Strategy includes implementation of the following measures: adoption of legislation criminalizing domestic violence through a penal code and a penal sanctions system; development and adoption of
legal mechanism for the protection of informants and survivors on violence cases; adoption of a follow-up mechanism in coordination with the police to protect victims and creation of centres/units for providing protection services; consolidation and revision of data on violence and incorporating the definition of violence against women; launching a programme on gender-based violence and setting up an official reporting and monitoring mechanism; launching an outreach campaign on domestic violence; creating special units, a hotline service and a family-friendly police system; building appropriate safe
houses for victims of violence and continue to support programmes to rehabilitate and reintegrate violence survivors into the society.
The Government of Qatar has also established a Committee in the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in December 2012 to review and develop relevant legislation on domestic violence. The Comprehensive Strategy for the Family has identified future programmes and projects to include review of legislations that govern unauthorized marriages and establish a mechanism to
facilitate, by authorization from a judge, marriage of women forbidden from doing so by their parents. The 2011-2014 Strategic Plan of the National Human Rights Committee addresses also the implementation of many activities related
to increasing awareness about human rights of various groups, including: marking of international human rights occasions by organizing special events; development of publications and outreach materials targeting select groups on
managing and protecting rights; launching of three public information campaigns about the most vulnerable groups to violation, including women; organizing trainings on CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; conducting a national survey to identify human rights needs of
state bodies and civil society organizations; organizing training sessions to build capacity of human rights and public freedoms organizations; and identifying a mechanism to monitor conditions of the most vulnerable groups to violations.
Frontline Services:
· Qatar Charity - https://www.qcharity.org/en/qa - info@qcharity.org
· Qatar Professional Women's Network - https://qpwn.org
Sources:
(1) https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.CACT.FE.ZS?locations=QA
(2) https://data.unwomen.org/country/qatar
(3) https://qatarofw.com/women-employment-in-qatar/
(4) https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2020.pdf
(5) https://data.ipu.org/content/qatar?chamber_id=13576
(6) https://www.expatica.com/qa/living/gov-law-admin/womens-rights-in-qatar-70967/#Political
(7) https://evaw-global-database.unwomen.org/fr/countries/asia/qatar
(9) https://genderdata.worldbank.org/countries/qatar
(10)https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236773739_Violence_Against_Women_in_Qatari_Society