The effect of education and work on women's position in Qatar

Abstract

After the discovery of oil in Qatar, modern education has expanded on a large scale. Access to education has provided opportunities for work, and has helped to change women's role and status. This thesis attempts to analyse the effect of education and work on women’s position in contemporary Qatari society. The thesis is organized in seven chapters. Chapter one describes the geographical and historical background and the structures of traditional and modern society. Chapter two is mainly concerned with women’s position and role in the Arab world in general. Chapter three discusses the general characteristics of a random sample of educated working women in Qatar and their family relationships. Chapter four is divided into two parts. The first part deals with education in Qatar in general with special attention given throughout to the education of women. The second part analyses the respondents’ opinions on effects of education on women's position. Chapter five is also divided into two parts. Firstly, the labour force is described and the problems of foreign labour are discussed. The second part analyses the respondents' attitudes towards women's work, its effect on the status of women and the problems facing working women. Chapter six discusses in detail the opinions of twelve pioneer women relating to some social and historical Issues. Chapter seven summarises the findings of the study and offers some suggestions for dealing with some of the problems which became evident.