Status of women in Qatar, host of World Cup 2022
Women in Qatar have been active in politics and society since the founding of the republic in 1971. Today, women hold more than 10% of the parliamentary seats and 40% of senior government posts, and are in the majority in the majority in the executive branch. They constitute one of the main forces behind efforts to encourage women in politics, and have been credited with having a key role in steering the country into the FIFA World Cup.
Legal status of women
Qatari laws on women are derived as far back as the 1973 constitution. Article 2 of the constitution, as amended in 2002, says: “men and women shall equally enjoy the rights and the protections and shall have equal duties as citizens.”
Article 8 of the constitution further states that every citizen shall enjoy equality before the law before the courts and the administration, and shall be protected equally from injury by any person.
In 2005, Qatar had the highest female participation in national elections in the Gulf Cooperation Council. Women were also the lead sponsors of the country’s first national charter on equality and women’s rights in 1995.
Qatar has ratified all the UN Conventions, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Protocol I of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
Gender equality in education
In 2012, in Qatar, about one third of girls in primary and secondary schools were not in an education club program. In 2016, the figure had increased to nearly one quarter, with over half of students having at least one parent and sometimes both parents that are educated and have completed secondary education. Qatar also had the highest female enrollment rate in the Middle East, with 23% of all students being female at the time of the 2011 census. While the percentage is not significantly higher than the United Arab Emirates, or the UAE, or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it is a large leap from where Qatar stood at the time of the Arab Spring. In 2016, Qatar also had the highest female enrollment rate in the Arab world, with over half (52%) of the total population being female. This is also a significant jump from where Qatar sat at the time of the Arab Spring. The number of females in the workforce is also significantly higher at 25.2% versus 17.3% for males. Qatar’s youth are also more educated than the Arab world