Divorce: The Narratives of Qatari Women

This research focuses on the lived experiences of marriage and divorce of four Qatari women, by using the theory of 'continuum of violence' (Liz Kelly, 1987) to trace how the various forms of violence (structural and cultural) are manifested in the legal and social realm. I centre the narratives presented by my interviewees while also trying to understand their experiences as part of wider system and structures. I use a qualitative feminist methodology where I conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews. What has emerged in the course of my analysis is a picture of the family unit as an everyday regulator of gender dominance, while the state gets involved when the family’s ability to regulate and control women begins to fail. This points to several problems in Qatari law that show a clear bias against women that is not only doctrinal, but practical in nature. Examining the experiences of my four participants, it is clear that the continuum of violence operates on multiple complex levels and connects physical violence to the ideas which support it, as well as the patriarchal structures of the family and the state.