Qatari Women’s Navigation of the Workspace: Between the Domestic and the Public

Qatar is a rapidly developing modern state in the Arab world. The country took a significant initiative of streamlining its women in the national labor force by including this agenda in Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030). Accordingly, Qatar began the process of policy reforms and initiated project-based measures to ensure equal opportunities for women at work. Besides, Qatari women are eligible enough with higher academic degrees and outnumber Qatari men. However, recent statistics show less presence of Qatari women in the workforce and leadership positions despite their eligibility and organizational policy reforms. Hence this thesis aims to demystify the gap through a gendered space model using the feminist geographic lens. By going beyond a simplistic cultural essentialist explanation, the thesis proves that the prevalent patriarchal structure in Qatar fosters sexual division and manipulation in the professional sectors through social factors such as family, marriage, labor migration, rapid modernization etc. Those factors uphold the concept of confining women to the domestic sphere and men to the public one by restricting women's mobility. This thesis refers to that concept as gendered space, which is one of the vital constraints for Qatari women to respond to the national call for the workforce engagement. Also, the concept of bargaining with patriarchy helps clarify Qatari women's strategy of coping with those factors. In the end, suggestive measures are discussed further to develop Qatari women's engagement in the labor force.