Qatar women launch start-ups despite constraints
Women in Qatar are increasingly defying social constraints and joining the workforce in the booming energy-rich country that offers support for new enterprises and encourages start-ups by university graduates.
They benefit from a national “Qatarisation” programme, which aims to increase the number of working citizens by guaranteeing them jobs and high wages in industry and government departments.
Maryam al-Subaiey, 28, started her own company Q-Talent, which sells items ‘Made in Qatar’.
“I was the director of programmes and creation at Qatar TV,” she told AFP. “Before that, I worked in marketing and the ministry of foreign affairs and started several youth initiatives. I reached a point in my life where I wanted to create something that was my own.”
At Carnegie Mellon University in Doha, Qatari women are four times more likely to join the business programme than their male peers, said Selma Limam Mansar, associate dean for education.
Caroline Carpentier, author of “Qatar Success Stories — Inspiring Women”, studied the situation of women in all fields and came up with a series of portraits in her book.
“The older generations have paved the way for younger ones,” she said, adding that it’s also a young country where opportunities exist and new businesses are well-supported.
Qatar has a favourable economic environment, with a current GDP growth rate of 6.5%, predicted to reach 8% by 2017.
Former first lady Sheikha Moza bint Nasser al-Misnad has played a major role in paving way for women in the Gulf emirate. The mother of the emir, Sheikh Tamim, she chairs the Qatar Foundation, specialising in education and culture, and runs ‘Education City’ and ‘Science and Technology Park’ in Doha.
Young Qataris are increasingly invited to participate in the construction and promotion of their state, where multi-billion dollar massive infrastructure projects are being carried out in preparation for hosting the 2022 football World Cup.
Foreigners, the vast majority of whom are men unaccompanied by any family, make up almost 90 percent of the country’s estimated 2.3 million population. Yet there are 585,000 women in Qatar, the highest figure ever recorded.
