A quarter of Qatari males interviewed in a survey on the role of the upcoming parliament said they believed women should not take up political career.
Interestingly, 19 per cent of women surveyed agreed with this viewpoint and said they would prefer to see their ilk to remain away from politics.
The survey was conducted by the Supreme Council for Family Affairs in conjunction with Qatar University and the findings were presented at a workshop on raising political awareness in Qatari society.
Some 40 per cent of the respondents believed that women were temperamentally not suited to politics. Fifty-four per cent said they would participate in the electoral process, while a minority 17 per cent said a straight no to participation.
Some 29 per cent said they would prefer to remain neutral while some others said there was no freedom of speech here.
Thirty-eight per cent of the interviewees said political awareness needed to be increased to encourage people’s participation in the political process, while 20 per cent said political training was required to raise the level of awareness.
Present at the workshop was Dr (Sheikh) Khalid Jabor Al Thani, from the Permanent Elections Committee at the Supreme Council, and Dr Kalthoom Al Ghanem from Qatar University.
Al Thani told Al Sharq on the sidelines of the workshop that a study was about to be completed by a consultancy on how to empower the entire Qatari community, and not just women.
Dr Hamed Al Marwani, Assistant Professor at Qatar University’s Shariah Faculty, said there was a need to empower women and encourage them to participate in the political process.
Al Ghanem said it was an irony that despite the fact that 70 per cent of university graduates were women, they remained marginalised in politics.
