A two-tier education system
Completely free of charge, as well as textbooks and transportation, schooling for Qatari children takes twelve years of life, in three successive cycles: six years of primary, three years of secondary and three years of tertiary. The first school was opened in 1952, in the wake of the oil boom. In 1973, the College of Education was launched, a forerunner of the 1977 university. Today, more than 500 schools cater to children in free public schools. But as the country's wealth increased, so did the fashion for foreign private institutions, which today attract the wealthiest youth from the most liberal homes. Education City is a pioneer in the development of prestigious universities. But the UN recalled in 2019 that the high cost of schools in Qatar prevented the children of migrant workers from studying. Of 2.75 million residents, 90% are foreigners. The UN rapporteur on the right to education Koumbou Boly Barry said in a conference that "the charges in these schools can reach levels that are impossible for these families to sustain." The UN estimates that 4,000 migrant children would not be able to afford the costs of the university as a result
Women, rare in the world of work
Although women are achieving high levels of education, gender parity in the workplace is far from being achieved in Qatar. Women account for only 20% of the workforce and are mostly confined to jobs in the public sector, banking and telecommunications. The emblematic role played by Sheikha Mozah, the mother of the current Emir Tamim ben Hamad, a figure of power, beauty and a certain independence of spirit, is noteworthy. Female role models are becoming more and more common, and one might think that the example of working expatriate women will encourage a change in mentality in a country where patriarchy still largely prevails.
In everyday life, women wear the black scarf called shielah, khemaar or hijab, with or without a face. Her black tunic, the abaya, is sometimes decorated with silver threads and colored beads on the sleeves. The glasses in headband to the handbag, through the high heels, bear the label of the great French or Italian houses. A friend of madam, of very conservative education, adopted the Saudi style: she thus wears the niqab leaving only the band of the eyes visible. Madame and her friend, with the rhythmic step of their Louboutin stilettos, bathed in Guerlain, the Vendôme place in saltire and generously made up, give off an elegance under their apparent rigor. The foreigners wear their usual clothes, always "gentle", no miniskirt, no cleavage and no navel in the air, of course. Only the clubs welcome expats and tourists in sexy sequined dresses.
Polygamy is widespread
Polygamy is allowed in Qatar according to Muslim criteria, i.e. provided that the husband has enough resources to ensure the material comfort of all his wives. This is not very difficult for Qataris covered with riyals. The Qur'an allows any Muslim to take up to four legitimate wives. Mixed marriages are also permitted under Islamic law: a Muslim may marry a woman of another faith, provided that their children are raised in the father's religion. On the other hand, a non-Muslim must convert in order to marry a Muslim woman. The law heavily punishes those who do not respect these principles. Traditionally, it is the family of the young man who chooses a wife for him, among the young girls of his acquaintance whom they consider worthy of marriage. However, morals are changing and more and more often young people have a say in these arranged marriages
African heritage linked to slavery
The situation of Africans in Qatar raises a number of questions. In a census carried out at the beginning of the 20th century, the geographer Lorimer counted 4,000 black slaves and 2,000 freed blacks out of 12,545 inhabitants. They came from the trading posts of Zanzibar and the Swahili coast in majority; to populate the cities of Doha and Al Wakra. Blacks would have represented half of the total population of the two main cities of Qatar! The abolition of slavery was instituted in 1952. Opposition from the masters was so strong that the ruler at the time, Sheikh Ali bin Abdalla Al Thânî, had to offer them financial compensation. Today, former slaves enjoy the status of "Qatari", unlike the descendants of Egyptian or Turkish immigrants who have been in Qatar for three generations. This intrinsic history of the country is now told in detail at the Msheireb Museum, with a well-documented exhibition on slavery
Qatar has carried out a vast reform of the labour market to improve the conditions of immigrant workers, which has been under fire for many years, as have its Gulf neighbors, and has been in the spotlight since the launch of the pharaonic projects dedicated to the FIFA 2022 World Cup. First of all, the abolition of the kafala: a system that was in force in all the countries of the Persian Gulf, except Bahrain. Passport confiscated, salary and hours imposed, dismissal without notice, authorization of the boss to have an exit visa... Qatar has been especially criticized because thousands of workers, especially from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, have died on the construction sites of the stadiums. The country, which does not want to tarnish its reputation, decided in 2017 to impose a law regulating the working hours of domestic workers, also decided to create special courts and set up a fund to support the payment of unpaid wages.... But all this remains theoretical. In August 2020, Qatar passed two laws that should allow any worker to be able to leave the country and change jobs without their employer's permission. But according to a report by the NGO Amnesty International in 2021, these laws are not sufficiently enforced
