There were nearly twice as many female students enrolled in universities in Qatar in 2012 as males, and nearly two-thirds of all graduates were women, according to official figures recently released by the Ministry of Development, Planning and Statistics.
But while expat and Qatari females are still more likely to enroll in and graduate with university degrees here, their male counterparts still outperform them when it comes to success in business.
The latest edition of the ministry’s biennial report, Qatar Social Statistics 2003-2012, charts statistical trends in Qatar over the past decade.
Figures show that more than 17,000 expat and Qatari students were enrolled in courses across 14 public and private universities in Qatar. Some 11,247 were females, and 6,019 were males.
These figures are more than double the number of university students in 2003, when just 8,145 people were pursuing higher education. However, the number of universities and expats in the country has grown significantly since then.
The report also shows that women accounted for 60 percent of all university graduates in the country.
It added that “female students tended to complete their education, unlike male students, who often entered the labor force right after high school.”
Qatar’s National Development Strategy 2011-16 highlights the need for more men to further their education, and to incentivize the private sector to bring more Qataris on board.
International scholarships
When it comes to furthering their education, female Qatari students were much more likely to remain here than to take up overseas opportunities, reflecting national customs and traditions.
A total of 370 university students were awarded international scholarships in 2011-12 – with 80 percent of these (295) going to male students and just 20 percent (75) taken up by female students.
Management and economics was the most popular field of study for those international scholarship students, with 183 of them choosing it for further study. This was followed by arts and science (82 students) and engineering for 67 students.
While the report doesn’t give figures for the number of Qatar-based scholarships, it does note that “female students were more interested in getting local scholarships rather than overseas ones.”
Women in the workforce
Despite the number of female graduates, Qatari men are still more likely to get ahead in the workplace.
Of 70,000 national employees who received training in national and private institutions, 58 percent of them were men and 42 percent women – although Qatari women were more likely to receive training than Qatari men (26 percent, compared to 20 percent of the total number of people trained).
And Qatari women made up one-third (33 percent) of the total number of Qatari project and business managers in government and private corporations.
In 2012, the vast majority of Qataris preferred to work in the public sector, with Qatar nationals comprising just 0.8 percent of the private sector work force, the report states. The breakdown includes:
- That 71 percent of employed Qataris worked in government departments. Of those, 67 percent were male. Meanwhile, 13 percent of the employed Qatari workforce worked for government corporations and companies. Of those, 70 percent were male.
- The gender gap is less pronounced in the private sector. Some 43 percent of the total number of Qatari employees were national women, and 57 percent were Qatari men.
- Of the total number of working Qatari women in 2012, the majority (51 percent) were employed in clerical jobs, the report noted.
- The legal world in Qatar remains male dominated, with female trainee lawyers comprising 12.5 percent of the total number of Qatari lawyers under training in 2012.
- Women are taking more senior legal positions, but there are only two female Qatari judges, and only 13.7 percent of the total number of Qatari lawyers are women.
However, the number of Qatari women employed in what the report classifies as “economic activities” – including industries such as mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity and water, construction, retail trade and personal goods services – has risen in recent years.
In 2001, just 3.6 percent of the total number of working Qatari women were employed in this sector. In 2012, this percentage had almost tripled, to 9.1 percent.
Thoughts?
Unless there is evidence males are continuing their education abroad this could be a major long term problem for Qatar.
Many men are studying abroad, most women prefer to study here.
All men work after graduating, some women chose to stay at home.
Many men prefer to work in the military or police, they don’t feel the need to study.
All of these factors ignored in the “numbers”.
Im a policeman in Australia, on a break here whilst my wife fulfils a contract. I have an Advanced Dip, Bachelor Degree, A Grad Certificate and in September a Masters Degree, followed by another Grad Cert in Feb. If Qatar wants a modern police service with responsible leaders and managers perhaps they need some educated ‘men’ amongst them. Maybe then, just maybe the death and injuries on the road would be addressed???? No excuse not to be educated just because you choose a police or military career. In fact Qatari citizens should expect that the police service executive ranks are tertiary qualified at a Masters level.
Have you ever tried explaining to people here that in some countries builders posses post-secondary qualifications? There is a general sense that you can hand an illiterate person a hammer and a saw and all of a sudden he’ll become a quality builder.
Yep, its an amazing thing here, the quality of finish is terrible. To be a builder back home one has to finish a 4 year apprenticeship and also study and gain a Diploma on top of it on Building project Management then be registered with the professional body. Here its like…heres a hammer son now your a builder.
Traditionally in many countries policing has been seen as a working-class trade, not a profession, with educational expectations to match. It remains that way in much of the world – in many American states the amount of education required to become a police officer is the same as that to be a hair dresser. In Qatar you will still encounter educators saying things like “Yeah, he failed grade 12, but he only wants to be a policeman, so it doesn’t matter”. Not saying it is desirable, just the way it is.
Yes I agree. Thats what it was when i joined in Australia 20 something years ago. A trade or police or military, I went bricklaying then joined the police. Things are turning around now to get in to the NSW police one has to have minimum a Bachelor Degree. To join the Australian Federal Police, same, Bachelor.
Then you get places where they don’t hire people with too much education because they feel that those new recruits quit at higher rate, get bored, take jobs that don’t require so much shift work, etc, etc. Seems that policing can’t win for trying.
I know many who are studying to get/got degrees through the army or police, I don’t think they provide the statistics to other departments. Many only start thinking about studying when they feel they reached a ceiling, others go studying immediately after joining the forces.
Great news then. It can only better the end service and delivery. Thanks for the insight. Actually I now recall reading somewhere that the Qatar Police where going to introduce a Bachelor Degree program for recruits, so my mistake, it is in the pipeline I believe. 🙂
Yes, most Qatari men are able to secure good-paying jobs working in government-related areas, so there is less incentive for education. I cannot recall the numbers, but the vast majority of Qatari who work in the private sector are women.
Very few Qatari women study abroad due to family and social expectations.
According to the Qatar National Development Strategy (link above) pages 139-140, gross enrollment ratio of Qataris in higher education (at the time the data was collected) was 28% for men, and 54% for women. The government has set a target to increase these ratios to at least 30% for men and 56% for women. There’s no denying that there is a large gender imbalance in tertiary education enrollment in Qatar, and the problem is compounded by the reality that more males drop out of study than females, and don’t ever complete their degree. (Refer to the Qatar Social Statistics study for more info http://www.qsa.gov.qa/eng/publication/Social_publications/QatarSocialStatistics/QatarSocialStatistics-2003-2012-Pub-May-2014-Eng.pdf )
please do a survey about the average work hours
Set by law:
– Public sector: “7 hours”.
– Private sector: 8 hours.
oops. lemme rephrase that … please do a survey about the A C T U A L average weekly work hours (including paid / unpaid overtime) of locals,westerners and expats in the region both in the government and private sectors (per industry)& (gender)(per position). . .
My wife works an average 10 hours a day. Ill tell her to stop breaking the law and work the 7 set down. She is a naughty girl.
People lie in surveys. 🙂 What can one do with this survey? it’s useless.
I don’t get overtime (“exempt” is the actual term used), I work at least 8-9 hours a day in the office, I also work from home, or wherever I go.
I work during vacations.
Local, Private “IOC” 😉
Its the same the world over isnt it. 8 hour days are really 10 or 12. What can we all do? Not much really!
I suggest along with mandatory military service, education should be mandatory as well. The Government should provide incentives for those atleast seeking an undergraduate degree rather than giving out benefits irrelevant of their merits…
It does in the sense that Qataris with degrees are assured better jobs in the civil service or the semi-private sector. Their education is also typically free.
well done ladies, put it to good use
Well done to these women! A great example to the rest of the world.