DOHA: Qatari women and their evolving roles in personal and public domains were the subjects of two of seven papers from Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) presented at World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) regional conference at Qatar University (QU) this week.
The paper ‘Great Expectations: Women, Education and Marriage in Qatar,’ by NU-Q’s Mohana Rajakumar, won the Early Researcher Award at the conference, along with Co-author Tanya Kane, both NU-Q Adjunct Lecturers and Undergraduate Research Assistant Jessica Hammam.
The paper outlined how the current generation of Qatari females, many attending university and preparing for professional fields, are still expected to fulfil traditional gender roles as wives and mothers, and within the same timeframe as their mothers or grandmothers.
Qatari women was also the subject of an all-NU-Q panel session, chaired by Associate Dean of Research, Klaus Schoenbach.
Christina Paschyn, and Kirsten Pike from NU-Q presented the first results of a study showing that Majalis Al Hareem (women’s gatherings) can function as sites of political and social engagement for Qatari women.
The study found that 86 percent of Qatari women participate in majlis, and the type of majlis — neighbourhood, family, religious or social — is correlated with different levels and attitudes of civic engagement.
“This is eye-opening research,” said Dr Darwish Al Emadi, Director, Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI), Qatar University, which organised the conference.
“People often speak about the male majlis, but the focus on women’s majlis is original, and we at SESRI are thrilled to be facilitating this study.”
The paper is part of a larger collaborative study by NU-Q researchers Jocelyn Sage Mitchell, Tanya Kane, Christina Paschyn and Kirsten Pike and Justin J Gengler of SESRI and Sadia Mir of VCU Qatar, funded by Qatar National Research Fund.
“WAPOR is one of the most important venues for new research findings on public communication,” said Everette E Dennis, Dean and CEO, NU-Q.
“NU-Q’s presentations at the conference covered a breadth of topics, including entertainment use in the Middle East, methodological approaches to public opinion research, a qualitative comparison of cultural differences in media coverage and the role of social media.”
WAPOR holds regional and international conferences around the world, collaborating with top academic institutions. This is the first WAPOR conference in the Arab region. The Peninsula
