14 research outputs found
The Patriarchal Bargain in a Context of Rapid Changes to Normative Gender Roles: Young Arab Womenâs Role Conflict in Qatar
Social norms in patriarchal countries in the Middle East are changing at differing rates. In Qatar, expectations about education have shifted, and womenâs participation in higher education is normative. However, womenâs participation in the workforce remains relatively low, and women still are expected to perform all household and child-rearing activities. Interviews with 27 18â25Â year-old Qatari women enrolled in college in Qatar are used to illustrate the conflict between norms about education, workforce, and family. Many young women resolve this normative conflict by giving preference to family over work and education. Other women hold conflicting norms and goals for their future without acknowledging the normative conflict. Overall, young women in this sample feared divorce, were uncertain about customary family safety nets, and thus desired financial independence so they would be able to support themselves if they were left alone later in life due to divorce, or the death of their husband. The Qatari government should revisit the appropriateness of continuing to emphasize the patriarchal family structure and socially conservative family norms, if they desire to advance women in their society
Soft power and soft disempowerment: Qatar, global sport and footballâs 2022 World Cup finals
This paper examines the critical role of global sport within Qatarâs international strategy, most notably through the successful bid to stage the 2022 football World Cup. Our discussion draws particularly on interviews with key stakeholders in the Qatari sport system, as well as fieldwork in Qatar and the analysis of relevant documents and secondary materials. The paper is separated into five main parts. First, we set out our theoretical framework, which draws on the concepts of globalization and soft power; to assist in the analysis of Qatarâs engagement with global sport, we introduce the two further concepts of âglocal consciousnessâ and âsoft disempowermentâ. Second, we provide the reader with background information on Qatar and Qatari sport. Third, we discuss three key themes that emerged mainly from our interviews on Qatar and global sport: exhibiting Qatarâs supremacies as a microstate; the pursuit of peace, security and integrity; and confronting national health crises. Fourth, we explore issues of soft disempowerment and reputational risk with regard to these three themes and, in particular, critical international comment surrounding Qatarâs hosting of the 2022 World Cup. Fifth, we conclude by arguing that Qatarâs soft disempowerment, although damaging in the short term, leaves the door open for the state to respond in a positive manner, regenerating its soft power capabilities in the process
Use of DPSIR Framework to Analyze Water Resources in Qatar and Overview of Reverse Osmosis as an Environment Friendly Technology
Qatar and other countries of Gulf Cooperation Council are among the most water scarce countries in the world and are being characterized as âhighâwater riskâ countries by Water Resource Institute. Therefore, it is important to implement sustainable water resource management that encompass economic, societal, and environmental aspects. In this review article, the DriverâPressureâStateâImpactâResponse framework was used to analyze the water resource system in Qatar in terms of drivers, pressures, change in state, impacts, and responses. It was noted that both economic and population growth together with unsustainable water consumption are major driving forces that are pressurizing the Qatar's water resources (desalinated seawater and renewable groundwater). Currently, desalination plants using MultiâStage Flash (MSF) techniques are predominantly being used to meet the rising water demands. However, widespread use of MSF techniques poses several environmental and economic impacts. Therefore, in addition to other management and corrective measures, reverse osmosis (RO) technique has also been suggested to be utilized in desalination industry as a âresponseâ to mitigate those impacts. Since, the performance of RO is mainly affected by biofouling and mineral scaling, the paper also highlights the recent materials (polymers and nanoâmaterials) used to tackle these problems. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 38:e13081, 2019This publication was made possible by NPRP grant no. [9-318-1-064] from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The findings achieved herein are solely the responsibility of the author[s].Scopu