Qatar Bolsters Women's Empowerment Across Sectors

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Joel Johnson | The Peninsula

Doha, Qatar: Qatar has built a strong pipeline of highly skilled women contributing across business, education, healthcare, technology and public service, while expanding their access to leadership and decision-making positions remains a key priority, according to the Managing Director for Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait at Great Place to Work Middle East, Jules Youssef.

“The next step is to translate this participation into more consistent access to advancement, decision-making and leadership opportunities across sectors,” Youssef told The Peninsula, highlighting the importance of creating clear career pathways and ensuring equal access to opportunities for women.

Recently, Great Place to Work Middle East announced its 2026 Best Workplaces for Women List, recognising organisations that have established high-trust workplace cultures where women feel valued, supported and able to develop their careers.

Two Qatar-based organisations secured places on this year's list, including QIC Digital Hub, ranked 18th in the Medium category, while Marrybrown Qatar secured third place in the Small category.

Youssef said the rankings are based primarily on confidential employee feedback collected through the Great Place to Work Trust Index survey, with particular attention to women's workplace experiences.

“The ranking reflects what employees report about trust, fairness, respect, opportunity, and belonging, rather than company size or visibility alone,” he said.

Expounding on women's empowerment in Qatar, Youssef pointed to findings from the country's employeewide survey, in which 83.2 percent of respondents said people were treated fairly regardless of gender, while 78.9 percent said they were offered training or professional development.

He said these findings indicate meaningful progress while highlighting the need for stronger career development opportunities and greater access to positions of responsibility.

“The progress being made is encouraging, and many organisations are demonstrating that empowering women is not only the right thing to do, but also a strategic advantage that contributes to stronger organisational performance and more inclusive workplace cultures,” Youssef said.

He also outlined several measures companies and government entities could adopt to strengthen women's participation and advancement, including transparent promotion criteria, flexible working arrangements, leadership accountability, mentoring and sponsorship programmes, and return-towork support.

He stressed that regularly analysing employee feedback by gender, seniority, and function would also help organisations identify workplace challenges and develop targeted responses.

The employee-wide survey data showed that 74.5 percent of respondents said work-life balance was encouraged, while 75.3 percent described their workplace as psychologically and emotionally healthy. Meanwhile, 73.8 percent felt involved in decisions affecting their work.

Youssef emphasised these areas required continued monitoring and improvement through employee feedback and people analytics.

He also underscored the role of leadership in creating supportive workplace environments, noting that Great Place to Work's Great Leader Lens provides entities with additional employee insights into leadership effectiveness and helps identify areas where targeted action could strengthen trust.

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