Women perceived practices of mothering in a socially changing Qatari society

Abstract

This study proposes to examine the ways in which motherhood as a social phenomenon is constructed within Qatari culture. Understanding the role of mothers in society as well as the mothering practices could lead to understanding how society is changing in Qatar and Gulf nations. This research investigated the role of mothers in parenting their children. The study used a mixed method approach in which a survey questionnaire addressed the parenting of children at a geographic position whether in the house, playing outside or other geographic areas. The respondents to the survey came to n = 263. The research also interviewed n = 30 mothers the role the mother has in supporting their children. The findings, report that mothers doing most of parenting as putting children to bed, feeding, clothing and spending quality time. Fathers are taking a very passive role in parenting and their role in parenting in Qatar is absent. Qatar women seem to take on most of the tasks of mothering themselves with no particular geographic position. While, many of the mothers do have support rather from the family and extended family, they are now relying on domestic help. Further studies, particularly of an ethnographic nature, can provide more complex pictures of what the lives of young children are like in Qatar and the roles that mothers play. Medwell Journals, 2016.