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Expat wanderer

Qatar Divorce Rate 12th Highest in the World

Today’s story in The Peninsula examines the increasing number of divorces this year, in relation to the number of marriages.

Not a single expert quoted mentions that perhaps many of these marriages were bad alliances in the first place. One expert continually mentions the problem being women having greater access to divorce.

It is no surprise that women who have access to divorce get out of bad marriages.

She is supposed to stay with a man addicted to pornography?

With a man who cannot complete the sexual act?

With a man with a drug problem?

With a man who is openly gay, and she is to provide cover?

With a man who has a fatal sexually transmitted disease which he neglected to disclose?

With a man who is still emotionally attached to his long-time girlfriend and was forced to marry another woman?

With a man who hits her?

With a man who ignores her and goes off with his friends all the time in preference to spending time with her? (Yes, expectations for marriage are higher now than they used to be. Times change. Expectatons change.)

(These are all stories told to me by local women about failed marriages.)

I’m not a big fan of divorce. I think marriage is serious business, and a lot of hard work. And I strongly believe that women need to have the exact same access to divorce that men have. I don’t see any of the experts citing male behavior as a possible cause of this divorce rate.

Divorce rate to reach new high this year
Web posted at: 12/30/2009 5:38:55
Source ::: The Peninsula / BY SATISH KANADY

DOHA: Qatar’s divorce rate is steadily going up. Crossing last year’s figure of 939 divorces, a total of 982 couples split in the country during the first 11 months of this year.

Going by the latest data released by the Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA), more than 80 divorces take place every month in the country. The 2009 figure is expected to cross the 1,000 mark once the figures for December come in.

According to the QSA, of the 982 divorce cases this year, 655 involved Qatari women. The number of non-Qatari women who split with their spouse during the period was 327.

The months of April, May and June witnessed a large number of divorces. While 127 women got divorced during the month of May, 107 and 101 women got divorced in June and April, respectively.

It may be noted that a recent international study identified Qatar as the country with the 12th highest divorce rate in the world. The country has 0.97 divorces per thousand people, it said.

The total number of divorces in the country in 1999 was 496. However, the number has grown steadily over the past decade and touched 997 in 2007, with a total of 721 Qataris and 276 non-Qataris getting estranged. Though the rate went down in 2008 (939), this year’s figures are expected to break the 2007 record.

The QSA’s figures are disturbing against the backdrop of the fact that the total number of marriages held this year in Qatar until November 2009 was 2,917, against which the number of divorces was 982.

Against the 266 marriages that took place last month, 90 couples got divorced. Of them, 57 included Qatari women. In the month of May, which witnessed the largest number of divorces — 127 — the number of marriages was 323.

Opinions are divided among Qatari social scientists on the data revealed by the QSA. While a section of them sees the divorces as a direct consequence of Qatar’s “culture shock”, others say QSA’s methodology in collecting the data is not foolproof and the figures do not seem realistic.

“The data collected from the courts need not necessarily reflect the exact divorce rate in Qatar. For, there are a large number of cases where the couples re-join after obtaining a divorce from the court”, said a Qatari woman scholar who is doing research on Qatar’s broken families and divorces.

However, Moza Al Malki, a prominent Qatari psychologist, said: “Qatari women’s exposure to the changing world and their growing self-reliant nature are the prime reasons for this social problem.”

Al Kula, a system that encourages women to approach a court if they are not comfortable with their partner, is also contributing to the growing number of divorces, she added.

December 30, 2009 Posted by | Community, Cultural, Financial Issues, Living Conditions, Marriage, Mating Behavior, Qatar, Random Musings, Relationships, Social Issues, Statistics, Values | | 10 Comments

Apples and Oranges in Qatar Statistics: Injuries at Work or on the Road

I almost missed this article, and I am glad I didn’t. This is what I love about reading newspapers in the Gulf, you find information in the most unexpected places.

So you are led to believe that the article is about an increase of injuries in the workplace. What it also contains is some fascinating information I’ve been wondering about – traffic injuries.

I have this unsubstantiated theory that the people who suffer the majority of traffic accidents would be the people who drive more recklessly, and have weaker driving skills – perhaps failing to signal? Perhaps failing to check their rear view mirrors before passing? Perhaps driving too fast for road conditions? I know, I know, go figure, I think the roads are a place for grown-ups, people who understand that by sharing the road peaceably, we all get where we want to go.

The nationality with the largest percentage of injuries are Qatteri @ 21%

The nationality of almost all of the work environment injuries are – no kidding – expatriate.

Almost 100% of the Qattari injuries are driving related. Driving related injuries account for 32% of the total injuries treated, road related + work related.

The second largest nationality with injuries is the Nepalese – 16% of the injuries. Almost all of their injuries, along with Indians – 14%, Egyptians – 7% and Pakistanis – 5% – are work related. 32% of those injuries are from falling from a height. The work related injuries, according to Dr. Raghad, are in proportion to the nationality proportion of the population.

So the question I ask is – If the nationality with the greatest percentage of injuries, 21%, also falls into one of the two highest catagories – road injuries – 32% of all injuries, and if these injuries are totally preventable – wouldn’t it make sense to enforce the existing traffic laws?

I don’t see a lot of Qatteri women driving, so I would hazard a guess that most of these injuries are young men. With Qatteri men already a minority of the population in Qatar, doesn’t it make sense to protect that priceless national resource with increased driving education, supervision, and strict traffic law enforcement?

More than 50pc of all injuries work-related
Web posted at: 12/29/2009 1:25:26
Source ::: The Peninsula

Dr Ahmad Al Shatti, Director of Occupational Health Department at Ministry of Health, Kuwait, gives a workshop at Supreme Council of Health yesterday.Shaival Dalal

DOHA: More than 50 percent of all injuries in Qatar are caused by work-related accidents. The most common among such incidents is falling from a height that causes 32 percent of the injuries, which is equal to the number of injuries caused by traffic accidents.

This was disclosed by officials of the Hamad Trauma Center at the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) at a workshop on occupational health held at the Supreme Council of Health (SCH) premises yesterday.

Road accidents and fall together cause 64 percent of the injuries- 32 percent each. The third largest victims are pedestrians- 11 percent. Six percent of the injuries are caused by a falling object that mostly hit people on a work site and equal number of cases are attributed to burns. Three per cent of the injuries are caused by accidents involving All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs).

Expatriate workers remain to be the biggest sufferers from injuries. However, nationality wise, the highest number of cases are reported among Qataris- 21 percent- most of whom were victims of road accidents.

Nepalese stood second, with 16 per cent of the injuries, followed by Indians- 14 per cent. The other two most affected nationalities are Egyptians (7 percent) and Pakistanis (five percent).

“Work- related accidents and injuries are the highest among Nepalese, because they are the single largest nationality being employed in the construction sector. Other nationalities are also affected proportionate to their numbers in the industry,” Dr Raghad, Injury Prevention Director at the Hamad Trauma Center told The Peninsula on the sidelines of the workshop.

The workshop attended by representatives from the Labour Department, HMC, Qatar Petroleum, RasGas, Ministry of Environment, Medical Commission, Qatar Airways, among other organisations discussed ways to improve the occupational health services in Qatar.
THE PENINSULA

Lest you think I have a think against male Qatteri drivers, I don’t. The older Qatteri male drivers are very gallant, very gentlemanly, on the roads. They have manners, and graciousness. From time to time, I also run across well mannered young Qatteri drivers. They use their turn signals. They wear seat belts. The allow other people to zipper-in. It breaks my heart, in Qatar, in Kuwait, that so many of their young men lose their lives on the roads, or suffer horrible injuries, injuries which take months, even years, from which to recover. What a tragic waste.

December 29, 2009 Posted by | Bureaucracy, Community, Doha, Education, ExPat Life, Family Issues, Health Issues, Kuwait, Law and Order, Living Conditions, Qatar, Random Musings, Safety, Social Issues, Statistics, Work Related Issues | 4 Comments

New Qatar Traffic Violations and Fines

Update: LLOOLL, I went to QatarLiving.com and discovered that these “new” laws came out in 2007. These are great laws, deterrents to bad driving and aggressive driving, but the laws mean nothing without enforcement. Do I still see many many children sitting in the front seat? Are people driving while talking on their mobile phones? And not a word about one of the worst offenses these days – texting.

A recent study showed texting is even more dangerous while driving than talking on a mobile phone:

The crash risk attributable to texting is substantial. One possible explanation is that drivers who text tend to decrease their minimum following distance and also experience delayed reaction time. For example, in the Drews et al. study, drivers’ median reaction time increased by 30% when they were texting and 9% when they talked on the phone, compared with their performance in a driving-only condition.

Notwithstanding the safety risk of texting while driving, previous research by Drews and colleagues at the University of Utah — not to mention crash data and widespread legislation — makes clear that using a phone while driving is dangerous.

(To check my source, just click on the blue type, above)

We were talking about people who were saying “Qatar is the most dangerous place to drive in the world” and wondering where this is coming from? Most of us have driven in more dangerous places, but this is the new quote floating around, with no foundation, no statistics, no studies, at least not any I can find with a simple Google.

The topic of new laws came up next over Christmas dinner. New laws? New fines?

“I never saw a word about this in the paper,” I said, peevishly.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” said AdventureMan.

People who have been married a long time will understand the urge to kill . . .

Someone else jumped in,

“I think the different companies are passing it around. The Education Foundation has it. Some of the universities have it. That’s the way it is in Qatar, news of new laws filters out.”

LLLOOOLLL. News of new laws “filters out?”

I found it online HERE, at Team BPH and it looks exactly like the copy AdventureMan brought home yesterday, but there is no attribution. Who put this out? There is no kind of official marking on it at all.

IF ENFORCED, these laws would have a serious effect on Qatar traffic.

In theory, these went into effect in November 2009, just last month. Who issued these? Has there been any coverage in the newspapers? TV? How can people be held accountable for violating laws of which they are not aware? Or is this something one of the companies printed up, anticipating new laws?

December 28, 2009 Posted by | Adventure, Bureaucracy, Community, Crime, Customer Service, Doha, ExPat Life, Friends & Friendship, Interconnected, Law and Order, Living Conditions, Local Lore, Qatar, Safety, Social Issues, Statistics, Travel | 10 Comments

Fewer Women Marrying in Qatar

This is not a phenomenon unique to Qatar. I remember reading almost the same exact story about black women in America, where black women get educated and black men go to jail. For the guys, being smart in school is a source of ridicule, rather than admiration.

There are similar stories coming out of many countries in the world.

So how do we encourage young men to strive for higher education?

There was a related story in the Peninsula Men, Not Religion, Block Saudi Women on Friday.

Fewer women getting married: Expert
Web posted at: 12/19/2009 2:32:58
Source ::: THE PENINSULA/ By ABDULLAH ABDUL RAHMAN


DOHA: Latest studies suggest that some 30 percent of young Qatari women remain unmarried and divorce in the local community is on an alarming rise, says a prominent Qatari psychologist.

The number of unmarried women is increasing basically due to the fact that more and more females want to pursue higher education and achieve financial independence, said Dr Mozah Al Malki (pictured).

There is a huge gap between Qatari men and women in terms of education. While most women pursue university education, men generally prefer to look for government jobs right after early or secondary education.

And the fact that women are increasingly becoming financially independent due to being highly educated also explains why the incidence of divorce in the community is high.

The other major factor that might be pushing the rate of divorce up is that earlier it was not easy for women in this region to seek divorce from their husbands although the law has always been there in keeping with the basic tenets of Islam which permits a woman to seek ‘khola’ (divorce) on genuine grounds.

“But now the law makes it easier for women to seek divorce,” Al Malki said in remarks to this newspaper yesterday.

Statistics suggest that the rate of divorce in the Qatari community is somewhere around 40 percent — a very high rate indeed, lamented the psychologist who made history when she filed nomination for Central Municipal Council (CMC) elections in March 1999.

Although she lost the poll, she became the first Qatari woman to enter politics which was until then an unchallenged domain of men in this part of the world.

Women remain busy pursuing education and then they land jobs. It, therefore, becomes difficult to get the right match, so most women remain unmarried, she said.

Obviously, a woman who has a PhD would not like to marry an undergraduate or even a simple graduate. This explains why as many as 30 percent young women are unmarried and their number could even go up.

Asked whether marrying educated Muslim expatriates could be an effective solution to this problem, she said: “But such marriages require permission from the interior ministry and it takes time.”

About the increasing rate of divorce, she said many factors were at play. Men picking more than one wife and not treating their wives equally could be one of the factors.

“Men tend to marry more than once simply for pleasure,” she said. Polygamous men do not take marriage and family seriously.

A kind of monotony sets in marriages that are 10 to 15 years old. Couples should think of innovative ways to break this monotony and make a fresh start in life.

“They should, for example, visit the same hotel they were in for honeymoon,” she said. “Such things prove effective in saving troubled marriages, and I have written extensively about it,” Al Malki said.

December 20, 2009 Posted by | Africa, Cultural, Doha, Education, Family Issues, Financial Issues, Living Conditions, Marriage, Mating Behavior, Middle East, Qatar, Relationships, Saudi Arabia, Social Issues, Values, Women's Issues, Work Related Issues | 10 Comments

It’s Good To Be The Amir :-)

One of the first things visitors say when I take them around Doha is “It’s so clean!” said in a voice of total wonder. Doha IS clean, noticeably clean. Along the Corniche, everything is clean – and manicured. Doha is beautiful. The roads are beautiful, and getting beautifuller – er . . . more beautiful.

Qatar is not a democracy. It has a monarch, the Amir. The Amir has huge resources, and he channels much of his resources into infrastructure – highways, water treatment, electricity, parks (along the Corniche, wireless internet is provided to the community, totally FREE, miles of free internet), education – and serious work is being done to raise the level of education and educational possibilities continually – planning for future food and water, trying to insure that if and when the gas runs out, Qatar will have a sustainable economy.

It’s not a job I would want. It’s a lot of hard work, and who do you trust to share your vision and help you get the job done? Every day must have its frustrations, and the triumphs take a lot of work and perseverance. Building a country’s infrastructure is not for the faint-hearted.

But the job has its perks, and one of them is that you can create your own viewing stand for the 0800 Friday morning military review parade. This reviewing stand makes me grin. This Amir has some Events people with a flair for the dramatic and a tip of the hat to the traditional at the same time. While some complain that the new souks are like Disney Does Doha, anyone who used to go there and goes there now will tell you that there is new life in the souks. They are clean and safe and light and well cared for.

Anyway, I digress.

Here is where the Amir gets to sit to review his military at the parade tomorrow morning at 0800:

I was afraid to go any closer, as people were practicing for the parade, security might not like me taking photos, but how cool is this? They used original beit as-shar (house of hair, i.e. wool) fabric for the inner lining of the review tent. I totally love it. This fabric was originally made mostly from goat hair, but also stripes of sheep and camel hair. I have some. It’s tough and strong, and in panels, woven by the women. I don’t think they make tent bodies like this any more.

December 17, 2009 Posted by | Adventure, Arts & Handicrafts, Beauty, Community, Cultural, Doha, ExPat Life, Generational, Leadership, Living Conditions, Political Issues, Qatar, Social Issues, Work Related Issues | 7 Comments

Saturday Night Live Does Tiger Woods

There are mixed reviews on this hilarious Saturday Night Live take-off of the Tiger Woods situation. Some people feel it is tasteless, and that if the batterer were a man, it would be seriously unfunny.

They are right. And who on earth expects Saturday Night Live to stay within the boundaries of good taste? Or any boundaries at all?

As for me – I find it tastelessly hilarious.

( I will try to keep posting ones that work until they get taken off)

December 7, 2009 Posted by | Civility, Community, Cultural, Lies, Marriage, Mating Behavior, Social Issues, Values, Women's Issues | 4 Comments

Round 2, Why You Should Always Carry Your Camera in Doha

“HOLY COW!” I shouted at AdventureMan, as I am already digging for my camera. He hates it when I do that, he things maybe I have spotted some danger or something and it gets his adrenaline going. I couldn’t help it. I was shocked, and I said “There’s a CHEETAH in that car!”

We love cheetah. Anyone who has ever seen a cheetah in the wild knows the awesome measure of God’s creativity and wonder. The cheetah is a speed machine, a glorious hunter, born to run. The cheetah is a glorious creation.

AdventureMan didn’t believe me, not for two or three full seconds and then – he saw it, too:

The man with the very young cheetah on a leash under very loose control was having a ball. The cheetah looked very happy to be out in the car with him, even on a leash.

It is a shame, and it should be a crime.

A cheetah, even when snatched away from his mother early in life, is not a toy, not an accessory. A cheetah can eat your innocent babies. A cheetah can bite you or scratch you badly, and think it is just playing. Taking a cheetah out of the wild is probably not a really good thing for the cheetah. How long with this man find him novel and fun and pay attention to him? And then what?

This is what a cheetah is meant to do, and this is how a cheetah is meant to live:

My friends, if you love wildlife, no matter how rich you are, leave the wildlife in the wild. Please.

December 5, 2009 Posted by | Adventure, Africa, Beauty, Civility, Cross Cultural, Doha, Entertainment, ExPat Life, Family Issues, Law and Order, Living Conditions, Qatar, Social Issues, Values | | 19 Comments

Qatar Population on Monday is 1,580,050

This gave me a grin – as of a certain date, Qatar has a number, not an approximate number, a fairly fixed number – for its population.

You know what? I believe it. I have seen the way the computers here operate; they seem to have some inter-operability, and quick ways of accessing information back and forth between departments. I can believe they are tallying people leaving, people coming, people being born, people dying, as fast as the data can be entered.

I wouldn’t have believed it six years ago. I believe they have this capability now. They must have made a significant investment in this infrastructure, and it’s continuous upgrade.

From today’s Peninsula

Doha: The population of Qatar till Monday is 1,580,050, according to statistics released by Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA) yesterday. These data represent the number of individuals of all ages (Qataris and non-Qataris) within the state on Monday, excluding Qataris and residents who were outside the borders of the State at the time of the statement monitoring. The total number of males according to these data, is 1, 225,487 compared to 354,563 females.

These figures indicate a decline in population within the state with 86,803 people compared to last October, which recorded the highest rise in population during the year. It is noteworthy that QSA started presenting data on its website showing total population at the end of each month since October last year.

December 2, 2009 Posted by | ExPat Life, Interconnected, Law and Order, Leadership, Living Conditions, News, Social Issues | 4 Comments

Qatar Train Map

I found the paper with the map! How cool is this?

When I look at this, I think if the money ever runs out in Qatar, they will still have invested in a superior infrastructure – education, transportation, roads, parks, attractive public areas, effective policing and traffic control – way more important than luxury malls.

November 24, 2009 Posted by | Building, Community, ExPat Life, Interconnected, Leadership, Living Conditions, Qatar, Social Issues, Values | 6 Comments

Train (Qatar to Bahrain) Construction to Start

What excites me about this project is that the train which will begin construction soon, also ties in with a beautifully laid out public train system to link major hubs in Qatar. I wish I had taken a photo of the map in the paper – it looks like the London tube system, different lines – different colors, circles where you can switch lines . . . Qatar is definitely going to do this, and to me, it is very exciting.

What public transportation means to me – instead of driving, which I don’t mind all that much, I can sit and read a book!

Qatar-Bahrain causeway work to start in early 2010
Web posted at: 11/23/2009 6:49:46
Source ::: Reuters
ABU DHABI: Construction of a 40km causeway that would connect gas exporter Qatar to the Gulf island state of Bahrain will start in the first quarter of 2010, an official said yesterday.

“We are evaluating the final design and cost of the project and expect construction to start early next year,” Jaber Al Mohannadi, general manager of the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway Foundation, told a conference in Abu Dhabi.

Construction was initially scheduled to start in 2009, but the addition of rail lines delayed the project.

“Project completion will be in 2015,” he said, but declined to give the estimated cost of the project because the figure was yet to be finalized.

Contractors selected to carry out the project include France’s Vinci and Germany’s Hochtief AG, Mohannadi said.

The latest official cost estimate of the causeway, one of the longest in the world, stands at $3bn to be shared between Bahrain and Qatar. Users of the bridge will have to pay a toll, Mohannadi said.

Jassim Ali, a member of the financial and economic affairs committee of Bahrain’s parliament, estimated the project to cost $4-$5bn.

“Qatar will probably be providing some soft financing to Bahrain” to help cover its share of the cost of the project, Ali said.

Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, has one of the world’s highest per capita gross domestic product, while Bahrain is a small oil producer with limited public finances.

The rail tracks on the causeway would be part of a planned train network that will connect the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which also include Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The UAE is an important business hub of the region.

The 1,940km GCC rail network will cost $20-$25bn as Gulf Arab states plan to spend more than $100bn on various rail projects to improve public transportation.

Qatar and German rail and logistics group Deutsche Bahn [DBN.UL] signed a $23bn deal that provides for building a passenger and freight railway.

Bahrain in April launched a new port that it hopes would help it become a shipping hub for the northern part of the Gulf.

November 23, 2009 Posted by | Building, Bureaucracy, Community, Doha, ExPat Life, Interconnected, Leadership, Living Conditions, News, Social Issues, Work Related Issues | | 5 Comments

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