File photo used for representation only.
Doha: Qatar’s health and care sector stands as the largest employer of women in the country, with women representing 61% of the total registered health workers.
Recent data reveals there are 52,979 registered health professionals in Qatar, and women make up 76% of total nursing staff. Women, though, remain less represented as medical doctors, making up just 37% of the doctor workforce.
This gender disparity is highlighted in a new report by the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), an initiative of Qatar Foundation, titled ‘Breaking Barriers: Women’s Employment in Health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR)’. The study examines the regional variations in women’s participation in the health workforce, with a specific focus on Qatar.
The report notes that while women are significantly represented in nursing, they are also prominent in roles such as pharmacists and allied health professions, where they outnumber men.
However, the study emphasises the central role expat workers play in Qatar’s health sector work force, with expat workers constituting 95% of the total workforce in the country. Among the 300,000 expat domestic workers, the majority are women.
Professions like dentistry and allied health show a more balanced gender distribution, with a significant presence of men. The report also reveals that Qatari women are more represented than Qatari men in the healthcare workforce, though Qatari nationals remain underrepresented compared to non-Qatari workers.
This reflects Qatar’s heavy reliance on expatriate healthcare labour and is influenced by broader socioeconomic and cultural factors.
Qatari women, who are more likely to hold administrative or supervisory roles due to higher levels of education and socioeconomic status, represent a significant portion of the national health workforce.
The WISH report notes that employment in the health sector across the Eastern Mediterranean region remains an attractive option for women, even in countries with lower overall female labour force participation.
The report calls for a series of key policy actions to enhance women’s roles in health employment in the region.
These include the collection of gender-disaggregated data, implementing gender-responsive health workforce policies, improving working conditions, especially for highly feminised occupations, and fostering multisectoral solutions to boost women’s participation and representation in the healthcare workforce.
By addressing these issues, the report suggests targeted actions could empower women in the health sector across the Eastern Mediterranean, driving more equitable representation and opportunities for women in healthcare professions.
