Pinsent Masons recently organized a networking event “Women in Business in Qatar”
The aim of the event was to bring active business women together so they could discuss their hopes and concerns for their future careers is a very competitive and growing market here in Qatar. The initiative is an extension of its global “Project Sky” scheme which aims to improve gender balance in the firm’s partnership and Senior leadership team by removing barriers to the progression to women.
Both Qatari and expatriate women were in attendance and the evening attracted more than 90 women.
The first event in the series was held in the Movenpick hotel in Doha. The speaker for the night was the talented Qatari woman Maryam al-Subaiey who is the founder of Q Talent. Maryam spoke about her experience of starting a business in Qatar as a woman.
Mayrams talk was followed by a lively debate on a variety of issues that woman face in the workplace here in Qatar. One particular issue discussed is the “Quota” policy, a policy set by some of the bigger companies where a set number of women are appointed to senior positions during the course of the year. There were mixed opinions on this policy, some felt that women should be promoted on merit rather than receiving promotion because of a company’s need to achieve a target.
Following on the success of the firms first event they plan to hold more events in the coming months.