Participating in the first Gulf Family Policy Forum, Qatar’s representatives highlighted the State’s dedicated ongoing endeavours to enhance cohesion and wellbeing of Qatari families-the most notable being the adoption of a part-time work system for Qatari female employees in government agencies.
Organised by Difi, a member of Qatar Foundation, in co-operation with the Executive Bureau of the Council of Ministers of Labour and Ministries of Social Affairs in the Gulf Co-operation Council states, the forum was inaugurated by Dr Amer Mohamed al-Hajri, director-general of the Executive Bureau.
Dr Sharifa Noaman al-Emadi, executive director, Difi, stressed the importance of the event, and noted how the forum provides a platform that unites policymakers, specialists, and civil society organisations, bringing them together to exchange experiences and enhance aspects of co-operation regarding Gulf family issues, thereby contributing to the enrichment of wellbeing and cohesion in the Gulf family as a whole.
Khalid al-Naama, director of the Family Policy Department, Difi, underscored the importance of adopting “flexible working arrangement” policies, based on evidence-based studies conducted by Difi, a key recommendation to address many family-related issues ensuring the development of society.
These policies help in dealing with emergency events and contribute to achieving “family cohesion”, enhancing “child wellbeing”, improving “parental relations”, “raising the fertility rate” and achieving “gender equality”, al-Naama said, adding: “Difi intends to keep at its efforts in this field by conducting more research, as it is now engaged in research on family-friendly work policies.”
Difi also previewed the preliminary findings of its major survey jointly with the League of Arab States on Marital Relations Assessment, which to date has featured contributions from around 1,150 respondents across 19 Arab countries. It revealed the causes of marital disputes and early divorce, which included emotional incompatibility, difficulty accepting one’s partner, financial problems, work stress and issues regarding behaviour.
Forum contributors called for devising a pilot premarital education programme at the level of Arab countries, to be worked on jointly with the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States and work teams from Arab nations. They also suggested developing a premarital education programme allocated for the Gulf context, provided it addressed the actual causes of imbalance in marriage relations and the early collapse of the institution.
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