{"id":{"repo_id":"arizona-thes","oai_identifier":"oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/667600"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/arizona-thes/oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/667600","repository":{"repo_id":"arizona-thes","name":"University of Arizona","base_url":"https://repository.arizona.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Redefining the \"Ideal Qatari Woman\" in the 21st Century: The Role of Qatari Women in Nation Building and Branding","abstract":"This dissertation identifies and critiques essentialist narratives of the “ideal Qatari woman” produced by the Qatari state in the 21st century and analyzes the diverse and variegated (re)formulation of gender roles and norms by Qatari women themselves. Drawing from qualitative interview data and a range of primary sources (e.g., state-run media, institutional media, digital and print magazines, state laws and documents, etc.), this dissertation offers a comprehensive study of the oft neglected but central role of Qatari women in nation building and branding. I employ the tools of transnational feminist theory, as well as the methodologies of feminist ethnography and critical discourse analysis, to identify discourses produced about Qatari women’s shifting roles in the nation and the home and to offer new insight into Qatari women’s varied understandings of gender equality and feminism. With particular attention to Qatari rulers’ anxieties surrounding a growing migrant population, the gaze of a Western audience, and regional and domestic pressures, I argue that the Qatari state is constructing and recruiting an educated and socioeconomically privileged class of “ideal Qatari women” to carry out its state-branding and nation-building agendas. This ideal is constructed in opposition to the nation’s female domestic workers, who are intentionally marginalized from the state’s projects. Furthermore, I contend that Qatari rulers are implementing a form of state patriarchy that merges nationalist ideals with neoliberal feminist paradigms, creating structures through which the state polices women’s roles in the public and domestic spheres under the guise of paternalistic protection and support for women’s empowerment. Finally, I demonstrate how Qatari women’s active (re)formulation of their roles in the nation challenges the elite production of gender norms, revealing cracks in the state’s patriarchal system and resistance to its hegemonic discourses on women’s empowerment.","abstract_html":"This dissertation identifies and critiques essentialist narratives of the “ideal Qatari woman” produced by the Qatari state in the 21st century and analyzes the diverse and variegated (re)formulation of gender roles and norms by Qatari women themselves. Drawing from qualitative interview data and a range of primary sources (e.g., state-run media, institutional media, digital and print magazines, state laws and documents, etc.), this dissertation offers a comprehensive study of the oft neglected but central role of Qatari women in nation building and branding. I employ the tools of transnational feminist theory, as well as the methodologies of feminist ethnography and critical discourse analysis, to identify discourses produced about Qatari women’s shifting roles in the nation and the home and to offer new insight into Qatari women’s varied understandings of gender equality and feminism. With particular attention to Qatari rulers’ anxieties surrounding a growing migrant population, the gaze of a Western audience, and regional and domestic pressures, I argue that the Qatari state is constructing and recruiting an educated and socioeconomically privileged class of “ideal Qatari women” to carry out its state-branding and nation-building agendas. This ideal is constructed in opposition to the nation’s female domestic workers, who are intentionally marginalized from the state’s projects. Furthermore, I contend that Qatari rulers are implementing a form of state patriarchy that merges nationalist ideals with neoliberal feminist paradigms, creating structures through which the state polices women’s roles in the public and domestic spheres under the guise of paternalistic protection and support for women’s empowerment. Finally, I demonstrate how Qatari women’s active (re)formulation of their roles in the nation challenges the elite production of gender norms, revealing cracks in the state’s patriarchal system and resistance to its hegemonic discourses on women’s empowerment.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Liloia, Alainna"],"institution":"The University of Arizona.","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":"Graduate College","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Hudson, Leila"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":["Nassar, Maha","Clancy-Smith, Julia","Soto, Sandra"],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022","date_published":"2022","updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:56:34Z","subjects":["Arab Gulf","Migrant Labor","Nation Building","Qatari Women","Transnational Feminism","Women's Education"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. 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Drawing from qualitative interview data and a range of primary sources (e.g., state-run media, institutional media, digital and print magazines, state laws and documents, etc.), this dissertation offers a comprehensive study of the oft neglected but central role of Qatari women in nation building and branding. I employ the tools of transnational feminist theory, as well as the methodologies of feminist ethnography and critical discourse analysis, to identify discourses produced about Qatari women’s shifting roles in the nation and the home and to offer new insight into Qatari women’s varied understandings of gender equality and feminism. With particular attention to Qatari rulers’ anxieties surrounding a growing migrant population, the gaze of a Western audience, and regional and domestic pressures, I argue that the Qatari state is constructing and recruiting an educated and socioeconomically privileged class of “ideal Qatari women” to carry out its state-branding and nation-building agendas. This ideal is constructed in opposition to the nation’s female domestic workers, who are intentionally marginalized from the state’s projects. Furthermore, I contend that Qatari rulers are implementing a form of state patriarchy that merges nationalist ideals with neoliberal feminist paradigms, creating structures through which the state polices women’s roles in the public and domestic spheres under the guise of paternalistic protection and support for women’s empowerment. Finally, I demonstrate how Qatari women’s active (re)formulation of their roles in the nation challenges the elite production of gender norms, revealing cracks in the state’s patriarchal system and resistance to its hegemonic discourses on women’s empowerment."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Redefining the \"Ideal Qatari Woman\" in the 21st Century: The Role of Qatari Women in Nation Building and Branding"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Hudson, Leila"],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Nassar, Maha","Clancy-Smith, Julia","Soto, Sandra"],"dc:creator":["Liloia, Alainna"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-01-20T17:49:40Z"],"dc:date.available":["2023-01-20T17:49:40Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2022"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation identifies and critiques essentialist narratives of the “ideal Qatari woman” produced by the Qatari state in the 21st century and analyzes the diverse and variegated (re)formulation of gender roles and norms by Qatari women themselves. Drawing from qualitative interview data and a range of primary sources (e.g., state-run media, institutional media, digital and print magazines, state laws and documents, etc.), this dissertation offers a comprehensive study of the oft neglected but central role of Qatari women in nation building and branding. I employ the tools of transnational feminist theory, as well as the methodologies of feminist ethnography and critical discourse analysis, to identify discourses produced about Qatari women’s shifting roles in the nation and the home and to offer new insight into Qatari women’s varied understandings of gender equality and feminism. With particular attention to Qatari rulers’ anxieties surrounding a growing migrant population, the gaze of a Western audience, and regional and domestic pressures, I argue that the Qatari state is constructing and recruiting an educated and socioeconomically privileged class of “ideal Qatari women” to carry out its state-branding and nation-building agendas. This ideal is constructed in opposition to the nation’s female domestic workers, who are intentionally marginalized from the state’s projects. Furthermore, I contend that Qatari rulers are implementing a form of state patriarchy that merges nationalist ideals with neoliberal feminist paradigms, creating structures through which the state polices women’s roles in the public and domestic spheres under the guise of paternalistic protection and support for women’s empowerment. Finally, I demonstrate how Qatari women’s active (re)formulation of their roles in the nation challenges the elite production of gender norms, revealing cracks in the state’s patriarchal system and resistance to its hegemonic discourses on women’s empowerment."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10150/667600"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["The University of Arizona."],"dc:rights":["Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Arab Gulf","Migrant Labor","Nation Building","Qatari Women","Transnational Feminism","Women's Education"],"dc:title":["Redefining the \"Ideal Qatari Woman\" in the 21st Century: The Role of Qatari Women in Nation Building and Branding"],"dc:type":["text","Electronic Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Graduate College","Middle Eastern and North African Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Arizona"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T00:56:34Z"}