혼인에 관한 카타르인들의 인식과 실천

Abstract

This paper is a field work study on Qataris’ awareness and practice of marriage through questionnaires which have been distributed among 141 married Qatari women and 108 Qatari men who live in Doha, the capital of Qatar, during 6th -20th February. From analysis of questionnaires by SPSS program, I found that Qataris usually meet their partners by family members’ introduction, and that quite a large number still marry to their cousins, in spite of its hereditary problems. They, women and men together, tend to put high values on their chastity before marriage, and show their religious attitude by answering that the religion is the most important condition for marriage. However, it’s also true that expansion of women’s education and their participation in public fields has played an important role in changing their consciousness. Qatari women tend to consider their partner’s education level as an important condition for marriage, and agree that the husband and wife have common responsibility for living expenses. As for marriage contract, Mahr which was originally introduced for women’s financial right is loosing its original meaning to be paid in symbolic amount. Meanwhile, Qatari women try to put some conditions like continuing their education or job on their marriage contracts. As for polygamy, women, especially young women, show negative attitude about it and put a condition on the marriage contract prohibiting the husband's marriage to another woman, which has been recognized in Islam. I found that consciousness and practice of marriage are changing more among women than men. Also, these changes are reflected in the new personal status law of Qatar. In spite of some elements of women’s discrimination which have been existed in the traditional Sharia, it is expected that the new Qatari personal status law would play a positive role in improving Qatari women’s position and participation in public areas.