(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The number of Qatari women employed in the private sector has gone up more than six times in 12 years, as their ratio has grown from 2.1 percent in 2001 to 14.7 percent in 2013.
Conversely, their ratio in government jobs has decreased in the above period, from 89.1 percent in 2001 to 68.2 percent in 2013.
A Report on Qatar's National Human Development 2015 released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics attributed the increased representation of Qatari women in the private sector to the government's Qatarisation policy.
This was the Fourth such Report and titled 'Realizing Qatar National Vision 2030-The Right to Development' released by the Ministry.
There is a reference in the Report also to the sponsorship and exit permit rules for foreign workers. The Report briefly recalled that in 2014 it was officially announced that the existing 'kafala' system would be replaced with a "simplified and much improved contractual system in 2015". The Report also talks of the need to regulate the work of domestic helps through a law, saying that cases of rights abuse of domestic workers, including non-payment of wages, excessive working hours, no leave days, physical, mental and sexual abuse, are not infrequent.
The Report says that since these workers are excluded from the labor law of 2004, they do not have access to the department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs where they could lodge complaints and seek redress of their woes.
There is a proposal as part of NDS (2011-16) to set up a special fast track labour tribunal to expedite routine cases within a specified time period.
Ensuring effective access of workers to the tribunal would necessitate providing information in multiple languages and that interpreters are available and no fee is charged to workers.
Mechanisms to ensure that the tribunal's decisions are enforced must also be put in place.
The Report says that according to United Nations' estimates, Qatar tops the list of countries with the highest share of foreign population relative to the total population - non-Qataris account for about 87 percent of the total population.
"Most of the non-Qataris are expatriate workers whose very presence indicates the significant contribution they make to economic growth and to national development." Between 2004 and 2013, the total number of expatriate workers has increased from 400,000 to 1.4 million, representing a growth of 14.7 percent annually. Men account for 89 percent of the total expat population.
The extensive report talks in detail about the status of Qatari women, as also about Qatari youth and other important development-related issues.
The number of Qatari women in overall employment nearly trebled in the 12 years, between 2001 and 2013, from 10,851 to 30,256.
As for youth, their population rose from 86,000 in 2000 to an estimated 353,000 in 2013 due to rising population of foreign workers.
Qataris accounted for 16 percent of the country's youth (aged 15 to 24 years).
The report said that about one in every eight youth lives in low-income household.
Some 9.7 Qatari households were classified in 2012-13 as being in relative poverty.
In 2013, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs received a total of 10,840 complaints from workers, some 28 percent of which was about not providing return air tickets, while a quarter (25 percent) of the complaints were about delayed wages.
Some 23 percent of complaints were about not providing end-of-service benefits and another 22 percent about non-payment of leave salary.
As for petitions and complaints made to the National Human Rights Committee in 2013, a total of 1,929 complaints were received.
Of them, 16.7 percent were from Egyptians and 16.2 percent from Filipinos while Indians' share in the total was 10.6 percent.
Seven percent petitioners and complainants were Qatari and their grievances were about alleged violation of civil and economic rights, said the report.
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