Posted on Charity Village June 8, 2005.

I've been in Qatar, on the Arabian Gulf, for over a month
working on a project with the Qatari government. Qatar is in the
process of becoming a constitutional democracy, and their new Constitution
came into effect on June 8th. The Constitution was passed in a national
referendum two years ago, with a vote of 97% in favour, and much of it
deals with human rights and public participation in governance. Qatar
is the home of Al Jazeera, the television station that is reviled (and
admired) by the West and sister Arabic states for its dedication to
free speech.

Qatar is a conservative Muslim state, in which almost all of the Qatari women wear abayas
(black cloaks worn over their clothing) and headshawls when in public,
and most of the Qatari men wear thobes and headdresses. Most women wear
veils covering their faces as well, though the Emir's consort
keeps her face uncovered. Non-Qatari women are not expected to wear
abayas, and in fact, it's seen as disrespectful for Westerners to do so.

Besides
being a very conservative nation, it's also a very wealthy nation, due
to its massive oil and gas reserves. Sixty years ago there were less
than 20,000 people in the entire country; now there are more than
750,000. Only a quarter are Qatari; the rest are expatriate workers
from all over the world.

Technology has made great inroads here, but in a way that's consistent with the local cultures. Here are some examples:

• Most Qataris seem to have mobile phones, and use them constantly.
  Every meeting (and I've been to dozens) is interrupted regularly by
  phone calls, and even the Chair will stop talking and answer his phone
  in the middle of a discussion. The effect is of being in a large and
  crowded room, with everyone's friends, colleagues and family members
  all around us. Apparently, before mobile phones people used to drop in
  to see each other, and meetings were even more disrupted. Now they just
  call. It's a beautiful example of cultural values affecting the
  acceptance of new technology. Interestingly, voice mail is unusual and
  few people have it. You don't need voice mail when you always answer
  the phone!

• Qatari women, when they have jobs (more and more often, and
  generally in government), often work in 'women's sections' behind
  locked doors. There they can remove their abayas and veils. They
  communicate with their male colleagues and bosses over the phone and
  via e-mail, and occasionally come to meetings if they can be assured
  that they will sit beside a woman. Non-Arab women are handy for this,
  because we can sit between the men and the Qatari women. E-mail has the
  potential of allowing women to participate more fully in project teams,
  but it also may lessen the pressure for integration. In fact, with good
  enough remote collaboration tools, women don't need to leave their
  homes, though videoconferencing isn't terribly useful when participants
  are fully veiled.

• Most of the expatriates are low paid labourers and service
  workers from places like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India. They
  work all over the country, often in labour camps, and on Fridays they
  pour into downtown Doha (the capital city) for their weekly holiday. On
  Friday nights the Internet bandwidth across the city drops dramatically
  as the expats fill Internet cafés to communicate with their families at
  home. (I don't know why they are called Internet cafés – they never
  serve coffee. How did that name stick?)

• Many small businesses have web sites, partly because there are
  no physical addresses. Doha is in a constant state of demolition and
  construction, and all mail is delivered to post office boxes. To find a
  restaurant or business, you have to go to their web site and see the
  map or phone them for verbal directions.

• Qatar has won regional awards for its government portal, www.e.gov.qa,
  and is using web services to streamline the distribution of visas,
  driving licenses, building permits, and so on. Qatar is a highly
  security-conscious nation, and requires visas to be renewed monthly for
  business travellers and expat workers. Online visas make it more
  convenient for business people, while still keeping a tight lid on who
  is going in and out of the country. (If you get a residence permit, you
  need a visa to leave the country.)

• Because of the high Internet and e-mail penetration among
  Qataris, the government is beginning to use web surveys and other
  online tools for public participation in governance. There are less
  than 200,000 Qatari citizens, and online communication is a natural way
  to communicate with them. This is a new approach, and it will be
  interesting to see how much they use the Internet over the next few
  years as they develop consultation mechanisms to support their
  democratic processes.

As in every culture, technology is a
double-edged sword. Remote collaboration tools can engage women in
teams, but it can also create a type of technological purdah. And web
services can streamline bureaucracy, but also provide easier ways to
track people.