Qatar: Most Qatari women are Net savvy, reveals study

By Bonnie James, Gulf Times

Dr Azmi and Dr al-Issi at the session announcing the study findings
A majority of Qatari women, especially those in the 20 to 30 age group, are Net savvy, with a good number browsing the web one hour daily, a latest study has revealed.

“More than 68% of Qatari women use the internet,” Qatar University’s Information Science Programme co-ordinator Dr Hisham Azmi, who conducted the study, said.

Sponsored by the Supreme Council for Family Affairs (SCFA), the exercise covered a total of 1,618 respondents, including 1,328 in the 20 to 30 age group.

“As many as 65% of the study participants use the I nternet more than four to six hours per week,” said Dr Azmi while presenting the findings.

While 63.7% Qatari women spend a hour daily in cyberspace, 2.2% were immersed in web browsing for up to seven hours a day.

Asked whether they visit chat rooms, 68.8% replied in the negative. It was observed that chat room regulars were those under 20 years.

Among the respondents, 53% have had no formal training on how to use the Internet, 55.7% were exploring the web from home, and 24.3% did so at educational institutions.

“If 79.9% used the Internet for personal purposes, 60.6% utilised the service for e-mail, and 21% visited websites,” Dr Azmi pointed out.

The e-government services were being used by 48.7% of Qatari women and 40.4% were eager to benefit from e-shopping services.

About 22% of the participants of the survey had established web pages on their own or for their work places, and 63% relied on search engines to source information.

The dominant perception of the Internet in general is positive, with 83.8% of Qatari women believing that more efforts have to be made to benefit from the Internet.“More than 95% consider the internet as a main source to gather information and about 90% believe in the necessity of censorship,” Dr Azmi pointed out.

The study recommended enriching and broadening the use of the Internet in the education process, and to improve the skills of Qatari women - whether they are IT- or English language-related, so that they can get the most benefit from the Internet.

The results of the study were presented at a session chaired by QU’s professor of sociology and SCFA’s Women’s Issues Committee chair Dr Juhaina al-Issi.