To never want to visit Qatar?

[RareLilacFinch]

The incessant full-page ads I’m getting on MN encouraging me to visit Qatar have got me thinking about why I’d never want to go there.

As a woman, there are obvious reasons - not wanting to be under the “guardianship” of my husband, and the forced gynaecological examinations of a plane full of Australian women being the tip of the iceberg - on top of the hideous human rights abuses of migrant workers, and the general suppression of free speech.

So AIBU - am I missing something?

Agree OP, there is not a single aspect of the place that appeals to me, ethically, environmentally, politically, or aesthetically. If mumsnet have any say over where their ad revenue comes from perhaps they should have a think about promoting the place if they want to retain any credibility of being a feminist forum.

Good luck.

I think the techs need to look at the Qatar ads. It’s made Mumsnet virtually unusable.

I had a lovely holiday in Doha visiting a friend who was working there, and felt very safe as a single woman. Saying that, there is a weird, tense energy there and I wouldn’t hurry back.

We will never go, it holds zero appeal for the many humanitarian, ethical and political reasons. They can pay for adverts all they like, and buy world cups etc, but I will never go.

I 100% agree !

You are not unreasonable to want to go to Qatar.

The reasons are odd (I went to Qatar for work and not sure what you are talking about Guardianship?)

You can choose whatever country you wish to visit for whatever reason.

Qatar is not an emirate. It’s an entirely different country.

I am sure there was an English schoolgirl stripped search and made to remove her tampon at school by police. Because a teacher “smelled weed”.

And that happened right here in the good old UK (London).

I am sure similar stories are available in France and Spain too.

Here is a link to the forced gynaecological exam of Australian women at gunpoint.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/21/australian-women-sue-qatar-airways-over-forced-examinations-at-doha-airport

I live in Sydney and won’t fly Qatar because of what happened the Australian women. Friends think I am crazy but I avoid any stopovers in the Middle East tbh after an unpleasant experience transiting through Abu Dhabi (and if any of you can access the Sydney Morning Herald online you can read about a teenager’s nightmare experience with Etihad trying to bump her in Abu Dhabi a few days ago). I will only do Qantas or Singapore Airlines to Europe.

I think what the poster means by guardianship is women are beneath men. To get the Internet fitted you need to take your husband to the store, to go to the hospital you need to take your husband with you to be put into the system, to get my sons eyes checked (children can only get there eyes checked in hospital), once again my husband would have to come with us to get him an appointment. No joint bank accounts, only allowed in husbands name. Almost everything had to be done with my husband there. Obviously if you are working in Qatar as a single woman this doesn't apply to you but as a non working wife I could do fuck all without my husband being there. Extremely frustrating for both of us.

You absolutely do not need your husband to accompany you to anything. I am sponsor to mine because I'm the breadwinner and I don't have to accompany him either. In fact, I am not allowed to have my salary paid into a joint bank account and health insurance has to be separate so that's wrong too. It's not perfect but it's an interesting, diverse and largely tolerant nation. I have lived here for 21 years so feel free to ask me what it is actually like if you want to know anything. I work in construction so have a bit more insight into the working conditions and life experiences of many different types of employees.

And housewives do not need their husbands to be with them, not ever. It's just not true. Maybe 20 years or so ago but that's not how it is. Im sorry but that's just not true. Hate the ME by all means, raise concerns about genuine issues but at least research the facts.

Yes, exactly this. I have been to Dubai once (not for a holiday) and would never again go to the UAE or Qatar because both places are quite frankly founded on modern slavery.

But that's because you're the work permit holder. The situation is not the same where the work permit holder is male and the sponsoree is female.

Oh come off it JHound (am being sarcastic). People here don't care about it. Or will pretend there was a good reason for that. Child Q was black after all. And subsequent inquiry showed that foe black children, being strip searched was no an uncommon experience.

While I agree with reasons people don't want to visit Qatar, Dubai but putting it as if "modern" slavery, trafficking of women doesn't happen here is being hypocritical. And increasingly the UK is depending on severely underpaid mostly foreign cleaners, nannies. Paying them wages they can hardly live on and feeling superior about it because we dont call them servants. We all need to do better. And to look deeper. Not just at others but also at ourselves. Is it worse in the countries mentioned here. Absolutely. But it happens here.
Oh about buying the world cup. Whoever stopped Western countries hosting sports events even as they oppressed and killed others (too many countries to mention) including in Iraq, while Western corporations currently use slave labour to get rare earth in DRC, cut off people's hands in the then Congo, and massacred people in Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe, pretty much every African country?

I can assure you that whatever you think, housewives do not need their husband to make appointments, travel or do any other personal admin. It simply isn't true. I live here, I have done for many years. My greatest issue with Qatar are the expats, mainly British who come to live in a foreign country with absolutely no interest or respect for it being a foreign. Country. It's going to be different yet people basically want a glitzy lifestyle with the villas and compounds and private schools but only if it feels exactly like home. Well it isn't the UK, it is different but some of these women never leave their range rover or compound and that must be the most boring, tedious existence. There's so much to do, so many interesting people here, yes its different but if you choose not to only eat marks and spencer food and shop in malls, it's a gem of a place full of tolerance and warmth.

When I lived there (8 years go) I couldn't register at a certain hospital without my husband there, to get my son registered at another hospital to get his eyes checked my husband had to be there. To get the Internet fitted my husband had to sign the paperwork (Ooredoo) in the shop. I have reserached the facts as I lived in Qatar, why are you implying I'm talking shit? .

Thanks @TandyhatesAmanda It sounds like most of the posters on this thread have never set foot in any ME countries, nor know anybody who has. Yet they blindly believe every word that the tabloids feed them and jump on the sensationalist headlines. Typical MN crowd.

As for modern day slavery, it's very much a problem here in the UK as I deal with it through my work. But that doesn't fit the racist narrative of Daily Mail headlines.

Exactly! I do not know why people are saying otherwise. I lived there for 2 years as a housewife. I remember clearly going to a hospital my friend recommended because they had European doctors, I wanted to get help for my crohn's disease and I had no luck with the local health care center (denied I had it even though I had my NHS diagnosis paperwork). I took a taxi and was eager to get some proper treatment, when it came to the paperwork I needed my husband there to sign it. I was so upset that I left the place in tears and went home.

I'm sure you can appreciate why many on here would prefer to rely on the advice of leading human rights organizations (such as the recent report by HRW) and (per some on here) their own personal experiences, rather than your assurances - not least when you are in the relatively small class of women (foreign nationals with a work permit in their own name) who are not subject to the same restrictions as Qatari women or foreign nationals who have been sponsored by a male.

And I'm sure you can also appreciate why some people might not consider a country that criminalizes sexual activity between consenting adults, of the same sex, is "full of tolerance".

Oil has a lot to answer for.

Sorry. I tagged the wrong person. My mistake.