The legal protection of disabled women under Qatari law and international commitments

Abstract

This thesis examines the legal protection of women with disabilities in Qatar through the interaction of domestic law, international human rights law, and Shari’ah law. While existing scholarship recognises the intersecting forms of discrimination faced by women with disabilities on the basis of gender and disability, this issue remains significantly under-researched within the Qatari legal context. The primary aim of the research is to critically analyse the legal protection of women with disabilities under three co-existing legal frameworks within Qatar, and to assess how their interaction collectively shapes the recognition, scope, and enforcement of disabled women’s rights. The study adopts a doctrinal legal methodology to examine domestic legislation, Islamic legal sources, and relevant international human rights instruments. The findings demonstrate that the challenges confronting women with disabilities in Qatar are systemic, multi-layered, and mutually reinforcing. These challenges arise from the interaction of selective compliance with international obligations, a welfare-oriented domestic legal approach, conservative religious interpretation, institutional fragility, and prevailing socio-cultural norms. This research makes an original contribution by identifying and addressing a significant gap in the literature on the legal protection of women with disabilities in Qatar, thereby advancing scholarly understanding in this area and contributing to broader debates across Arab countries with comparable cultural and legal frameworks.