I teach chemistry in the College of Arts and Sciences. One of the most distinct differences between teaching in the United States and teaching in Qatar is that my classes at Qatar University are separated by gender. In the College of Arts and Sciences, where I teach, male and female are in different buildings.
The restrictions seem to be enforced more stringently to protect female spaces. For example, there are male security guards at the entrance to most male building entrances but females can usually enter those buildings. However, males are typically not allowed to enter female spaces unless they have a specific reason to be there (i.e. faculty or staff).
My office is in the female building. When I found out that my office was in the female building, I assumed that it would only house female faculty, but there are male and female faculty offices inside. While students are separated by gender, faculty can teach male or female classes and have offices/labs in either male or female spaces. This can be difficult when faculty teach classes back to back since the classrooms are on completely different campuses. There are shuttle busses and even shuttle cars to take faculty from building to building, but often it is better to walk/ run between buildings in rather than wait for the shuttle. Thankfully, my office and classrooms are close to each other.
See below the interior of the Women's college, the bright, airy, air conditioned space. It is nice to stay air conditioned between classes.
Additionally, the campus clearly wants female students to see themselves as scientists, as one of the coffee shops next to the Women's College - The Chemist Cafe - shows women in hijabs doing chemical things.
Side note - there is a Starbucks inside the female College of Arts and Sciences - the ONLY Starbucks on campus. During the day, this area is filled with women in black abayas - chatting and drinking coffee.
I will be honest and say that the strict gender separation has been difficult for me to accept. It was one of the things that I dreaded most before coming here. From the courses I taught in Women in STEM, I knew of numerous examples where women were kept out of scientific conversations because they were not allowed in male only spaces. (e.g - women excluded from the senior common room at Kings College which contributed to the unhappiness of Rosalind Franklin). Given my past experiences as a woman in STEM, combined with my American upbringing that separate is NOT equal, the idea of separate spaces for females has been difficult to embrace.
However, I am here and I am teaching in a place that separates female undergraduates from male undergraduates. I teach two sections of ONLY female students. This is the first time in my career that I have taught ONLY women. Being in STEM, its pretty common for women to be a minority in the classroom but that is changing. In my undergrad, around 40% of the people in the classroom were female and the rest male. In the chemistry classes I teach, around 50% of the students are women. For the first time in my career, I don't have to worry about male/female ratio in class teams - removing one of the barriers to female success in STEM. I find that I feel more comfortable in the female only spaces. Its not that I am not allowed in the male spaces, but I feel like I can be more open in the female spaces. So given my own experiences, I am incredibly curious to see if women learning in a female only class leads to improvements in female student success.
It is important to note that the student body at Qatar University between 70-80% female, so much of the campus buildings are set aside for female students. The reasons for this high number are varied, but the most common explanation given is that due to male guardianship laws, Qatari women must have permission from their fathers in order to leave the country. The oldest males typically go away to campuses in the US, Canada, or Europe. The only males who go to college in Qatar are typically the 3rd, 4th, or 5th sons (if a family has that many). Since education at Qatar University is gender separated, families are more likely to support female student who want to go to the flagship national university rather than study abroad.
The female students in my classroom are highly motivated and want to go into well-paying careers like medicine and engineering.
These careers are open to women in Qatar and provide secure jobs. However, there are not enough spaces for all the students who want to go. The pressure to do well is intense! Students can become upset over the smallest deductions in their score.
Case in point - this week I had a student break down in my office over missing ONE question on an exam. The student came to my office after the exam and asked to see what they missed. I noticed they were very nervous - shaking even. That was a bit unusual to witness, especially since nearly all my students earned what I though were high scores. This student was a very strong student and only missed one question. It was a hard question - naming transition metal compounds with a polyatomic ion - that was easy to make a mistake on. I was not surprised to see it as one of the most missed questions. However, when I shared the exam with the student, the student started crying. My first thought was - these are tears of relief, because the student did very well. But as I saw the tears and the shaking hands, I realized that it was more.
While talking with the student, I learned that she was anxious to be admitted to a specific program that only had 20 spots a year. Over 400 students apply for those 20 spots so students must have high scores. The student felt like missing one question on the exam, which lowered her grade from 100 to 95%, was enough to keep her out of the program. She felt that if she could not get into the program, that she would be stuck without a career.
Hearing this - I instantly went into growth mindset mode.
The first thing I did was to remind the student that a score on the exam was NOT a measure of who they are as a person. Second, when a school admits less than 1% of its applicants, getting admitted is not something that you can control. If you get accepted, that's great, but if you do not get accepted, that does not mean you are any less of person or any less capable of success. I mentioned the times I was rejected in my career (aka, my CV of failures) and how that was part of growing. It seemed to calm the student down. Third, I asked the student if there were any other career paths or schools they would consider pursuing. At the mention of a different career path, the student broke down again. They had only ever wanted this career and if they could not do this career, she would never be able to participate in the workforce.
At this moment, I had to pause. If I was in the US, I would say you can pursue any career you want. But here, that is not always true. While the % of women in the Qatar workforce is increasing, male guardianship laws place real restrictions on female career paths. Female students need to have a supportive and understanding family in order to leave the country or switch career paths. I don't know the student's family situation and it is NOT appropriate for me to ask (in Qatar or in the US). I can hope that the student's family will support them in any career choice they make - even if it means going to another country to get into the program or pursuing a career that is lower profile. But I can't make that assumption.
So I had to adjust my approach here. I can not advise students for a specific path, but I can remind them that they are awesome and will be successful at the paths they end up pursuing. I can not state that things will always be the way they want, but that I believe they are amazing (mumtaz in Arabic!). Even though a significant part of me is frustrated at the state of laws, I can point to several women role models at the university who demonstrate that women can succeed in STEM careers in this country. After a lot of questions and tears, the student calmed down enough to stop shaking and left.
I was pretty shaken by the incident so I shared the experience with some of my Qatar University colleagues. Is this a normal thing to expect from students? Did I do the right thing in giving the student a space to talk?
Their responses generally were - yes it is normal to see this from female students, it is rare to see it from male students. One colleague (a former female student at the university) said that female students often do this in order to get the professor to change their grade. She expressed doubt in the veracity of the students story until I shared that changing the grade was never an option, I've been teaching long enough to be impervious to those requests unless the student can prove that the question was wrong. Then she said - yes, students may experience this stress but it okay to send them to academic counselors. (I now need to figure out how to make referrals). Another colleague (male) said that he was grateful that the students felt comfortable enough to talk to me about this. He was impressed that I had the patience to spend so much time with the student.
Now I'm not really sure how to end this post - other than to say that if other students want to talk, my office door is open.
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