Amna Mahmoud Al-Jaydah,a pioneer in the struggle for female education in Qatar: a biographical research study

Much of the historical data, often narratives, on 19th and early 20th century women teachers in the West highlights the ways in which these women educators were influenced by religious institutions and/or the cultural, social, and political contexts in which they lived. This study uses this same lens to examine the life and work of a female educator Qatar (the Middle East) during this period. In 19th century Qatar, the rise of the kuttab system marked the beginning of communal learning for males; for females, however, education was limited to learning the Quran at home. In 1938, Amna Mahmoud Al-Jaydah, considered Qatar’s first female teacher, began to initiate significant changes in this system. This study, utilising biographical methodology with a feminist perspective, documents the life and work of Amna Mahmoud and provides a narrative of the struggle for female education in a society that often rejected the advancement of women.