This book offers a compelling examination of women's role in the construction of national identity in Qatar, situating it within the broader Gulf region and interrogating global frameworks of nationalism and nation-building through the concept of the 'ideal woman', against the complex, diverse lived realities of Qatari women themselves.

Zarqa Parvez shows how Qatar's national identity is shaped through a hybrid model negotiating local authenticity with modern socio-political imperatives, located within the broader experience of postcolonial nation-building globally. Women are central to this project, yet their genuine agency remains consistently underrepresented in dominant narratives.

Drawing on institutional analysis and rich ethnographic research, the book uncovers the hidden soldiers behind dominant narratives, insisting on women's voices and self-understandings as constitutive of Qatar's national identity, not merely reflective of it.