Studies on female labor market participation in the Arab world point at a gender paradox (Moghadam and Naguib, 2015). While the performance of most of these countries in terms of education and health has been outstanding, the female labor participation rate remains low and the gap between male and female labor force participation continues to be the highest by world standards (World Bank, 2013; Verme, 2015). On this matter, the state of Qatar offers an interesting case for investigation. It has the highest female labor participation rate in the region (51%) but it still ranks low when it comes to the gender inequality index (113) (UNDP, 2014). The Qatari government placed the empowerment of women among its national priorities and made it one of the pillars of its long-term strategy for the country known as Qatar National Vision 2030. The government followed this up with the implementation of a unique set of family-friendly and female friendly policies in the public sector. This appears to have paid off, as 81% of Qatari women work in the public sector (Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, 2015). In this paper, we will present preliminary findings about the representation of women in the Qatari public sector with some relevant policy implications and recommendations.