Lessons on diversity - Part II

Actually, this is what I meant to get at the first time around too ... I guess I just got side tracked :-) The GENDER ROLE issue and cultural nuances particularly related to women is actually the direction I meant to go ....

Certainly cat calls, whistles and under the breath comments are nothing new (I mean that in no egotistical way whatsoever - sometimes it's surprising how 'unselective' many men are in their street harrassment), but it does become very blatently evident around the streets of Geneva that women are treated in very different ways around the world. Given that the world is represented in miniature, per say, in Geneva it is an interesting clash of sorts being confronted with the way in which, for example, men from the Middle East interact with women. Unlike the more common styles of harrassment that I already mentioned, many apparently feel that they have the full right to give you the full (but silent) head-to-toe-up-and-down-and-up-again look over with a look that is much more bold I, apparently, am accustomed to. Talking to other (girl) friends, many have made the same observations, even mentioning that they get the notably unequal treatment - if not harrassment - by collegues at work

My solution? Rather than continuing to feel like the 'victim' that cannot do anything about where others set their eyes, I've begun looking people straight back and actually saying "Hi, everything all right?" (In a rather cold tone and continued walking, mind you, so as not to invite conversation either). It's actually been rather amazing the reaction - it is nearly always a 'deer in the headlights look', followed by silence and looks suddenly shot towards any other direciton. Apparently some guys are totally taken by surprise by someone (a woman particularly) confronting them directly. And apparently my strategy works.

These are the kinds of culture clashes that are so very difficult to ease. In no way do I mean to stigmatize or stereotype men from the Middle East, yet I would argue that - in my short experience thus far in Geneva - that it is perhaps the Middle Eastern and Western cultures that most clash on gender issues. In the same way that I am very much used to being treated (nearly, I admittedly do not believe fully) as an equal with my male counterparts, they are very much used to holding a social position notably higher and more dominant than woman. Just how, then, do you reconcile the two traditions?