I have been asked a few times now, what it is like to live and work in an Islamic Country. Primarily being TS and also (more correctly) being a woman.
I have lived 95% of my life in the Western world, but since 2002 have permenantly outside my home country, having left the United Kingdon very shortly after SRS. I have also worked in many Countries pre-transition.
There are a number of beliefs that I first want to establish and these areas follows.
(1) I believe I have the right to be me.
(2) I believe that everyone has the right to believe (or not) in any God they wish.
(3) I believe I should always respect the customs, tradition and culture of the Countries that I visit.
These are not only my beliefs, but core values of mine as well, they define partly who I am.
This post is not about religion, but religion does have a part ( although small) in the subject matter I wish to discuss.
Before I lived and worked in the Middle East, I was under the basic misconception, that women where poorly mistreated and discriminated against in Islamic Society. The truth is very different, there is segregation of the Genders, but woman actually benefit from "reverse discrimination" that exists and have much better access to facilities, services than men currently do.
Before I go on to describe some of the above scenarios and why I believe they benefit women, I want to talk about dress codes.
Ask anyone about womens dress in an Islamic country and they will probably mention Burqa, Hijab, abaya, covering ones body and face and dressing in Black. This is not a religious requirement it is a cultural issue. As one of my local friends said " Why would God make women wear Black in one of the hotest regions of the world" .. She has a point, no where in the Qu'oran does it say women should cover their bodies and faces, although it does say they should cover their hair (many other religions, cultures also cover there hair).
Wearing of Black outer robes is both tradition and custom and believe me most of the local women wear designer Western clothes under their robes ( I see this every weekend at the beauty salon) and also have wonderful long (normally Black) hair. Why Black, I am not sure but in Western Civilization we have a similar cultural thing where good guys wear white, bad guys wear black.
As a Westerner I am not bound by the religious requirements but try to dress in moderation, out of respect to local culture. Skirts below the knee, long shorts, long sleved blouses, when I work. If I am visiting local clients I will wear a Black suit (pants or skirt) and always wear my hair up. Sometimes I even wear a head scarf if I do not know the client or it is a first meeting.
Today I had a number of chores to do and will use these to illustrate the effect of segregation and "reverse discrimination". Most Government offices, hospital etc. have a seperate and segregated womans only areas.
I went out today wearing, cropped trousers, short sleeved T-shirt and had my hair up, very nice pair of high heeled sandals and nicely made up. My first stop wasthe "Court of first justice" to have some business documents authorized by a judge. No waiting in the courthouse, there is a seperate hall for women and they have theirv own judges..... in past a long queue of men and out in about 15 minutes, 3 other women in the waiting room.
Second stop local telecoms provider to change my mobile and landline phones over to a business number, typical place, go in take a ticket (124) number currently displayed (45).... yeah, but that is for men only. Ladies no ticket and you can sit in leather chairs being served coffe and cold drinks, why you wait for the queue of 10 ladies to get served. In the meantime the guys are seething as people push in and a few arguements break out.
On to the hospital for my blood tests and my new labour card..... Ladies parking area, big queue of expat men, no women, straight in and two lovely Female Doctors waiting to take my blood. 15 minutes later off for a chest X-Ray, again Ladies section, the whole visit took 30 minutes.
There are women only days (Fri) on the beach and Saturday is Family day, when you can go with husbands and Children, the atmosphere on both days is wonderful and stress free, it is a nice atmosphere to relax, unwind and spendtime with girlfriends over a glass of wine in the beach cafe... sure if you want to be leached at, suffer inuendo and constant stares of strange guys, go any other day in the week.
My friends and I recently worked out that we could ,if we wanted get free entry and drinks everyday of the week at one nightclub (or another) as there is a Ladies Night every night..... Mens night (they get half price drinks on a Wednesday) doesn't exist.
There are some fantastic Ladies clubs, that have everything you could wish for and offer beauty, gym, fitness, swimming, training courses, the one I use also has a internet cafe and employs Female security guards.
Men and women do openly mix, there are no restrictions on this, shopping malls are packed, cinemas are packed at a weekend. They are allowed in the police and Fire Brigade and many women drive taxis or work as driving instructors...... because women prefer to go with them.
Boys and girls are segregated at shool from an early age.... but this benefits them academically, even in the UK experiments with single sex classes have shown that both sexes benefit (especially the boys ) from that environment.
I get treated extremely well by the local men, they are gentleman to the extreme and I get shown all the privledges any woman would expect to get shown (hopefully anywhere) in the World.
There is virtually no crime, I go running late at night or early morning, leave my car unlocked , walk to my friends villa (30 minutes) and have no hesitation walking in underground car parks late at night. In the UK I was burgled twice, had bricks thrown through my windows, had my tyres slashed on my car for being Transsexual. I would NEVER go out late at night, on my own, it was not safe.
I personally know where I prefer to live.....
Not all the region is as liberal as where I live. In Saudi or Kuwait, I could not drive a car, vote or even get a job as a woman, go out alone or leave the country without my husband permission, now that is discrimination.... or is it culture.
I truly did not know what to expect when I first moved here. It is not discrimination, it is a just a different perspective of how men and women are treated. Women are treated with a great deal of respect because, due to segregation they are being seen or are talking mainly to women, the communication and interaction is better. Men get to deal with other men and the conflict that invariably brings is everywhere to see.
As for being transsexual, I have been here 2 1/2 years and not had any issues yet or come near to having to discuss my past. Only my closest friends know my past andall my documentation is in the Female form, including my birth certificate.
As I said.... I believe I have the right to be me any where in the world.
Buffy
