SEPARATE BUT EQUAL?

Oman doesn't really have an enforced racial divide, but as in much of the conservative Gulf, it has a clear-cut gender divide. Saudi Arabia takes it to an extreme; other Gulf countries - such as Oman - are relaxing it ever so slightly.

Even the architecture at Sultan Qaboos University reflects this sexual apartheid. Of course, there are women-only dorms. Many US universities do that, too. But SQU has separate elevators marked "Men's Lift" and "Women's Lift". And there are separate walkways on campus with signs up: "Women Students' Corridor", "Men Students Corridor". Each classroom has two doors on opposite sides. Men enter and leave through one, women through the other. In many cases, it's (any way you look at it) the back door for the ladies. Separate, but equal? There's a bit too much "enter-by-the-back-door, keep-quiet-and-know-your-place" about the whole arrangement. But at least they are on the same campus (unlike in Saudi Arabia) and sit in the same classrooms at the same time.

In class, women (mainly all in black) sit on one side of the room, men (mainly all in white) sit on the other. Sometimes, if there aren't equal numbers of women, the gals sit in the back. The woman naturally gravitate this way without any instructions. Being too close to the men might lead to "talk" by other students and ruin a girl's reputation. Protecting their honor is the main duty. When passing each other in the corridor, women look down out of modesty. The sexes don't greet each other. That would be "forward".

Among the faculty, things are more relaxed, and male and female colleagues will greet each other and carry on polite conversations, then go and sit at segregated lunch tables. It's mainly a comfort-level thing, I believe. The women and men would feel very awkward seated at the same table for more than a few minutes.

It's not surprising that this segregation occurs everywhere. After growing up in Saudi Arabia, it feels second nature to me. But what is surprising - and fun to watch - are the times when the oh-so-carefully-observed barriers come down and male and female students do actually interact.

A few weeks ago, I was walking back to my office and passed an outdoor engineering students exhibit. Each exhibit was in a separate booth. A big food and refreshments table was on the opposite side ("manned" by women students only, of course), but many of the engineering students exhibiting were women and were giving their spiel to both male and female students. Some of the male students were obviously motivated by something more than just professional curiosity in chatting up the female exhibitors! And that setting also allowed female engineering students to talk to male exhibitionists, I mean, exhibitors! (gotta watch those suffixes!)

In my new Level 6 class this semester, there are 16 women to 6 men. They tried the first couple of days to sit each in their half of the class, making it pretty squished for the women's side. "This is ridiculous," I decided. So, with the instructor demanding it, the women students somewhat reluctantly (with maybe some relief), spread out over the last two rows to fit wall to wall, enclosing the men's "quarter" (front right) behind and across. This led to some spoken interaction between the men in the second row back and the women in the row right behind them. (Interesting, I thought. This wasn't required; it just happened of its own accord.)

And sometimes, emotions run too strong and dialogue erupts despite the both sexes' best efforts at physical and verbal apartheid. In my Level 4 class last "block", for instance, the two sides kept pretty well separate and didn't interact for many weeks. One day, I had a unit on advertising and showed several ads I had clipped from magazines. One was of a fashionable blond woman with Prada sunglasses (a Prada ad). The men in class were making their mildly ribald comments, while the women rolled their eyes in mock disapproval. Then one of the male students said something like, "Beautiful, teacher." "Oh, so you like the glasses, do you?" I teased back. "No, not the glasses ..." and said something else that got a sudden rise out of the women's side so that, suddenly, the women were ALL talking to the men - rather heatedly. I quickly called for them to calm down, but it was fun to see them actually interact for a change when the normal icy barrier was melted.

It will be interesting to see what happens in 5-10 years with the new generation. (Of course, SQU students come from every part of Oman, from the more liberal cities to tiny, conservative villages. The trickle-down effect should be pretty unequal.)