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Zurich15317 Posts
A popular online dating site shows 1 entry for the entire country. The poor girl is from Laos or some other South East Asian country. Being a girl sure does suck around here.
Women are banned from basically anything. They are not allowed to leave the house by themselves. They are not allowed to drive. Most professions they are banned from. They can’t be anywhere where they could be in contact with men not from their family.
Last month a girl filed sexual harassment charges against coworkers. When she appeared for the hearing, she was arrested and then sentenced to 300 lashes and 2 months in jail – because she had shown up in court without a male to accompany her.
Women cannot work anywhere males could be. On my first day I did not see a single female, from arriving at the airport, driving to the hotel to checking in, everyone was male. Let me tell you you miss the sole sight of women very quickly. The world is just an uglier place without them.
Restaurants, public buildings, shopping centers have two doors. One for bachelors, one for family. None for girls. Female doctors can’t treat men, male doctors can’t see females. This week a girl died in school because the male emergency team was not allowed to enter the girl school’s compound. There are no female emergency doctors. None that are allowed to drive at least.
While on the surface the religious and traditional oppression seems ubiquitous, after a while you begin to see signs of modernization. Not a week passes without the local paper reporting on proposed women rights or liberalization, or on the latest legal scandal involving women unfairly tried.
I am in one of the most Western and liberal cities in the country. There is hardly any “virtue police”, and when there is they just walk around looking bored.
Occasionally you see women without complete hijab, and sometimes Western women without even headscarfs. Some wear very tight garments, makeup you can see through the veils, and stylish sunglasses. Some let a strain of hair or two fall over their eyes.
One time an SUV with tinted windows drove by, and as they passed us the rear windows were lowered and a couple of girls in full makeup and uncovered happily laughed and waved at us. Nothing similar has happened since then though, and no local can believe this story.
Where consumer product ads in the West are usually presented by attractive women, billboards here feature exclusively males in traditional clothing. Sometimes this appears a bit absurd, when something like shampoo is advertised by a guy in a full scarf that covers all his hair.
Things are different on The Company area. Women are not required to cover, and many use that freedom to walk around dressed in so few clothes they would draw views in the West. Women can drive as well within the compound, which makes for absurd instances, since the main company compound is divided by a public road. More than once have I seen meetings canceled because a female colleague couldn’t make it over the public road because she didn’t find a male driver.
The government carefully tries to improve women’s rights. I guess they fully realize the devastating effect on the economy the gender segregation has. However, all attempts to lift gender restrictions are met by furious resistance from the powerful clerics.
Since he published an open letter asking for an end to gender segregation last year, the head of the virtue police of all people faces wild opposition up to death threats by the religious conservatives. He has started a public discussion about segregation though, and accelerated the pace at which more women rights are being proposed or actually introduced. Allowing women to appear before a court by themselves is one of them. Even allowing women to drive is being discussed now.
Meanwhile, I don’t think that poor girl did get many responses on her dating site. All other similar online portals are blocked by censorship anyway – no Game Crush around here!
Previous entries:
Traffic
 
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that's really not cool 
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Which country are you in exactly? It sounds really terrible. I've heard similar stories of Middle Eastern countries, but its different hearing from an actual person and not a newspaper or an article. I'm much more likely to believe it hasn't been over hyped and exaggerated.
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This reads like a work of fiction.
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This is about "Laos or some other South East Asian country", and not about Germany, right? I got really confused when I read "being a girl sure does suck around here" and read that your country tag says Germany
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wow...that really sucks for the women =\
its times like this where moral relativism kicks us in the ass.
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Something has to be done, and by that I mean we have to do something.
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Spenguin
Australia3316 Posts
Are you writing for an assessment or just as a hobby?
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Sounds like most middle eastern countries.
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Religious oppression and indoctrination does not relieve people from human nature. Its just a sad state these people are living in. During the workday, they are religious conservatives living in their dystopian hell, once the weekend hits. They flee the country and cross the bridge and start hitting the nightclubs and start drinking like college kids, not forgetting to pick up a Filipino prostitute, or they would go hit the cinemas and watch literally from opening to closing hours. This includes women too, once they enter the plane, the hijab is gone and all you see is a Lebanese model under it, and they would go drink and go to hotels too. You'll never know, untill your plane reaches that country, and then they wear the veil once more.
5/5. I enjoy your blogs, that country is a sad dystopia that is fitting for a novel despite its wealth.
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Calgary25969 Posts
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my aunt is from laos...i hate laosian women..sorry...
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you sound like you write for cnn or something.
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Imagine the economical powerhouses Iran and Saudiarabia would become if they fixed their policies
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On May 02 2010 23:16 Purind wrote:
This is about "Laos or some other South East Asian country", and not about Germany, right? I got really confused when I read "being a girl sure does suck around here" and read that your country tag says Germany
Same question which country are you talking about exactly?
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On May 02 2010 23:36 Reason wrote:
Something has to be done, and by that I mean we have to do something.
Like what can you do? Invade them?
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Which country are you talking about? Also, I hope the country you're talking about will soon finish having its "free women's rights" established like they are here in the US.
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I find this funny because everyday you see on the news they constantly talk about the human abuses in China. Whenever there is a high level talk between US/west with China it's human rights.
And yet this, this never gets talked about. It makes people think that when it comes to human rights violation, China MUST be the worst. I mean they execute so many people and they can't even criticize their government.
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Are you working in the UAE? It sounds pretty grim but fascinating at the same time - an entirely different societal system.
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Voted 5 but is this really about Laos  ?
http://www.bridge.ids.ac.uk//bridge/Reports/re9c.pdf
Lao women have played a central role in the countrys economic development over
the past two decades. Womens participation exceeds mens in the economically
active population. Women made up 52.8 percent of the active labour force (15-44
year olds) in 1985
Moreover if communists rule there... communists control media and are atheist by default so religious conservatives wouldn't even be heard there...?
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Zurich15317 Posts
On May 02 2010 23:43 Spenguin wrote:
Are you writing for an assessment or just as a hobby?
Just for TL.
I'd rather not say what country this is but a 5 minute session on google and some reasoning should be enough to deduct what country I am talking about. It's not Laos haha.
On May 02 2010 23:47 Whiplash wrote:
Sounds like most middle eastern countries.
Certainly not true. I have been to a couple now, and most are not close to what I am describing.
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If I had to guess, i'd say he's in Saudi Arabia. There have been many similar lashing cases and i've heard very similar stories from people I know who've worked there.
Edit: Zatic, can I ask what you do for a living?
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The read was great. The content is saddening.
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my dad works in the foreign devision of his company, so he travels a lot and I get to visit him during my holidays. He's living in Qatar at the moment, which seems very western oriented compared to what you describe, but I have to agree with you that you just yearn for the sight of women after a while. It's not just that there aren't any, but you never know how to act around them, if do spot a herd of them running after their family chief. And yes, traffic is a bloody nightmare.
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EPT![[image loading]](/staff/zatic/barbies.jpg)
