Ladies First

I went to the bank to open an account. We finally found a bank which allows joint account and also account for women who does not work (not that we have been dilligent enough to look for it though). Because lover works, we went after office hours. If I need to go to the bank during the office hours, I can chose to go to the lady's section of the bank.

There will be no men in the ladies' section. No man allowed. No male workers. Niqabis can take off their niqabs and women staff are usually very glamorous. In Arab world, glamour means GLAMOUR with a capital G.

So we went to the normal bank where they serve all genders. Women have the privilege for an all woman's place but if they want to, they can go to the all gender place.

After sometime sitting there, more people came in and more women came in too. The manager of the bank (male) quickly came to us women, and asked our needs and if your needs are easy, they quickly entertain you. He didn't ask from any of the men. Thus as it goes in this country, many women skip queue.

Really, this is a normal scene in this country. The women get served first. The women, even she is last on the queue will be called up to the front. Not in all sectors though.

They don't do it when you queue for fast food in Qatar. Unlike Saudi, where almost all places are a total segregation between man and woman. If you are in Saudi, I suggest you tell the women to buy if there is a woman's section. It is way faster.

In Qatar, if you need to make car inspection or car insurance, it is much faster to ask the wife to do it. It'll be done in a jiff while the men might have to queue for hours. Even if you had an accident, they will give priority if the one who called is a woman. Men will be treated with double standard and maybe harshness.

When a woman wants to cross the road, the locals would press brake even if they are speeding. You can tell where they are from if they don't stop for the women - usually the Asians. When man wants to cross the road, pandai-pandai engkaulah.

Not because they are miang but they really do not want to leave women in distress for long. Well there are some cases of miangness, but most of the time is the respect for women and the idea that women should not be distressed for long.

For now, in this country, the woman are treated like queens. I suppose, when woman demands total equality, they will get it. And by then, do not expect anyone to hold the door for you anymore.