PSU Magazine Winter 1989

1'f "So many concess ions are be ing made to outsiders that much of the indi genous culture is be ing lost," observes Rudy Barton. "The culture is becoming geared and prepackaged for the convenience of the European tourist. It was d isheartening .·· And it was on the beac hes of Tun is ia that some of the project women fo und themselves ringed by a group of leering young men. "We felt threatened ," Li sa Andrus says of the incident. " I thin k Tunisian men believe women tourists are there because we're a little loose. We got the kind of stares and comments I haven't ex perienced since I was a teenager. It wasn't fl attering . But in Yemen. somehow we were j ust so fore ign we were accepted as fo reign. " It was the status of women in Arabic countries that caused the most severe cultural jarring to gro up members during the trip . In Yemen women are ve iled completely in bl ack, sometimes even to wearing gloves. Restaurants are strongly male oriented , w ith onl y a small section where women and children are allowed . And at a pri vate home, while the men of the house and the ir fo reign guests dined , their w ives cooked , all unseen. It wasn't until dinner was fini shed and the men had gone to chew qat (a mi ld amphetamine) and sociali ze that the project women were \ ( fin ally able to meet their hostesses . In their travels, the group met a number of women who were hi ghly educated and he ld pos it ions of power; more of them , however, particul arly in Yemen, were ill-educated with little opportunity to better themselves. But they were thoughtful women, wanting more fo r their children, espec iall y the girls . than they themselves had. Significant improvement of their lot in the near future is not something the Oregon travelers foresee, however. "I fee l a tremendous amount of empathy but at the same time a sense of fut ility," Strouse says of the Yemeni women. "When you're sec luded and veiled from ado lescence, totally separated by gender, and virtuall y illiterate , the outlook is grim ." And stepping outside the soc ial boundaries is d ifficult. Women in the American group fo und the ir own situation uncomfo rtab le . ··w e were intensely aware there were places we weren't supposed to be," Strouse remembers . ·'In restaurants we were segregated, shunted off to another - - ---.... . ... 1i:1iu., >i?men (Drawings by Ruczv Barron.) part . We we re looked at, stared at, leered at. I was never alone . which is so unlike my normal li fe. But be ing a woman alone j ust isn't smart . Rudy Barton tried to see the situat ion from the perspecti ve of the Arabic men, however. "Imag ine goi ng th rough li fe and onl y seeing the faces of a dozen women w ithin thei r immed iate families. It 's no surpri se they stared at us... But it was a surpri se to the Americans to learn that veiling is on the increase. "Yo ung women are readopting the ve il." says Walter Ellis . "It 's part of the resurge nce of conservatism, altho ugh there's noth ing in the Koran that mandates it. But it's also li kely they fee l more comfo rtable ... One Yemeni woman with whom they spo ke would concur. Married at 16 . with a fi fth grade education. she was fully ve iled and didn't want that for her daughter. But her daughter fo und it too d ifficult to go un ve iled in that soc iety, putting up with men making comments and starin g at her on the streets. PSU 7