The Confusion of Segregation

I recently read an article in the free magazine publication 'Y' entitled One Step Forward Two Steps Back (by Paul McLoughlin) and thought I should share it and my reactions here.

This article is discussing the recent announcement by the Muscat Municipality of a new law, which states that all gyms, swimming pools, sports facilities and massage parlours are now to be segregated into male and female-only facilities (this excludes facilities located inside 4 and 5-star hotels). Ummm.... What?!

Yes, that is correct, what was once the norm for adult men and women attending these facilities, no problems (well, none that are advertised...), now big brother has stepped in to change the system.

Now before some of you jump down my throat about my view, there are people here in Oman - both locals and expats - who wholeheartedly agree with me.

So, why is it such a problem? Well, firstly the article states that these facilities were given very short notice of the change. I'm not sure of exactly what time frame was given but without adequate time to make any necessary physical changes to the facility or time to inform all the people with memberships, how can the process occur smoothly?

The second issue is because it is segregated it means men and women now have allocated times they can attend the gym (for example). I don't know who has dictacted the timings but what has been decided is from 5am till 8.30am is men only, from 8.30am till 6.00pm is women only and then from 6.00pm till close is again for men only. This, as the article states, works in favour of men who work and yes, this is a male dominated workforce but does not account for the women who work.

And finally, with the changes many of the wives of working expat men now can't go because their only mode of transport is to get a lift with their husband (there is no public transport system in Muscat and taxis are not safe to take as a lone female).

So, these all add up to disgruntled members and a major loss of income for many of these facilities (many have already had requests for refunds of memberships because they can no longer attend). One Executive Director contacted the Municipality to push the point across for the lack of benefits of segregation but his request was declined and the law must be enforced.

I'm sure some of you are thinking "well why not just take up membership at one of the hotels instead?" Most of the local gyms have a yearly membership of around 120 rials (approx. AUS $360), this is the same amount for a monthly membership to a hotel gym, making it completely unaffordable!

In support of a cancellation of the law and return to pre-segregation measures, the author of the article writes: "We [Oman] have set lots of examples in the relationship between men and women, for example, if you go to a hospital you are likely to be treated by a female and vice-versa. This means that people approach one another with care. These areas of mixed relations in the public sphere continue without any problems. I myself am conservative, but I am not offended by seeing men and women in public - in cafes and restaurants." As a female from a western country, this remark just seems so quaint to me! I find it hard to understand that men and women aren't allowed to just be; to interact without all these rules and regulations. And no, I do not agree that laws and beliefs like this, has made this a better society as a result of it.

I am finding this confusing and don't know why the Municipality feels the need to enforce such a law. This really is one step forward and two giant leaps backward!

Jordan

After 2 delayed flights, we finally arrived in Jordan. Flying into Jordan is like flying into any country in the Middle East – a vast expanse of rolling nothingness.

At Queen Alia International Airport, we stood in line for immigration – something I am getting quite used to doing; standing in line. At the final counter after about half an hour in line, our photo had to be taken. Now I am quite short and the counter where the webcam was place was nearly above my head. The official behind the counter – who must have been around my age – started to laugh at how short I was and that I had to stand on my toes in order for the photo to be taken (thank you to all my ballet training!). I wouldn’t usually mention this part of it except this is the first time in the few countries I have visited so far that I have seen an immigration/customs official laugh, let alone crack a smile! Jordan was shaping up to be an interesting country.

My first impressions of Amman, the capital of Jordan, on the half an hour drive to our hotel was exactly what I was expecting it to look like. There were old, decrepit buildings, the poor people and refugees living in tents around the edge of the city, insane drivers… It was a bit exciting to actually see it like this.

(Photo: Amman at sunset)

Our driver, Wayheed, told us that there were 2.5 million people living in Amman, made worse by the constant influx of Iraqi people from Baghdad when Suddam and America went to war. Apparently these Iraqi people are very rich and there appears to be a bit of animosity towards them from the Jordanian people, possibly because Jordan is one of the poorer countries of the Middle East.

Traffic was like what you see on the TV – cars honking and shoving there was through the traffic, what should have been 2 lanes quickly becomes 4, 5 or even 6 lanes in some places, possibly because there were no actual lines painted on the bitumen. MP called it ‘organised chaos’. I was and still am, very surprised that there aren’t more daily car accidents but I guess if you live in this type of environment you learn how to drive like a crazy person!

The modern part of Amman, built in the last 20 years, was not exactly what we as Westerners’ would call ‘modern’. To me it looked as if it had been covered in dust, hosed with a drizzle of water and then hit with a sledge hammer in a few strategic places. Oh and then a bit more dust added for good measure. The architecture is quite different then what is in Oman, blockier and less detailed – I prefer Oman…

I know that it had only been the first day and all we’d done by this stage was drive from the airport to the hotel, but so far Jordan had lived up to exactly what I had expected and I was enthralled!

That night at dinner a wedding was being held in the hotel in the Grand Ballroom. A group of Jordanian musicians came into the foyer, clothed in what we though was traditional army dress, with a couple of drums, bagpipes and a megaphone – go figure! Well, we were not ready for what happened next… It really was amazing. The guests slowly moved into the foyer and then everything got very loud. The megaphone should have been a give-away… They hit drums, played the bagpipes, clapped along and one guy sang through the megaphone. Finally the bride (in a white wedding dress) and groom (all tuxed up) appeared and slowly pushed the loud crowd out of the foyer down into the ballroom. It was all quite the spectacle and I was totally stoked to be witnessing it!

Unfortunately however, the loud music continued late into the night and reverberated throughout the hotel…

But that wasn’t the worst of our lack of sleep. Because it was the beginning of the Eid al Fitr holiday (the breaking of Ramadan), the mosque that was conveniently located across the road, held a prayer service at 4am that went for a half an hour and another one at 6am that went for an HOUR AND A HALF!!! Now usually a prayer service wouldn’t be a problem, except a mosque broadcasts their services through the loud speakers at the top of their spires.

Jordan was rapidly loosing its dust covered shine.

Our first day was spent mostly in the car, unfortunately. I am not a good traveller, and with all the winding roads, up and down mountains, I was not a happy little camper.

(Photo: Inside Kerak Castle, an ancient Roman-built castle)

There are some amazing historical sites in this country – Mt Nebo, the site where Moses died, Pope John Paul II visited in 2000 and some original mosaics that are like 2000 years old or something reside; the Mosaic City of Madaba, where the primary industry and creating mosaics; and Kerak Castle, and original Roman built castle, that you can climb all through and touch and you aren’t restricted by barricades (although MP certainly gave me a few heart stopping moments).

(Photo: Inside the Mosaic Orthodox Church at Madaba)

The next day was spent in ‘magical’ Petra. Wow, this is an amazing place. MP wanted to explore the entire thing, but we only had about 5 or 6 hours to do this. If you only even have one day in Jordan, go to Petra, but wear some really good walking shoes, pack some bandaids and take a lot of water! We walked up to the Monastery, which we were told would take 20 minutes up, 20 minutes down (big fat lie - took us nearly an hour to get up!) was a killer walk.

(Photo: The Treasury at Petra)


(Photo: The start of the hour walk up to the Monastery)


(Photo: The Monastery - after an hours walk in 40 degree heat up a whole lot of stairs, it was worth it.)

The final day was spent at the Dead Sea – loved it! This was my most favourite part of the trip. Floating in the Dead Sea is truly amazing and so unexpected. Yes, you see all the promo pictures of people doing exactly that, but actually experiencing it is something very different. On top of that, Israel is the other border of the Dead Sea. I found it quite strange to be floating in the sea and staring at this illusive country. I kept expecting to see bombs flying and explosions and gun fire, but no, it remained silent behind the mountains.


(Photo: A floater in the Dead Sea! The mountains in the background are Israel)

One final note on Jordan, the US Embassy… We did a very quick drive around some of Amman (not long enough to be called a city tour, which is what we had expected) and passed the Australian Embassy. A lovely building on top of a hill that they rent for a ridiculous half a million a year!! And then we went passed the US Embassy – damn! It was so heavily fortified with high fences and at every corner or gate there was a hummer with one guy in the turret with a mounted machine gun and others sitting in the vehicle with machine guns. It was a bit of overkill but I guess they have reasons for it. So out of character for me to see machine guns in the streets and men ready to fire it necessary.

(Photo: Amman - you can see the spire of the mosque in the centre)

The following day we flew home via Dubai, but that is another story!