Respecting Women

When I wrote my lost post "Autumn Thunder" there was an issue I wanted to write about but I was not sure if I should, anyway it had nothing to do with the event it self but with mainly the Libyan community in London, as I walked in the hotel I found most of the invited people standing outside the hall where the film was going to be screened as the doors were still closed, I noticed very few ladies there, they were standing with their partners, about 20 minutes later I saw a member of staff open one of the hall's doors slightly then suddenly from no where I saw a group of Libyan ladies, about 15 or 20 run past us and straight into the whole, it really was like a flash then the member of staff closed the door, obviously they were hidden somewhere out of sight until some body asked the organisers to open the door for them to keep them away from prying male Libyan eyes!!!! after the doors were open for the rest of us to go in the event hall, the first thing I noticed was how all the ladies were seated right at the back all in one group in a segregated section, I immediately looked at the few ladies I saw in the beginning who were standing with their partners, they all looked puzzled and confused, I am sure they wanted to sit with their families but eventually decided to segregate from their families and sat at back with the other ladies and they really did not look very happy, if you check the pictures of the same event that took place in Washington DC and in Oslo you will notice that Libyan ladies attended both of these events too but rightly they sat with their families as full members of the Libyan community, they were not herded and hidden at the back as if they were something to be ashamed of, I myself did not take my family as they had to attend Arabic school on that day and did not have time to come to this event but if they did attend I was not going to let them sit away from me, most of the ladies there were young, probably did not know much about Libya, so wouldn't it have been better if they sat with their fathers or husbands who would have explained things to them especially that the film was full of old historical facts!! by letting them all sit together at the back they had no chance of asking any one if they had a question and to be honest I do find things like that a bit insulting, this was not a social event, it was an educational respectable event full of respectable people, we were not there to ogle women and make a pass at them, after all these same ladies go to mixed schools and colleges, they use mixed transport and do their shopping in mixed stores, the silly thing is that who ever decided that women are to sit at the back probably thought it was best to not draw any attention to them, they did the exact opposite, the only lady I saw sitting with everyone else was European.

They got it right in Washington DC and in Oslo but in London, well as usual we got it wrong, no surprise there!

I know some people will not like what I wrote but I meant it in the best most tasteful way, it has nothing to do with being a westerner or modern but all to do with respecting our Libyan ladies and accepting their place along side their brothers, fathers, husbands and sons, that is not wrong.