This was published 1 year ago
Some countries have a problem with women. Travellers are ignoring it
The treatment of women as second-class citizens in some countries is a form of apartheid.Credit: iStock
Pretend, for a second, that it's not women being discriminated against here. Pretend these laws are for people of a different race, people with dark skin. And consider what that would look like.
People with dark skin aren't allowed to attend football matches. Only people with light-coloured skin can.
People with dark skin have to cover themselves up to go out in public – people with light skin do not. People with dark skin can only get married with the permission of someone with light skin. They can only travel outside their country with permission from a guardian who has light skin. People with dark skin have to eat in a separate area to people with light skin.
A Belgium supporter wears a T-shirt protesting Qatar's laws against homosexuality at the World Cup match between Belgium and Canada last week. Credit: AP
What would you think of a country like that? Would you support it? Would you visit it?
Something like this has happened in the past, of course. South Africa had its system of racist apartheid, until global pressure through mass boycotts and sanctions forced change there. The world stood together in its condemnation.
Now though, there are countries that still have these systems of "apartheid". However, we don't say so much, or do much, despite one group of people having far fewer rights than another. Despite forced separation and draconian restrictions.
Because that group is women.
I've been thinking about this a lot over the last few weeks, as the FIFA World Cup takes place in Qatar, as timid pushback by fans wearing rainbow T-shirts there are quickly quelled, and the whole thing unfolds against a backdrop of protests taking place in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested for allegedly not wearing her hijab properly.
Some countries have a problem with women. And we, as travellers and as citizens of the world, tend not to make too much of a fuss about it.
I want to stop here for a second and make a few things clear. Yes, plenty of the countries I'm going to mention in this column are located in the Middle East, but that region is not a homogenous bloc. The laws in Iran are not the same as those in Jordan. Rights in Lebanon are not the same as in Saudi Arabia.
A government, too, is not a people. Laws may say one thing, but attitudes and opinions on the ground can differ wildly. Iran is a very good example of that, if the brave protest movement there is anything to go by.
I've also had some of the best travel experiences of my life in the Middle East. I've enjoyed the warmest hospitality there. I've been amazed by the cultural strength and the historic depth.
But still, there's the inconvenient truth that I think a lot of travellers, me included, have tended to gloss over or ignore in the past. And that is that women's rights in many of these countries are shockingly below par, to the point where it could be called, in some places at least, apartheid.
And if this was a race thing, if people with dark skin were subject to these restrictive laws and cultural norms, I'm certain there would be global outcry. There would be calls to boycott. Economic sanctions.
But not for women.
One of the countries responsible for this, Qatar, is not only accepted but it's able to host a World Cup, the globe's most prestigious sporting event, to invite the world and to show itself off as a modern, wealthy state. This despite the fact that one group of people there – women – must obtain permission from a male guardian to marry, or to work in certain government jobs, or to travel overseas before a certain age.
And that's not even mentioning that homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, punishable by up to seven years in prison.
But tourists still visit this place and celebrate its art and architecture and traditional culture.
Tourists are starting to go to Saudi Arabia now too, where women's rights activists are routinely jailed, women only recently gained the right to drive cars, and the requirement for restaurants to have separate entrances for men and women has only just been lifted.
I've had a holiday in Iran, where women aren't allowed to attend football matches (which feels pertinent right now during the World Cup, and representative of something bigger), and where they risk arrest – and worse – if their hair isn't covered in public.
This problem isn't solely one of the Middle East. India, for example, ranks a lowly 135 out of 146 nations on the most recent Global Gender Gap Index (just two places above Qatar). Central African countries rate poorly. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the lowest ranked of all, at 145 and 146. Even Japan – modern, seemingly progressive Japan – ranks an embarrassing 116.
This isn't exactly a call for travellers to boycott these countries that so obviously discriminate against women. I'm not convinced that works, particularly without the support of government action. And you could point to Saudi Arabia and say that opening up to tourists is exactly what has spurred on recent improvements for women there. When the world is watching, things get better.
It is, however, a call for travellers to acknowledge that what is going on in these places is essentially apartheid, and we would all be thinking very differently if it was race-based.
I'm not boycotting these nations – but I am choosing, for now, to go to other places.
Email: b.groundwater@traveller.com.au
Instagram: instagram.com/bengroundwater
Twitter: twitter.com/bengroundwater
See also: I visited Saudi Arabia as a solo female tourist. What I found was surprising
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