Perspective

From a young age, I was always taught to find great worth in my femininity and deeply believe that women should be unapologetically themselves. Nevertheless, I found that these values were challenged in some of the countries visited during my study abroad program. Specifically, in Morocco, I saw how my morals concerning modesty, as well as my worth in society, were ultimately contested in different interactions. In fact, in Marrakech, I experienced a rather unpleasant interaction with a waiter who happened to be an older male. At first, the service provided by him was nothing out of the ordinary, nevertheless, as I began to interact with him more, I noticed that he laughed at everything I said. He would also play games with my girlfriends when trying to hand them their drinks and food which at first was funny. Nevertheless, with time it appeared he did not take us seriously due to our age and gender. In fact, as I observed the service he provided to the tables around, I saw he was more professional and had greater boundaries as these were occupied by older individuals who also had a male present. In this restaurant, I found that the very simple things like the service provided could vary greatly depending on the age and gender of the customer. Moreover, I also had another unpleasant encounter when I was walking with my friends through the Medina market. Our group had a series of interactions with vendors that included catcalling and asking us to come over to their shops. During these interactions, one of my friends got called beautiful, to which she confidently responded, “I know.” This response elicited a somewhat unexpected reaction as it offended him, and he proceeded to say that she should not say that. I thought this was rather interesting since expressing confidence as a woman is usually celebrated but, in this case, it was frowned upon. From further interactions, with other locals and seeing how women respond to catcalling, I gathered that culturally speaking women are not expected to take compliments so “vainly.” At last, while in Morocco I also visited a nomad camp where I was able to inquire about the power struggles between the different genders. While there, one of the nomad women expressed that reverence must be paid to men she also mentioned that the home and the household duties were of her dominion and something she ruled over. Throughout my stay in the country, I quickly learned how men were exalted in public places, yet women were the leaders of the private spheres such as their homes. As a result, being a woman in public spaces led me to experiences in which I felt quite powerless. In a final analysis, although I greatly enjoyed my time in Morocco, the differentials between women and men were greatly seen and this ultimately challenged my values. ​​