CULTURES ARE COMPLEX AND MULTIFACETEDIn Saudi Arabia, for example, gender differences are very pronounced. Women traditionally wear dark robes (abayah) and veils (hijab) in public. Men do not approach women to initiate interaction in a social setting, nor do they look directly at a woman or do anything else that might be interpreted as a sign of interest. These gender role differences extend to other social settings as well. For instance, it is quite normal for a Saudi male to invite a married man to dinner at his home with the expectation that the guest will not bring his wife. Even in those situations in which a couple is invented, the wife may be met at the door by the host’s wife and entertained in a separate area of the home, leaving the men to dinner alone. Many restaurants have separate entrances and special areas where women and children are expected to dine.
These traditional Saudi customs, objectionable as they may at first seem to a North American, must be understood in relation to the entire Arabic culture. They are the tip of what can be thought as the “cultural iceberg”. In the case of Arabic culture, the Islamic religion and tradition prescribe a very different role for women than men. Saudi women are treated as they are because of a long standing concern for protecting them from the harsh realities of life. For this same historical reason, traditional dress of the Saudi women are designed to conceal ad protect her from invasions of privacy that are regarded as rude and inappropriate. Similarity, while troublesome to many foreigners, the practice of polygamy, which is permitted by Saudi law and religion, has the intent of ensuring that no women will be forced to live alone or to fend for herself.
1. Identify the “Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs and Adverb”from the text above, mention 5 of each!