Normally Sundays are quiet days in my neighbourhood. Most people relax at home or go to Church to worship their God. Like many people on Sunday my day starts by going to Church and ends with relaxation at home. Last Sunday, I however had an interesting day. After the Church Service I lushed to a local butchery at the market. Surprisingly, there was a long queue of people at the butchery. I quietly joined the queue which extended outside the butchery's main entrance to the street.
Now a bit of background information is necessary here. Most people in my country are not very patient with queues. There is generally a tendence that if a person knows someone at the place where they have gone to seek something then they would not need to waste time in the queue but simply speak to the person they know and get served. So jumping the queue is commonly practiced. I have always wondered where this bad practice comes from in our culture. Being a frequent traveller abroad I have been exposed to other societies and cultures and seen how other people respect and appreciate queuing at shops and other places e.g. Airports, banks e.t.c..
Back to my Sunday butchery incident. Standing patiently in the queue I saw a number of people walk into the butchery and ignore the queue and go in front as though waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the queue. However, after realising that they had no chance of jumping the queue they would walk out of the butchery. As it was getting closer for me to get served, a young man of around 25 years old walked into the butchery. The butchery attendent was about to receive an order from a male customer that was immediately in front of me. However, the young man that had recently arrived in the butchery stepped forward and started giving his order. I quickly pointed out to the attendent that it was time for the person in front of me and not the new arrival to be served. Seeing that I had fouled his plan the new arrival insulted me using very abusive language. He wondered why a woman should accuse him of jumping the queue when there were men in the butchery.
I was really taken aback by this sexist language. Growing up as a girl and woman in Zambia, I have always been aware of gender imbalances in my society but never had anyone used such sexist language against me. It therefore hurt and shocked me that a male stranger should use abusive language towards me simply because of my sex. Strangely, none of the other women present in the butchery dared to confront the man about his language againt me or women in general. The men in the butchery were also silent. I was however happy that after this incident the abusive man did not stay and get served. Instead he walked out of the butchery shouting unprintables about me.
Reflecting on this incident later I was saddened at how much women are still regarded as second class citizens in our society. Yes, there has been a lot of gender sensitisation and awareness raised among many people in formal and informal institutions about gender issues. But generally people's attitudes towards women are still very negative and abusive. Society has not really come to see as shameful sexist language as long as it is used against the female gender. As a result, most women still suffer abuse at home and in public. It is therefore important that more is done to educate boys and men that girls and women should be respected and seen as equal partners rather than second class human beings. I am also urging women and girls not to be intimidated to keep quiet when they see something wrong because of fear of verabl abuse from the 'stronger sex'.
