News-Record.com

Gender differences are pronounced here in Tanzania.

You see it right away in clothing. Most men dress in Western style, while most women wear the traditional kanga, the colorful, beautifully patterned wrap-around dresses.

That's not all that's old-fashioned.

Yesterday, Andrew's friend and fellow teacher, Kassim, took us to his parents' home for midday dinner. We sat in the living room and were served a bounteous meal of many dishes -- beef, two kinds of rice including one cooked in coconut milk, bread, bananas, tomatoes, cucumbers, mchichi and more -- by Kassim's mother and older sister. The women did not eat with us, just served. That's standard here.

Later, we attended a sort of wake for the grandchild of a woman who works as a secretary at Andrew's school. The child had died Wednesday of malaria.

We walked about 15 minutes to a village by the lake and found many people already outside the home -- men sitting in one area, women in another. Soon, the burial party returned, with the men joining the men already seated outside the house, the women joining the other women. After everyone was settled, one man got up to make a speech, then another.

After that, some younger men came around with water for the assembled men to wash their hands -- the custom before a meal is served. I didn't expect that, but sure enough bowls of rice, beans and mchichi were handed around -- to the men only. After we ate, using our fingers, more water came around for washing up.

Why the women were excluded from this I don't know; it's just the way it is.

After the meal, people made small offerings to the family, and then it was OK to leave.

Outward expressions of affection between men and women are not considered proper here. It's common to see two men holding hands or tow women, but not a man and a woman. Women also are very modest in their dress, although breastfeeding in public is OK.

There are women in professions, and you see a few women dressed professionally in Mwanza. Also, some young women wear jeans. No short skirts, however, or anything as daring as the average American teenage girl wears without a thought.

While women deserve better opportunities to gain an education and develop professional careers here, and equality between the sexes is long overdue, some aspects of modernization might not be as welcome.