Go to the back of the branch

Today K and I went to get our ATM cards. To do this, we had to go to the school's exact local branch, which was down the road in a small shopping center. Apparently the National Bank of Abu Dhabi organizes its branches like elementary schools or old-fashion parishes, and we were in this particular branch's "district."

When the taxi dropped us off (Allah bless that man for picking us up. The humidity is back...), we realized that the bank branch was really two branches: one for ladies and one presumably not for ladies (but also not labeled one way or another). This caused a long (and hot) moment of confusion. Not gender confusion but social role confusion. Did we, as Western women, count as ladies? Would waltzing into the ladies section in our workaday capris and short-sleeved tops bring unwelcoming stares from behind abeyyas and veils? Would choosing the non-lady side cause a different kind of offense? Would we get nasty looks? Patronizing smiles? Instructions to go to the back of the branch? (The ladies branch was located around back, near where the cars line up to go to the drive-up ATM.)

We finally decided we were many things, but no one could claim we weren't ladies (at least not by looking at us). We walked around back, past the Baskin & Robbins, which shared that side of the building. The menu looked like it could have been flown in from Peoria--and here we were, walking into a bank segregated by gender.

There was no one in the ladies branch, except two abeyya-clad tellers, one of whom helped us right away. I guess we chose the right side.

The thing is, most public spaces here are not segregated by gender, not even government offices. When I went to the DMV to get my UAE drivers license, I sat on the plastic DMV chairs next to men and women from the four corners of the earth. A row of seated abeyya women behind a huge bank of desks helped anyone whose number flashed on the screen (Yes, they had the plastic chairs, the numbers and everything. I think the whole place came in a box marked "DIY DMV.") The point is, everyone mixed. If you wanted a drivers license, you sat next to whoever was there first and waited until your number was called. It was the same when we got our TB tests at the hospital, and our retinas scanned at the airport.

So why banks? Now that I've been to the back of my branch, I've noticed that most banks are divided. The National Islamic Bank. The National Bank of Dubai. They all have ladies branches. Maybe it has nothing to do with Islam but rather with years of experience successfully managing wealth. Maybe it's the women who don't want their husbands or fathers around when organizing their finances.

No offense, guys.