An Interesting Conversation With A Kazakhstani

 Last night, I was out with some co-workers and we started talking about the gift of flowers. One of our interns, who is from Kazakhstan chimes in and says, “in Kazakhstan, flowers are given to women all the time, no matter what the occasion.” The conversation only got better from there. He then proceeded to tell us about the “norm” in Kazakhstan.

  1. “A woman’s weakness is her strength” — meaning, if a woman couldn’t do something, the man would have to do it for her, making him more manly and powerful. So, the strongest woman is the most helpless woman?
  2. If a woman is going out, the man can say “You are not going out it that, it’s too vulgar” or “What time are you going to be back? You have to be back my 10pm.” — our intern told us that women like being asked these questions. It shows them that their man cares about them. So, a woman can’t have a mind of her own.
  3. There were two sexes created for a reason. If both sexes were meant to do and accomplish the same things — then there would only be one sex. 

In the defense of our intern (who’s name I am protecting from angry women across the U.S.) he wasn’t saying this is how I feel — but —this is how things are in the country I am from. All the guys at the table were on edge while he was talking waiting for my response. I never got angry, only thankful. Thankful that I live in a country that would laugh in disbelief at those sexist remarks.