Living in the Medina with my host family has given me the opportunity to observe their daily lives and notice how politics, religion, and women’s equality are integrated into there ideologies and interactions. The first aspect I immediately noticed was the way they practiced the Islam religion, and what they believed in. My host family has copies of the Quran sitting around the house, in every bedroom and even the kitchen. Although I haven’t seen them read from it, I know it is a large aspect of Islam mostly used to study the text rather than pray from it. So far in my stay, I observed how most of the women in the house haven’t visited the mosque yet, while the men leave at least once a day to pray. Also during the call to pray, the women in my host family haven’t stopped to pray or seemed as if they were praying, while the men all went up on the roof with mats as soon as the call to prayer was sounded (It went off when I was writing this LOL). I’m not sure if this is deemed as a cultural difference or just a personal preference within the family. In terms of politics, the main aspect that I noticed was the currency. Moroccan dirham is consistently updated and reprinted featuring the current reigning monarch, King Mohammed VI. I’ve also seen many portraits of the King up in public places, as well as media covering King Mohammed VI on the TV.
Although my family practices Islam, they do not seem to conform to the more conservative aspects of Islam culture in terms of Muslim women. None of the daughters in my family wear hijabs, even though they are the average age that most Muslims women who choose start wearing them. The youngest daughter, Rim, plays football for a team after school some days, and tells me she really enjoys it. I was surprised to see an Islamic practicing family be so encouraging towards their daughter to pursue sports. However, I have noticed the inequalities in the house between the daughters and their father. Whenever he comes home he sits in the living room and doesn’t greet the daughters. Then the daughters would get up from the couches, signal me to exit with them to the other room, and leave their father alone in the living room. When their father had his friends over to watch the football game, most of them neither greeted me nor looked me in the eyes when I walked into the room. I understand how this is a cultural aspect of Islam between women and mens gender roles, and the patriarchal background of Islamic countries. It is still shocking and impactful to see in this day-in-age and their is nothing you can do about it because it is not your place to say. It seems like everyone in the family is accustomed to the gender roles within their house, and are happy to perform the same duties and roles everyday without argument.