Oman – we’d seen a bit of Oman – in his dashing white Dishdash, brimming with eloquence and confidence – but where was Owoman? Out in this more rural setting she was nowhere to be seen. Locked up in the home? Behind the high walls of the compounds? Locked within the prison of long black heat absorbing robes and veils? We were told that women had been afforded permission to drive and were educated and could achieve the top posts and careers – though it was not seen as strange to our guide, in this segregated misogynistic society, that they were confined to the back of the class and the periphery at mosques and very few of the posts of responsibility were held by women. We were told that 74% of those achieving the examination pass rate were female – so they simply changed the rules to favour males. It seems to me that Oman was still locked in a strictly medieval mindset and that Owoman still had a long way to go. It is a road we are a little further down in the West. Maybe one day?