Gender bias, btw, is common throughout the Middle East and even Turkey.
And don't forget all of Central and South America. Oh, and Asia. Don't forget Asia. Come to think of it, I think we can safely throw in most of Africa as well. And, realistically, large parts of the United States and Europe.
Seriously, Aysha, you sound a bit naive in your original post and that's why your post got the sorts of replies it got. Also, the writing is awkward enough in palces that several posters (including myself, a professional EFL teachers with over 25 years of experience) assumed that English might be a second language for you. Just saying.
My own overseas experience includes 12 years in the Arabian Gulf, including 7 years in Oman (at Sultan Qaboos University). While, I am male so my experiences were in obvious ways different from your own, I can't honestly say that the genre bias in Oman is really, in any significant ways, different from the gender-bias that I observed working in Mexico. And, while it is different in kind, the gender inequality here in Japan, where I've worked for the last 10 years, is also pretty obvious.
My experiences in Oman were almost entirely positive. But then I was working at Sultan Qaboos University and not one of the many "for profit" private universities that have sprung up since I left. Many of these are, in all honesty, no better than the University of Phoenix in terms of academic level. And many are far worse in terms of the management. Some are horrible and little better than some Korean language schools.
As for "wasta" -- well that does play a part in most sorts of casual and formal business in the Arab world. But similar "insider games" are just as vital in Asia and Mexico -- and dare I say it -- the US. It's the same basic game -- just the rules are slightly different. You don't like the Arab "wasta" rules, and Arabs no doubt don't like the way the game is played in the US. And of course no one without wasta is going to like the wasta system.
