The Egyptian People 77elementary understanding of how this works. The easiest
example is with age: Egyptians respect their elders. They rise
when an older person enters or leaves a room. They defer to
the elder person’s opinion, especially in public. One would
never contradict an elder in front of others. In fact, a principal
requirement of ‘good’ children is to respect their elders.
Second, in the workplace, social setting or in trade,
Egyptians tend to defer to someone perceived to be in a
higher social, political or bureaucratic position. Subtle acts
of deference abound in all sorts of human interactions.
Expressing opinions in the presence of a ‘superior’ is
not done. Coming from a culture where expression of
one’s opinion is highly valued, at first I found this quite
disconcerting and could not understand such restraint. After
all, if you had an opinion, why not express it? The reason is
because honourable people in Egypt would never consider
showing this type of disrespect to their peers or superiors. The
person present with the most perceived social power should
be the spokesperson, the one to express an opinion. I have
noticed this often at business meetings. Frequently, persons
who perceive their position to be below another will not
express opinions in the company of the person above them.
They might express their ideas to you individually, but if an
opinion is presented publicly, the person of the highest rank
will usually present it unless that person refers the question
to an assistant. By the way, it does not matter whether the
person in the superior position is a male or female.
Subtle mannerisms of the person in the lower position
reflect his or her acknowledgement of status with regard to
the other individual. For example, when asked a question,
there might be a slight hesitation before answering or even a
non-answer to indicate that the person feels he or she should
not be answering the question. You may also observe eye
shifting or position shifting as a sign of discomfort. By the
way, you will also get some of the same responses when you
broach an inappropriate topic, so sometimes it is difficult to
determine which situation prevails.
Next, women in the company of a male may find that upon
asking a question, the answer is then given to the man as