Women's Roles in Three Cups of Tea- Karen

After reading more of Three Cups of Tea, it amazes me what women in the book are like. People treat Greg Mortenson as an outsider even after people know what Greg Mortenson is planning to do for the mountain villages in Pakistan. Some people just turn away from him and act as though they don't see him, others gawk at him because he is so tall, but the women are especially fascinating. Even when Greg travels with other Pakistani men who obviously trust him, women do not dare to look at him. They use their veils to cover their faces as to escape Greg's wandering gazes. Or the children who do not know that they should not talk to the stranger are polite and shake his hand when he introduces himself in Balti. The girls seem to question him, and his motives, but eventually they wrap their hands in the veils they are wearing so they too may shake his hand, and are overly cautious when they are near him.
So far the children are the only real interaction Greg has had with the opposite sex while in Pakistan. Other females in his story are either in the kitchens of the homes that Greg visits, or they are non-existent. It is frustrating to see that women, especially in the more rural villages of Pakistan follow customs so closely. From what we have seen and heard about women in more urban settings, they live with their families and are allowed to be more free with the choices they make in their daily lives.
It is scary to think about not being able to make my own choices and having elders make them for me so I hope that in the near future women across the globe start sticking up for themselves and changing the way that they are treated so they may know what it feels like to live a fuller life.