Not a man's world?

She looked through the documents I had given her and then looked up at me. “Okay,” she said. “These look good, but where are his (hubby’s) documents.” I said, “You have mine including a letter from my organization. That should be enough right.” She said, “No. In fact, even if I didn’t have your documents it wouldn’t matter. It is important that all his documents are in place.” I was shocked and she elaborated, “If the husband’s documents are complete, there is just more credibility.” I was too shocked to react.

This conversation took place when I was sitting across the table with my travel agent, finalizing our annual vacation plans. When we decided to do this trip, she told us that she would require a few documents from us for visa purposes. Well, we probably were being presumptuous but we assumed that if we gave her one set of documents it will be fine. My documents were ready and in order (thanks to my US consulate visit the week before) and hence I gave her mine. Only to be told this. I fail to understand it. I am as much an honest, law-abiding citizen of this country as hubby is, a person who is employed and who has previously been to other countries (including a year-and-a-half in the US). I earn a lot more than hubby; I plan out the entire trip for the family and sponsor it as well, yet I have no credibility. Can someone please explain this to me? Worse still, my travel agent tells me, if I were to be traveling alone I would be required to carry a “no objection certificate” from my husband. Why, I ask absolutely incredulous. She says, “This is to prevent the wife from leaving the country if she were having some marital problems.” So, what happens if in a similar situation the husband has to travel abroad? Would he have to carry a similar certificate from the wife? The way she looked at me said everything; surely, I can’t be as dumb as that.

And, they tell me it is not a man’s world anymore!!!

Postscript: Later, I was talking to another colleague and she recounted this experience she had at a bank. She had gone to this national bank to open an account for her 5-year-old daughter. She is the Finance Manager with our organization and the company banks with this national bank. Hence, she knew all the officers out there on a first-name basis. In the application form she entered her name as the legal guardian for the kid. And, when she handed in the application form, the officer told her that she had to get a signed statement from her husband, stating that he had no objections to her being the guardian. She refused to get such a statement. So, what does this really lead to? That a mother who has brought the child into this world has no legal right to sign up as a legal guardian on any of the application forms in this country? What happens if the parents are separated or the husband has abandoned the mother and the child? Does this mean the father still has greater rights on the child he has abandoned than the mother?