Leila, thanks for sharing this… maybe I am just coming from a different culture, but I think what you describe as a sign of disrespect/ignorance towards women may be simply more generic than that. I.e. not introducing you at a party or not engaging a small chat with you may be more due to that fact that you are not part of the group than that you are “just someone’s wife”. E.g. I went to an office Xmas party with my wife where she always introduced me as her husband and not someone who works for an international organisation and who loves wakeboarding BTW. I did not feel offended by this and only had limited discussion, not because I was “just a husband” but because I attended an event of a tightly knit group of colleagues,with their own topics, issues, gossip and humor. I was not “the husband” but simply an outsider.

The food was great though ☺