Instead I spoke to groups including both males and females at Jubilee High School, an excellent school funded by the King Hussein Foundation, and at the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan. At the university, the women almost all wore head scarves and sat on the opposite side of the table from the men. However, one would be a fool to mistake the conservatism of their dress or seating patterns for a lack of interest or intelligence. At both the high school and the university, the women were generally more curious and made more cogent criticisms of U.S. foreign policy.

Despite winning a variety of municipal offices, Jordanian women still are finding it tough to get ahead in politics. They appear to have an ally in King Abdullah. He appointed several women who failed to win election to the House to the royally-appointed Senate. As the King remains the ultimate source of authority in Jordan, it is unclear how much parliamentary politics really matters.

In Israel, I attended the lunch for women leaders and felt decidedly unpopular compared to my female Republican colleague. Let’s just say I didn’t have the genes for this one. Nevertheless, I still got a picture of the battle of sexes Israeli style. Virtually all of the women I met in Israel claimed that the country remains chauvinistic and that the importance of the army contributes the problem. Women serve less time or not at all in the Israeli military and find it difficult to gain access to prestigious units. In contrast, men form tight networks crucial for advancement in many fields, including politics.

The lack of interest in me at the Israeli lunch by the early arrivals ended up working to my benefit. The late arrivals who had to take the empty seats next to me were extremely interesting people to say the least. I spent much of lunch talking to Yael Dayan-Sion, a former Member of the Knesset and Moshe Dayan’s daughter.

Dayan-Sion did not just get ahead on her father’s name – she is a major personality and prominent progressive in her own right. She was one of the leaders in the fight for gay and lesbian rights in Israel. In the last Knesset, she left the Labor Party to join the even more ardently pro-peace Meretz Party. Tellingly, even though Dayan-Sion supports negotiations, she expressed the view, shared by the right-wing Likud Party, that Arafat is not a partner for peace. Dayan-Sion failed to win reelection to the Knesset in the last elections but currently serves as Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv.