My final congregation was a foreign language congregation. And I remember when this happened at the meeting... No one knew it was going to happen apart from the Elders obviously... what a shock... I could see ALL brothers with 'shocked' looks on their faces... it's funny because there were about 60 publishers in the congregation and enough brothers, but what I found was that there was always a struggle to get brothers to do mic duty...
there was a schedule handed out and on the wall in the smaller back rooms where the notice board was, but brothers on sound had to constantly remind brothers it was their turn; there was great reluctance to do it... although I was shocked, and, not hiding the fact that the superiority over sisters indoctrination was deeply rooted in me, I also thought 'GOOD, that'll make them wake up',
that particular culture is VERY male dominated and macho, wow, that must have really humiliated a lot of brothers... AND of course the 'news' went around the circuit, and into English congregations with a lot of grumbling about it, but it was probably a minor victory for the sisters.... and to top it off, the mic duty is so damn easy, the sisters proved this by doing it with their eyes shut... in other words, 'brothers you're not special'