Since I have been in Spain I have noticed a difference in the role of different genders.  There have been a couple occasions where I have witnessed men acting superior to women.  One experience was on the train.  We were on our way back from Cadiz and the train was over booked.  There were seats filled and people that had official seating.  In our section some of us were asked to get up and give the seat to the people who held the tickets with assigned seating.  Unfortunately we had to compromise and give up our seats.  As this happened we heard a commotion from the next car down.  The same situation was happening and somehow a grown man ended up putting his hands on a woman.  This caused an upset throughout the train.  This was something that I had never seen in person and could not believe it was happening in a public place as though it was no big deal.  The older couples that were around us were acting as though the woman who had been hit must have done something to deserve it.  This shocked me even more.  I was standing next to an older couple when it was settling down.  The woman was still discussing what had happened with other people.  She was very opinionated and getting worked up about it.  At one point her husband gave her a firm look and told her to shut up and stay out of it and she stopped talking and apologized to him.  This was another thing that baffled me.  I could not believe the calmness and willingness of this woman to sit back and listen to her husband asking her not to voice her opinion.  Another experience was when we went on the tour of the palace.  We were walking in a small hallway when all of a sudden a man came form behind us and yelled at us and clapped his hands to get us out of the way instead of politely saying excuse me.  It was a group of girls including the tour guide.  She said something to him explaining that he was being rude and should be more considerate especially with women and he back talked her said it was our fault.  While they were arguing his wife just quietly followed behind not saying a word to anyone.  This whole situation showed the role of the male and his feeling of dominance and then the weaker role of his wife following behind keeping her mouth shut.  We have also seen examples of this in the films we have watched.  It is very interesting to me and seems out dated because I come from a place that a man would never hit or verbally disrespect a woman and have it be okay.