I think the Elbonians might have objected to or commented on Alice being present in a business meeting, something along the lines of 'In our country, we don't involve women in business'. Alice must have responded "The women in our country are different. One way is what you are seeing now - they participate in business meetings..."
I am surprised no one noticed the hilarious way in which the eyes of the neighbouring Elbonian pop out when his sees his colleague's brains being smashed out of his head! That's 100% FEAR!