Interviewing a Professional Lady - Research Paper Example

INTERVIEWING A PROFESSIONAL LADY Social researches identify the very reality that every society of the world at large has been divided into groups, communities and classes since the known history. This social division of individuals is generally based on their castes, clans, communities, creed, ethnicity, race, region, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, occupation and socioeconomic status. Hence, all the above-mentioned factors not only pave the way towards identification of the individuals, but also decide and determine their tastes, liking and disliking, priorities and activities at large. Being the hub of educational, professional and corporate activities, London is the place of great attraction for the individuals belonging to every social, religious and regional background. People visit and settle in London for employment, business, health and education purposes. Keeping in view all these issues, I have conducted an interview of my colleague named Moona, a married working Egyptian Muslim lady of forty one years, who has been settled in the UK as immigrant for the last five years, and is leading a prosperous life in the vicinity of London city. The selection of the lady was made in order to compare and contrast the socio-cultural and religious beliefs as well as views and opinions on multiple issues with those followed and adopted by me. I am a young British university graduate of 23 years, and follow Christianity as my faith; I selected one of my colleagues for the interview. Since both Christianity and Islam seek inspiration from Abrahamic mythology, it was really wonderful to explore the commonalities and differences between the followers of these two religions. Being a professional social researcher, I assured confidentiality to the interviewee, while my communication with her. I had invited the interviewee in the restaurant at the bank of the romantic and calm Thames River in order to make the meeting remarkable and fantastic. I have named the interviewee as Moona in order to conceal her real identity. The interview was conducted in a highly friendly, amiable and pleasant environment, and the interviewee shared all her joys, sorrows and beliefs without any hesitation or hurdle. Though, I knew Moona for the last three years, yet we had never tried to explore very personal issues in past. However, during the interview, I found her as a highly sophisticated, well-mannered, well-groomed and polite lady. Here are the important findings of the interview: We had planned to meet at restaurant to give vent to our ideas and beliefs. At first, I paid my sincere thanks to her for sparing some moments from her precious time for the interview. Then I enquired her how did she feel about being a female both in the conservative Egyptian as well as the insecure ultra modern British society, as she belonged to the Muslim family of North Africa. She also thanked me for inviting her to dinner and discussion related to multiculturalism, which was also a topic of great interest for. She regarded being a woman as something pleasant and unpleasant equally. She admitted that Cairo was aptly regarded to be the Paris of Africa due to its modernity and being contiguous to Southern Europe, yet the girls underwent several restrictions in respect of moving freely in the male-dominating society. She informed me that there existed some proportion of conservative Christian and Muslim families in Egypt, which did not approve publically intermixing of boys and girls, and condemns and censures male-female joint sittings, studies and social interaction at large. They refuted European life style altogether, and declared it against their religious, social and cultural ideology. Hence, she had been brought up under several restrictions as soon as she entered her teen-age, as she was not allowed to travel alone even to her school and to relatives and friends. Somehow, she also found life in London as very challenging for the woman folk, and insecurity often haunted women in all parts of England. I asked her whether ever had dreamt of being a boy, instead of girl, as being a boy looked more blissful. She smiled and replied in affirmative that she had thought in the same lines several times I n life. She informed me that she was born under the Zodiac Libra in October 1969, she often desired that she were boy. She also submitted that an overwhelming majority of girls maintained the same wish, though it was particularly the case with the women belonging to less liberal societies. Since being a boy, according to her, assured lot of freedom of thought, action and movement, it was equally supportive and beneficial for escaping several restrictions and banishments imposed and inflicted upon women. She maintained that the women were more insecure in western societies and European countries, sorry to say, than they were in Asian and African conventional social establishments. She cited the research reports and statistics that revealed the reality that the European and Australian girls had been victim of physical and sexual assaults at the hands of neighbors, family-friends, personal friends, classmates, and even the family members. So, being a boy could be a blessing, she argued. Contrary to my reservations about becoming moth and rearing of children, Moona maintained very positive and optimistic opinion regarding the same. She refuted the very idea that conceiving and rearing of children was an awkward burden on her delicate shoulders. On the contrary, she informed me that actually it was motherhood that complements and harmonizes a woman. She was of the view that being the mother of two cute children created the sense of pride and completion in her. It is fact that the nine months long pregnancy duration and the subsequent labor pains were too excruciating to tolerate even, but the moment when one found one’s children beside her, the deepest sense of relief, relaxation and rejoice filled heart with countless joys. Additionally, she observed that life had been full of hullabaloo as well as personal, domestic, financial and professional tensions, where children served as one of the most powerful and dominating source of relief from these worries and anxieties of multiple kinds. I also tried to discover commonalities between Christianity and Islam, as I viewed the co-operation between the two as essential. Moona also agreed with me and Christianity and Islam as two sources of one and the same light. She declared the very fact that both these religions regarded Abraham as their patriarch and spiritual leader, and also shared the same mythology including One God, the prophets, angels and Satan, heaven and hellfire, life after death and the Day of Resurrection and much more. The stories described in the Bible and the Qur’an were also stated as similar to one another by Moona, as both these Scriptures declared Holy Jesus Christ as the son of Holy Virgin Mary, and assured the second arrival of Christ in the world. She was of the opinion that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Almighty Allah be upon him) had also given the glad tidings regarding the Christ’s second arrival, and the Qur’an narrated that the arrival of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had also been mentioned in the Holy Bible, as Holy Christ had announced his arrival while addressing to his followers. Since both the faiths shared several beliefs, they should have never been at daggers drawn at any cost. Moona regarded Christianity and Islam as the two largest religious beliefs of the world, and sought complete and unconditional harmony and co-operation between the two, so that the terrorism and extremism could be combated with an iron hand. I also tried to explore her personal aims and ambitions in life during the interview. She showed her deep interest in the question and told me that in her student life, she had great desire of serving her country as pilot. However, she got admission in psychology, and did her graduation in the same discipline. These days, she wanted to serve the society by applying best of her skills and talent to cure the people suffering from psychological and emotional collapses, so that they could be able to lead a happy and respectable life like normal individuals of society. Being a practical and realistic lady, Moona believed in true and sincere friendship in order to share her domestic and social problems with them. She admitted that the list of true friends was very short and confined to five or six persons only, most of which belonged to Egypt, she found a loyal and committed friend in me while talking about friends in the UK. She told me that she remained into communication with her Egyptian girlfriends through phone, and correspondence through e-mails. I also enquired about her sexual orientation, to which she replied in a polite manner. She informed me that she had been straight, and had never entered into sexual relationship other than her husband. She cited the teachings of Christianity and Islam and stated both these faiths laid stress on chastity, and confined sexual relationships to the life-partner of opposite gender only. Moona told me that she consumed her leisure hours in reading books, watching TV, dining out with husband and children and visiting her relatives and family friends. She also used to create poems in student life, but could not manage time after marriage as well as after getting involved in her occupation. I found Moona a very congenial and frank friend, and asked her whether she had ever fallen in love with someone in her life, to which she confessed with slight hesitation. She was of the opinion that she had fallen in love a boy and wanted to marry him. However, her caste and religious sect were not similar to those of her beloved classmate, so her parents would not allow her to marry the boy. Hence, she surrendered and forgot about him altogether. Now, I displayed her unflinching commitment to her husband. Moona experienced racism both in Egypt and the UK, and maintained negative feelings for the Arabs and the white Anglo Saxon population (WASP) as both these racial groups were the most responsible for spreading the racial and ethnic discrimination and hatred. The Arabs, according to her, were worst of all in this respect, and considered themselves as the most superior nation; and the same was the problem with the WASP. She also found the Hindus and Jews as the most intolerant and non-co-operative religious communities. “A powerful and harmful form of prejudice”, Macionis submits, “racism is the belief that one racial category is innately superior or inferior to another. Racism has existed throughout world history.” (2007: 369) Since Jews viewed themselves as the chosen seed, they, like the Arabs and WASP, also looked down upon other religious, racial and ethnic groups. The Christian and Muslim extremist sects also abhorred others and had malice and grudge for the rival religious groups and factions, she witnessed. Moona had developed the taste for literature at very young age. The writers, philosophers and theorists, whose works and theories had left imperative and indelible influence upon her, included John Milton, Khalil Gibran, May Ziadeh, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Sigmund Freud, Karl Jung and others. All these great names have inspired me to the great extent. The interview was ended in a highly pleasant atmosphere, and we found ourselves even closer to each other at the end of the meeting, and promised to remain friends forever, and would explore cultures, civilizations and religious beliefs in an amiable manner. REFERENCE: Macionis, John J. 2007 Sociology 11th Edition Pearson Prentice Hall Read More