Farzaneh Ramyar

Life History Interview

The Arab culture is the most conservative and strict culture of all time. It is very male dominant and man centered compared to all the other cultures around the globe. In the Arab culture almost anything is divided between the two genders of male and female. Most of the Arab population believes in the religion of Islam, which was found by Muhammad. Islam is a monotheistic religious tradition that developed in the Middle East in the 7th century C.E. Islam is a very conservative and unfriendly religion towards Jews, Christians and women. The words and teachings of Quran (Islamic holy book) are deeply rooted among the Arab population still to this day. I , myself have some knowledge about the religion and culture of middle east and how the Muslim community treats women and looks at them as second class citizens. Sadly in some Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia women do not have the right to drive a vehicle or the right to vote. Muslims are divided in two different groups of Sunni and Shia. The Sunni population is way higher than the Shia population. Most Muslim women wear hijab, vale, burqa, niqab or some sort of covering to cover themselves up. Some of these women wear it optionally and some others have been forced by their dad, brothers, or husbands to do so. For this life history interview I chose an Arab lady from Iraq. This lady lived in Basra, which is an important city in Iraq. She comes from a family of seven older brothers and two younger sisters. These ladies have been pretty much, guarded by the brothers their whole lives. She opened up to me about how unpleasant and uneasy it is to be born and raised in an Iraqi family, where you have to ask your brother or dads permission in order to do anything. This lady is twenty six years old and the sisters are twenty four and twenty one. Their family moved to United States of America back in 2005, a few years after the 9/11 attack, because the country

Farzaneh Ramyar

Life History Interview

was no longer a place to live in. There were many bombings and the war had gotten to the point where so many families left their loving land and hoped to find citizenship in another land. In some ways I can relate to this lady and in some ways our lives are totally unrelated. I am Middle Eastern myself but not from a Muslim background and this whole anti women issue is new to me. I never had to ask for my brothers permission to do anything, even though he is older and male but my father has always been a very significant individual in my life, whom I always talk to before I make any important decision. I can relate to her because I once had to say goodbye to my home land and migrate to America. My separation from my country was not because of a war attack but because of religious issues and inequality in Iran. Ohood opened up about how much she wanted the change and freedom and taking control of her own life, but she never had the bravery and courage to do so. She mentioned that her and her sisters never have access to any electronic or social media devices and they had just barely gotten the permission to start working at Wal- mart, where the other 7 brothers are currently employed. This way they could be watched all the time and since they do not have the right to drive a car, the brothers can take them to work and this solves the transportation issue. These girls hate wearing the hijab, because it catches so much attention and people sometimes give them funny looks and find their outfits funny. At this point of the interview Ohood started crying and it was hard for her to let go of emotions and control her feelings, which was totally understandable for me and her tears just could not stop. She mentioned that humiliation and disrespect is all she has felt her whole life. She feels useless and unimportant. It makes her feel very embarrassed to be guarded by one of her brothers all the time. She wishes that she was never born into an Arab family, because the women are just owned by the men and they are being treated just like slaves. In her family the brothers are always there and make sure that Ohood and her two younger sisters

Farzaneh Ramyar

Life History Interview

are never off guard. These girls have absolutely no right to attend any parties or gatherings on their own. The only time they really get out of the house is when they go to work and if there are ever any family gatherings they might be able to attend with their parents or the brothers, never alone. The younger sister opened up about a particular time where she was humiliated in public by an American customer. She told me about a time at work where she was trying to help a white/male customer who was looking for a product and was perhaps about fifty years old or so and he made fun of her vale by saying If you take that fabric off your head, you might look a little bit better. This particular story broke my heart and made me realize how the American society and in particular, white people humiliate and are disrespectful to other cultures and traditions at times as I have witnessed similar situations myself. These ladies were never offered the chance to choose between the vale and an uncovered body, to choose between Islam and Christianity, to choose between good or evil, to choose between work and school. They have always been ordered to do so as soon as they turned nine years old by their father. The younger sister really wishes to convert to Christianity someday but she knows her wish will never come true, because if the family finds out she will no longer be safe. She believes the Christians give so much respect and value to women and let them be a free individual and take part in society. She said in her heart she only believes in Jesus Christ and she knows only her heart matters not what the public thinks of her religion. She wishes that she could freely enter a church someday and worship Jesus as she knows that is what will bring her true happiness. Ohood said that she really wants to meet a nice guy and start her own family, that way she might have more freedom to make her life decisions but with her current situation it is very

Farzaneh Ramyar

Life History Interview

difficult to do this, because her family is very strict and they strongly believe that girls cannot have any relationship with men before their marriage. I learned a lot from doing this heart breaking interview. This interview made me realize that freedom has never been a gift and more importantly it has never been free. Freedom is something to fight for and it is not easy to gain. I have realized that how much inequality has always affected our world when western women can do anything they wish in their life and Muslim women could not even dream of having any freedom at all. This interview impacted me because I am a female myself and I have never had to encounter half of the problems that Ohood has to handle in her everyday life. In my opinion women should fight for their rights no matter what culture they grew up in and they should use education as a weapon to gain their freedom and not let men take over them. I do hope that someday humanity comes to the point where any person of any race, color, gender and religion can be free and entitled to their own opinion.