Women Psychology

I conducted an interview with an African American woman, who will be refered to as Mrs. JB who considers herself an affiliate with the Baptist church, and is in her 50’s. The purpose of this was not aimed at giving me some type of life-changing experience, but to allow Mrs. JB to transcend her experience from her past into a manner that I could benefit from. I simply told her that this was a chance for her to give me insight on what she had gone through, and how I can incorporate it into my perception of life and its experiences. Through this paper it will be shown how a persons gender, race and generation shapes lives in unique ways involving personal triumphs, family experiences, and occupational and educational possibilities. Mrs. JB is no exception to that.

We started off by talking about her past and it took off from there. She told me that while she considered there to be many distinct points in her life, there were two that she viewed as her most important and that she held close to her heart. The first was graduating from high school because no women in her immediate family had done. “It gave me a sense of empowerment. I knew that my family had gone through a lot to make sure I was able to graduate, and I knew I would have felt like I was letting them down if I hadn’t graduated.” The second event was the birth of her first child. She best summed her mind set as being she wanted to make her mother proud in raising a good child, she said that “my mom would never judge me or her grandson, but she would be disappointed if I hadn’t given him everything he need from a mother.” Relating to how in certain cultures “motherhood is highly valued”(Brown). She went on to say that her mother had always taught her and her siblings to be strong inside and out, and because of this she felt like she had to do so much more as a mother to give her child the strength to be able to succeed through all the internal and external barriers he would face. This interaction and expectation is an example of how her mom was particularly supportive not only in life but with her and siblings self-esteem, and how she felt like it was her duty to give her child that support too through her experiences with social learning theory (Crawford)

Next we talked about her family as she was growing up. She was the only girl in four kids, and the second youngest. “(My brothers) looked after me, but it came at a price. I know I’m tougher than I would have been without them; they definitely taught me how to be strong inside and out.” She seemed proud that of her ability to withstand her brothers, relating that she had to overcome the peer influence with the adventurous, dangerous and competitive nature of her brothers (Crawford). Her and her brothers worked all throughout high school in a little restaurant owned by her dad. She worked as waitress while her brothers bused dishes and cooked food. Even thought she always worked for what she got, her brothers often gave her a hard time for being “Daddy’s little girl.” This details how Mrs. JB was a compliment to the male leadership of the restaurant and was place in gender-defined roles and perceptions (Brown).

Her mom worked in a laundry mat until her dad opened the restaurant. She said that they have grown closer since she moved out, but while she was still living with her parents they disagreed a lot. “I was kind of a free spirit, I often blamed my mom for wanting me to be a perfect little girl, but I’ve realized that as I’ve gotten older that she just wanted me to be able to take care of myself, my children, and my husband,” she then chuckled and said “we still