Happy Mother’s Day to our devoted, caring mothers! The Pasupu understands the importance of Ammas, and we wouldn’t be the people we are without their impact. Learn more about influential South Asian women & the importance, and battles our mothers face.
There is barely any representation of South Asia in Hollywood, and even less representation of South Asian women. Let’s take a moment to celebrate some influential South Asian women in the media!
Mindy Kaling as we know played one of our favorite characters, Kelly Kapoor, on The Office. Additionally, Kaling is known for creating the successful TV Show, The Mindy Project. And of course, we could never forget Kaling’s newest project, Never Have I Ever, which is one of the first TV Shows ever to have multiple South Asian lead characters.
Jameela Jamil is best known for her role as Tahini in The Good Place. Additionally, she is a feminist, and is the creator of the podcast, I WEIGH, where she discusses mental health and body positivity.
Priyanka Chopra started off in the realm of Bollywood, and has been transitioning over to Hollywood within the past few years. She scored the lead role in the TV Show Quantico, and was also a part of Baywatch. Although The Pasupu personally does not agree with some of Chopra’s past actions, we appreciate that she has paved the way for other South Asian women.
Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is a teenage Sri Lankan actress in the Netflix Original Series, Never Have I Ever. We applaud Ramakrishnan for being an influence to younger generations of South Asian girls!
Here is a list of South Asian women who are involved in government!
Kamala Harris is the first woman and South Asian to hold the office of Vice President of the United States of America.
Pramila Jayapal is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for Washington's 7th congressional district since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represents most of Seattle, as well as suburban areas of King County.
Here is a link to an article about a record number of South Asian women running for office!
Here is a list of South Asian women who are pioneers in STEM!
Reshma Saujani, though her background is in the legal field, her work has focused on achieving gender parity in tech. Saujani has a book called "Girls Who Code" and she describes how she hopes more women will be inspired to disrupt the gender imbalance in Silicon Valley.
Pooja Jesrani is NASA’s first South Asian female flight director. In NASA's 62-year history, there have only been 100 flight directors. Only 15 of them have been women, and now, the agency has its first South Asian female flight director.
Archana Venkataraman is the John C. Malone assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is using artificial intelligence (AI) to better map the human brain and to develop entirely new ways to diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Venkataraman’s lab, the Neural Systems Analysis Laboratory (NSA Lab), concentrates on building a comprehensive and system-level understanding of the brain by strategically integrating computational methods, such as machine learning, signal processing and network theory, with application-driven hypotheses about brain functionality.
Ritu Raman is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the renowned Langer Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), funded by a Ford Foundation Fellowship by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and L’Oréal USA For Women in Science Fellowship. She is working toward starting a biohybrid design lab focused on building implantable devices that sense and adapt to the body.Raman’s robots are made out of both polymers and muscle tissue and are capable of sensing their environment and recognizing temperature, pH and mechanical pressure.
All of these women have an important role in paving the way for many future south asian women to take up these careers as well. They are inspirational and great role models for south asian women all over the world!
Imagine leaving a life that you were so comfortable and familiar with, and moving to a new country with new customs. Our mothers have worked their hardest to make their children happy in the United States, and have had to adapt to a new lifestyle. I (Shreya) remember being given mainly Indian Food for school lunch, and wished that my mom would give me “normal” food like everyone else. Little did I know how hard my mother was trying to provide for me. Obviously as a child, none of us realize our parents’ dedication to us. But as upcoming young adults, let’s set aside time to thank our hard working mothers for their sacrifices, time, and love.
Once South Asian women immigrate to the U.S, they continue to face a lot of hardships. Some women are expected to continue doing household chores and take care of the children because that is what is “normal” in South Asian culture. Some women are denied the opportunity to get a job because of the “what will other people think?” mentality. This is because men are viewed as the only people capable of earning an income for the household so therefore women should just stay home. This mentality has changed a lot over time and now there are many South Asian women who work in all kinds of fields. However, within these jobs they also face a lot of gender discrimination. They are often spoken to as if they are less intelligent or capable of doing the same tasks as a man.
There is also sometimes this expectation that once women have children, they should give up on their goals and only focus on their children. This is a very harmful mentality to have because if the same logic applies to a father, why isn’t he expected to quit his job to focus on the child? Women should be encouraged to follow their dreams and pursue each and every single one of their passions while being a mom. Being a mother is not a weakness and does not make anyone less capable of achieving their ambitions.
We would also like to give a special shout out to the eldest daughters in South Asian families. A majority of the time, these daughters are taught to cook, clean, and take care of their younger siblings. They take on a motherly role from a young age and oftentimes become like a “second mom” to their siblings. But unfortunately in this process, their mental well being is overlooked. A study from the National Institute of Health mentions that “Other firstborns discussed the emotional stress felt from a range of experiences including other families criticizing their judgment.” So the next time you see your akka or didi, make sure to thank her for everything that she does and ask her if her mental health is okay!
Happy Mother’s Day to all the Ammas out there and thank you for reading our Mother’s Day Special! Come back next week for our next post on Asian American History Month!