Back in my younger mutinous days, when I was the youngest in the bunker, I wrote this post on “cool” desi women under the age of 30. I wrote it because I wanted to highlight other Desi American women in my age range who were “doing something”. A list like that didn’t exist then. We have since had many more young folk added to the mutinous blog roll in the bunker and there are even more Desi women than ever doing amazing things.
I too am jumping on the ’00 decade list making band wagon. In the past decade, I went from being a nascent 20 year old to a pseudo-mature 30 yr old. But more significantly, I think of how in 2000, as a desi girl in the U.S., I didn’t have any South Asian American females that I could turn to – as role models, as women breaking barriers, as women in the media. It was alienating and isolating, to not see Desi women breaking glass ceilings. I didn’t realize that there were things that desi girls could do outside of the “model minority job list” – I had no one really to look towards. In these past ten years, the South Asian American community has grown with leaps and bounds. Strong desi women have coming out of the wood works. They are on big screens, on the shelves of major book stores, and profiled in the news. Desi women are running for office, going to space, starting and directing non-profits, and running companies. I am so proud of to be a Desi woman of this decade, to be a part of a community giving the next generation of Desi girls role models to look up to.
So here is my mutinous list of the top 20 most influential South Asian American Women of the Decade (in alphabetical order). Please vote on the woman that you feel has been most influential to you in the poll at the bottom of the post. – Alpana Singh – She is the youngest female master sommelier in the country. Based in Chicago, Alpana hosts a local PBS restaurant review show (started in 2003), has published Alpana Pours: About Being a Woman, Loving Wine, and Having Great Relationships (2006), and has a regular weekly wine column.
Bhairavi Desai – In 1998, Bhairavi founded the Taxi Workers Alliance in New York. This organization was one of the first labor organizations that fought for a largely South Asian American clientele, and really founded a model for community organizing in the Desi community in the past decade.
DJ Rekha – This Brooklyn based DJ is noted as the woman that brought bhangra beats to the music scene in the U.S. She helped start and DJs at the monthly NYC event Basement Bhangra (since 1997), and released a Basement Bhangra CD in 2007.
Deepa Iyer – Deepa is the Executive Director for the South Asian Americans Leading Together. SAALT was founded at the begining of this decade, but really started to come together when there was a need for advocacy in the post 9/11 backlash our community experienced. Deepa transitioned into E.D. in 2004 and SAALT has slowly turned into the premier national advocacy organization for the Desi community, working on voting rights, immigration rights, and to coordinating the National South Asian Summit.
Indra Nooyi – In 2006, Indra was named the Chairperson and C.E.O. of PepsiCo. A Yale graduate, she joined PepsiCo in 1994 and moved up the ranks to CFO in 2001. Forbes named her #3 most powerful woman in 2008.
Jhumpa Lahiri – Lahiri’s short story book Interpreter of Maladies (1999) was arguably the first piece of South Asian American literature to really catapult the Desi diaspora lit scene of this decade. She had since written The Namesake (2003), which was turned into a feature film, and the book Unaccustomed Earth.
Kalpana Chawla – the first Indian American astronaut to fly into space, Kalpana not only pierced Abhi, she was one of the seven astronauts that died in the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Her life even inspired a graphic novel.
Kashish Chopra – In 2003, Kashish competed in the Miss India U.S.A. pageant – and in turn won the category for Miss Congeniality. She was the first openly gay competitor in a Miss India pageant, which is no small feat in the Desi community. Kashish speaks out on her story of being a member to the GLBTQ community, and continues to inspire.
M.I.A – From Sri Lanka to England to Williamsburg, NYC. M.I.A. is a musical MC that really needs no introduction to The Mutiny. From her concerts, to her fashion line, to her baby’s name, I would not hesitate to say in SM’s lifetime she has been the most blogged about woman on our site.
Mindy Kaling – Otherwise known as Kelly Kapoor in the hit NBC TV show The Office (2004) for the past four years, Mindy is a comedian and a writer who just happens to be the funniest (and only) desi woman on primetime television. And she has a two year contract to produce her own television show in the near future.
Mira Nair – With Missippi Masala in the distant past, NYC based movie director and producer Nair broke some serious barriers in this decade with Monsoon Wedding (2001), Vanity Fair (2004), The Namesake (2006), and Amelia (2009).
Mohini Bhardwaj – Mohini you may remember from the 2004 Olympics, where she won a Silver Medal for the U.S. gymnastics team. She is the first Indian-American gymnast and second Indian-American athlete overall, ever to medal at the Olympics.
Padma Lakshmi – Supermodel and Salman Rushdie’s ex-wife, in the past decade Padma has rebranded herself as a Top Chef judge, selling her Easy Exotic wares and a soon to be baby mama to a papa who we know not yet. All while being really hot.
Parminder Nagra – The 2002 film Bend It Like Beckhem featured Parminder as a soccer loving Desi girl that fall for her White boy coach. It was one of the first movies of the Desi diaspora genre, and definitely one of the most well known. Parminder came state side soon after and was on E.R. from 2003-2009 as Dr. Neela Rasgotra, possibly being the first Desi doctor for that show.
Rinku Sen – is the President and Executive Director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and publisher of ColorLines magazine (founded in 1999). Her prolific writing on race and her work at ARC has placed her at the forefront of racial justice work this past decade- she’s also published two books, Stir It Up (2003) and The Accidental American (2008).
S. Mitra Kalita – Former president of the South Asian Journalism Association, I think it’s fair to say that her role at SAJA (founded in 2003) helped catapult the South Asian American journo community to where it is today as well as how Desis are written about in the press. A former Washington Post, Newsday and Associated Press reporter, in 2008 she accepted a position at the Wall Street Journal. She’s written Suburban Sahib and is working on two forthcoming books, Get To Work and My Indian Dream.
Sonal Shah – Most recently known for her controversial (and highly blogged) spot on the Obama-Biden transition team, Sonal is a long time activist and economist. She and her siblings are the founders of IndiCorps, an NGO formed at the start of th decade that provides Indian American young people with year long fellowships in India. She had been at the advocacy arm of Google, but as of April 2009, she was appointed director of the newly created White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation.
South Asian Sisters – Not one woman, but these women took The Vagina Monologue and re-appropriated the format for South Asian women with Yoni Ki Baat. First performed in Berkeley in 2003, Yoni Ki Baat has taken the nation by storm this decade, giving space for Desi women to dialogue and have stories be told.
Sunita Williams – Sunita is the second Indian American woman to fly into space. An astronaut that was assigned to the International Space Station in expedition 14 and 15, she holds the record for the longest space flight for female space travelers, 195 days.
Swati Dandekar – A democratic Iowa State Senator (elected 2008), she had been a member of Iowa House of Representative from 2002 – 2008. I don’t think I’m mistaken in saying that she is the highest ranking longest running elected Desi-American woman politician.
jyotsana wrote:
jyotsana, You forgot to put a “Hail Mogambo!” at the end of your comment…
You guys seriously voted for actress, musicians, CEO, directors and such? No judging but Bhairavi Desai beats them all if altruism was the main criteria. Straight up gorgeous too.
By the way, I met Mira Nair in the city a few months ago… she’s a bad ass.
.
Having a Indian that makes it big in music, sports, or tv is way more ifluential then a Indian being a activist and not because those things are more important, but they reach more people.
If there was a really good football or basketball player that wore a turban, that would do way more to help the image of a turbaned person than if that turbaned person was a activist.
I cant turn on the radio without hearing a desi on it these days and I think that has helped the image of south asians in the younger crowds.
Its just how it is.
Some interesting data on whom they have married.
Desi – 5 (Indra Nooyi, Meera Nair, Padma Lakshmi, S. Mitra Kalita , Swati Dandekar) White – 9 (Alpana singh, Jhumpa Lahiri, Kalpana Chawla, MIA, Mohini Bhardwaj, Meera Nair, Mindy Kaling[dating], Parminder Nagra, Sunita Williams)
unmarried – 1 (Bhairavi Desai) not known – 4 (Deepa Iyer[Married], Rinku Sen(?), Sonal Shah, DJ Rekha) (I was not able to find whom they have married or are they single) Lesbian – 1 (Kashish Chopra) N/A – 1 (South Asian sisters)
Meera Nair married twice, once a White & then a Desi. I am afraid that my interpretation would be biased so someone smart can Interpret this data.
MIA is not married to a white man. Her husband is african/jewish-canadian.
Jews are not a race. He looks white to me though
To get ahead in america, you should marry based on class, ignoring silly issues like what kind of food your grandparents ate or what language they spoke, or what shade of skin you have.
Marriage has nothing to do with their success, they were gifted/successful even when they were single
Deepa Iyer is the Executive Director of SAALT-Sout Asian Americans Leading Together. http://www.SAALT.ORG the foremost non-profit advocating on behalf Desi ppl in AMerica, this is also a vote for the staff and thousands of volunteers who work tirelessly
to address so many issues affecting brown people.
in terms of being a widely known cultural reference, padma lakshmi and, to a lesser extent, mindy kaling would be it. although mindy should be publicly shamed for her comment on polanski’s rape and sodomy victim. even before whoopi “rape rape” goldberg.
my personal favorite in terms of actual impact – vanita gupta (tulia).
I think it is sad in society that athletes and pop stars have more influence than important activists like Irshad Manji. Irshad has traveled across the world to speak up for South Asian women. Irshad has written about honour killings, patriarchy, male violence against women in South Asian culture. Irshad is an amazing, courageous, woman and I am very surprised she wasn’t on the list.
MIA’s husband is half-black. He does not look white at all. Check it out:
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/wvy3BnTA8qa/GQ+2008+Men+Year+Party+Arrivals/xveK-k8fSkY/M.I.A.
Orville, don’t get too depressed, Irshad is the third best-known in white circles, aside from Indra Nooyi or Padma.
P.S. I agree with om. MIA’s husband would not be viewed as “white’ by the majority of North Americans.
I think it is sad in society that athletes and pop stars have more influence than important activists like Irshad Manji.
She has spoken out about many of the problems in Islam. Maybe that a reason she not on the list.
I favour indira… great work surviuving and comin on #3 of forbes list…
http://www.wewatchfreemovies.info
http://www.downloadingmoviesfree.info
http://www.smsnquotes.info
I think it is homophobic and xenophobic for the editors of this blog to exclude Irshad Manji!
I personally think Irshad Manji has been an influential and interesting figure, though her impact has undoubtedly been greater in Canada (where I gather she is a regular Islamic issues “pundit”) than it is here in the U.S.
However, I think it’s absurd to say that it’s homophobic or xenophobic (???) not to include her. It might just have been an oversight. Coming up with these lists is hard; please give us a break!
Irshad has been on FOX News, CNN, PBS, and other high profile USA networks. I would be surprised if South Asian Americans never heard of Irshad. The NY Times has praised Irshad’s controversial memoir/book “The Trouble With Islam Today”. Irshad works at NYU right now in America. So I think Americans should know about Irshad she isn’t just a Canadian feminist Irshad has a global audience. Irshad had one of the most important books published this decade “The Trouble With Islam”. Irshad’s book has been translated into over 30 languages across the globe. Irshad has always been an advocate for South Asian women’s rights across the world she has always spoken up about patriarchy in the South Asian community and she has
MIA’s husband is mixed race man he definitely would not be viewed as white in North America.
Orville, congratulations on coming up with the name of Irshad Manji! You must be so proud of yourself for finding a 21st South Asian American woman, and unearthing a conspiracy of the level of the Da Vinci code. Your prolific body of work on this thread automatically merits you for South Asian American of the year, nay decade, nay the century! Kudos!
Orville, take a deep breath. Here’s what I said: “I personally think Irshad Manji has been an influential and interesting figure”.
Also, please be careful in making accusations that someone is [fill in the blanks]-ist. I just saw your comments about the Racialicious editors on your blog; if you’re going to go around accusing everyone of being racist, homophobic, xenophobic, misandrist, etc., you’re not going to make many friends.
amardeep, stop being a communist fascist and trying to curtail orville’s free speech.
The vacuous sanctimony of those who defend mediocrities pretending to be scholars, is funny and pathetic Tee…Hee!
aaand jyotsana makes my point again for me. doniger and nussbaum have put more thought in each single work of theirs than you have in an entire lifetime. the fact that you disagree with them and are only capable of rebutting them with gratuitous ad hominem shows how pathetic your position actually is.
manju made a remark about hindu fascists who would take offense at nikki haley’s conversion, much like bobby jindal has been at the receiving end of similar attacks. you immediately went into a weird rant about hinduism automatically mean fascism, when nobody said so, and then, without any rhyme of reason, whined about hindus being seen as obscurantist, fascist, pseudoscientific, and a raft of other $10 words which i assume your word-of-the-day emails had spat out this week, and launched a completely random broadside against doniger, nussbaum et al.
somebody has a serious insecurity problem and needs to get their head checked.
Folks, the conversation is degenerating.
Quit fighting with each another, or risk getting deleted/banned.
sleeping with Rahul would make an appropriate punishment
who is your favorite sepia mutiny blogger?
apologies to those who i couldnt include. that means you Rahul.
So when you say “Desi” or “South Asian,” you really just mean Indian right?
Hi, well MIA is on the list, and she’s Sri Lankan. Also, it seems a little strange to make this kind of accusation against someone whose family comes from Bangladesh. But anyway…
Here’s a more constructive approach to this: why not name some non-Indian South Asian sisters you think have been influential, or whose names would have been on your list?
What about manjula from the simpsons.. she raises 8 kids!! and still looks fab.. in a sari
Khoofi, you old mridangam..Rahul is not a blogger! BTW, my vote goes to Anna..she is phunny and HOTT!
Only in India or Africa (subsaharan) could he be viewed as “white”.
Very funny, koofi 🙂 Turning the tables back on us.
Um. This list is actually pretty disappointing because, as many so-called “South Asian” or “desi” spaces are, it’s totally India- and Hindu-centric. If you wanted to call it “Indian women of the decade”, then fine. But if it’s going to be about all South Asian women, there should be an effort to be inclusive of Pakistanis, Nepalese, Bangladeshis. Aren’t we supposed to be challenging chauvinism on Sepia Mutiny?
What about Mukhtar Mai? Or Sumaya Kazi, founder of the Cultural Connect? Or Robina Niaz, foudner of Turning Point for Women and Families? Taz, why don’t you include yourself, actually?
And on the subject of Irshad Manji – please. She doesn’t give two pakoras about what happens to Muslim women. She’s in it for the fame and the money – have you noticed she’s not really speaking to any Muslim audiences, not even the progressive ones? She’s really only ever invited to speak by groups that love to hate Muslims and love to point to her and say “See! We were right! Muslims are savages and here’s an insider to prove it!!” If you’re truly interested in a substantive critical voice on Muslim women’s experience in the US, 1000 places before Irshad Manji should be Asra Nomani and Sarah Hussain.
But then they are all secular!
Mukhtar Mai belongs to a list of the Women of the Decade or maybe even the century! This woman makes words like courage and determination sound cliched.
Venn, you should read a little more than Siliconeer, Raju Ramasamy, and other cheerleaders. Critiques of Doniger and Nussbaum are numerous and pretty well reasoned. Even Bill Gates found the Internet, I am sure you will have your moment of enlightenment. Far a start you could read about Doniger’s now discredited and debunked paper on Hinduism that MS-Encarta took down. Doniger’s students have for the most part produced 3rd rate scholarship – Jeff Kripal’s work being among the notorious examples. You should be thankful that this is not a discussion on Hinduism studies in the academy, for if it had been you would have by now been scrambling for cover. The next time we have a discussion on the subject feel free to drop by for a free lesson.
oh but i like it like that.
You mean promoting ‘affirmative action’? Taz has taken great effort to come up with this list (I am betting at least 1 week to read about individuals, compare them & come up with a list). Instead of telling it is biased why can’t you a take a look at the state of education of girls in Pak/Bangla?
Oookay, I’m gonna step in.
As a Muslim Bangladeshi blogger on this site, I am aware of the lack of Muslim non-Indian leaders on my list. I was also intentionally not foccussing on parity of desi leaders – If I was, I would have spent more time picking out a person of each ethnic group, each religion, etc…
This is a list of INFLUENTIAL desi women, DESPITE religion, caste or creed. I was looking at “firsts” – people that broke major barriers in their respective fields. And it was done in an an American context, people of the diaspora, NOT women from the desh. My reasoning behind this is selfish, as always. As I was growing up in the US, I had no one to look to that was “diasporic” like me – I wanted to create a list (and write on SM, really) to highlight the stories of the American diaspora. I wanted to find women like me, that if I was twenty again, I could turn to as glass breaking barrier women.
Frankly… Muslim women, Hindu women, Bangladeshi women….whatever _____ women… We need to be influential without having to be tokenized. Sure I would have liked to see a Muslim on the list, but I don’t think any of the women I came across were up to par in breaking a glass ceiling in their respective fields – plus – none of the women in the top twenty listed are silos-ed into doing just religion work. They are recognized across mainstream American culture, in their respective fields.
The question shouldn’t be why wasn’t there a Muslim on the list, the question is why do we have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to find a desi Muslim in American mainstream culture. The women listed in the comments are hardly as comparable success and influential and glass breaking. I totally recognize, pakidrums, that if we make it an issue of parity, that maybe my own name should be on the list. I recognize that my work in the community has broken barriers, but that to me is kinda sad. I want to see Muslim non-Indian desi women that are influential and have gone waaaay beyond my electoral work. But sadly, I don’t think this was the decade for them. Maybe next decade. I don’t think it’s a bad thing – I think this is just a call out to the non-Hindus, non-Indians to break some glass ceilings, become a 1st, in their respective fields.
Also, this was a top twenty list – If this list was longer – I easily would have added Asra Nomani, Huma Abedin, Noureen DeWoulf and Sunny Leone – Personally, I just didn’t think I could switch anyone out for them. I’m still standing by the top twenty South Asian American list- It’s a damn impressive list.
As for Irshad Manji – speaking as a Muslim, queer friendly desi muslim – I’m not a fan of hers nor do I think she has been a POSITIVE influence on what it means to be a desi woman. And I don’t take kindly that a a man with a blog title “Gay black Canadian” is telling this “straight desi Muslim female” that I am xenophobic for not including another muslim desi female on the list. CHECK your privilege, Orville. If this desi, queer-friendly, Muslim female isn’t an Irshad Manji fan, then maybe you should reconsider that the only reason you like her is because she represents a token gay Muslim. And liking someone because they are a token is… well… racist. Isn’t it.
As soon as I saw the headline my mind immediately went to Benazir Bhutto. Not because I love her or anything. But I think she was kind of important.
And I was thinking Desi woman Globally.
So why is Priya Rai not on the list?
you still have no explanation for why you went off half-cocked on your rant in the first place. a perfect example of this knee-jerk behavior of the people with whom you claim to travel can be seen in your very own bizarre comments 40 and 46 in response to manju’s comment 31 which neither explicitly nor implicitly said all the things you feverishly inferred.
in any case you neither know what i read or don’t.i am well aware of hinduism as well as the state of hinduism studies, but generic ad hominems and allegations of “jnu influenced” or whatever other tripe is neither a justification nor an explanation. i am also aware of specific critiques of differnt pieces of work, but it is thoroughly laughable to go on the way you do about doniger and nussbaum as either clueless or agenda driven. the good critiques are welcome opposing points of view to the discussion and should be seriously understood and debate, while the worse ones, the ones that dominate the airtime, are frothing at the mouth at perceived insults to their culture and to themselves. the caricature of doniger as a sex obsessed westerner is throughly laughable, does not jibe one bit with her entire body of work as an academic, and is more a defensive knee-jerk reaction by the uber-morality contingent of hindu leaders and their followers. an encarta article is hardly an indication of scholarship, nor is a corporate decision to minimize reaction from a noisy minority a reflection on doniger’s scholarship. even if loud yelling removes doniger from your perception of the public square, that is hardly any indication of eyour scholarly correctness. finally, i will take my lessons from somebody who isnot brain deep in bile, and who is able to actually talk in a level headed manner about an entire body of work, not random gotchas here and there, so please keep your abuses to yourself.
but please, for your sake and for the sake of those around you, have yourself looked at so maybe your instability can at least be medicated away.
I second about 2 commentators who indicated why this list is not representative of ‘Desi Women of the Decade’. Some representation would have been nice, and more importantly fair Taz, even if you do represent, in your own words, “Muslim Bangladeshi blogger on this site”.
Cheers, S
….about an entire body of work….
Off topic, but do you really need to make an omlette and eat it to know that the egg is bad?
I also don’t understand why people get all upset about “Hinduism Studies”. Do scientists care about “science studies”? Monkeys about primateologists? The universe about cosmologists?
I second Venn on the irrelevance of Jyotsna’s comment. Especially since the remark came from Manju, who is a Hindu fascist himself.
i still say ANNA and Taz should be on the list. some will say suck up, some may even say what the fuck up?
for me, non have had a greater impact.
i wish them peace and inspiration.
“If you admire somebody you should go ahead and tell um People never get the flowers while they could smell um”
can we please just put thomas friedman in a dress, give her the prize, and call it a night?
I am not a Hindu.
Doesn’t matter, you are still a Hindu fascist. Like Bobby Jindal is a Republican even though he is not white.
I see Friedman in a Lehenga. And low-cut Choli, with mischievous finger near mouth. Anyone else wanna dress her?
Oh, OK…if you put it that way. I made the pujas run on time.
Point of fact, Taztastic… SAJA was founded in 1994… Interesting picks for the list!