In a world where we are still fighting for gender equality, International Women's Day is particularly in the spotlight, to showcase the social, economic and political achievements made by women. The World Economic Forum predicted that at the current pace, the world will not close the global gender gap for another 117 years. This year's theme is #PledgeforParity.
Many events are planned globally, to celebrate women’s achievements while calling for faster progress on equality. In Nigeria, people are taking to the streets of Lagos to walk against gender-based violence, while in India female sherpas will lead tours of their favourite parts of Mumbai. London is hosting the Women of the World festival at Southbank Centre from 8-13 March 2016.
With still rampant women infanticide, sex grooming or forced marriages, woman's achievements are unfortunately measured by the number of years they have been married for, or the number of children they have had. But reality stays that a woman's achievement in a man's world starts, the day she is born, fighting all odds. The celebration on 8th March is merely a day chosen to salute those unsung heroes, of course gaining it's political definition over the years.
Asian Voice this year spoke to two unique British Asian women- to illustrate their off-beat journeys, making us proud of the diversity that enriches Britain. Sanchita Basu De Sarkar, is a Manager at one of London's oldest bookshops in Muswell Hill, whereas Sonal Sher is a mumpreneur, who launched her own handmade chutneys in Woking recently.
We have also done a short run up on Britain's top 20 Asian women (selected by our readers), who have over the years established themselves as ideals.
Top 20 British Asian women in the UK
1. Priti Patel MP: Priti Patel is the first British Asian woman to become an Employment Minister in the UK. She is also the Prime Minister's Indian Diaspora Champion, and today leading the OUT campaign on Brexit.
2. Malala Yousafzai: is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. She is known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school.
3. Baroness Shriti Vadera: Shriti Vadera, Baroness Vadera, PC is a British investment banker and politician. Until September 2009, she was a government minister jointly for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and the Cabinet Office. She has been Chairwoman of Santander UK since March 2015.
4. Shami Chakrabarti CBE: Shami Chakrabarti CBE since September 2003, the director of Liberty, the British civil liberties advocacy organisation. In September 2014, she took up the role as Chancellor of the University of Essex. She announced in the beginning of 2016, that she will be leaving Liberty, though she will continue to campaign for Human Rights.
5. Baroness Sayeeda Warsi: Baroness warsi is a British-Pakistani lawyer, politician and a Conservative Parliamentarian, who co-chaired the Conservative Party. She served in David Cameron's Cabinet, first as the Minister without portfolio between 2010 till 2012, then as the Senior Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as the Minister of State for Faith and Communities, until her resignation citing her disagreement with the Government's policy on the Israel–Gaza conflict in August 2014.
6. Bobbie Cheema-Grubb: Dame Bobbie Cheema-Grubb DBE is a judge of the Queen's Bench Division of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales. She is the first Asian woman to serve as a high court judge in the UK. Cheema-Grubb's Sikh Punjabi parents came to the UK in the 1960s and she grew up in Leeds, attending the City of Leeds School before studying law at the King's College London.
7. Baroness Ruby McGregor Smith: Baroness McGregor-Smith, is the CEO of Mitie Group PLC, a strategic outsourcing company headquartered in Bristol, UK.She was nominated for a life peerage in August 2015. She joined Mitie as Group Financial Director in 2002 and was promoted to CEO in 2007. She is the only Asian female chief executive of a FTSE 250 company.
8. Nicky Jayesinghe:Head of Corporate Development, British Medical Assocaition (BMA). She is a senior leader with a legal background and over 15 years of experience within healthcare policy development and implementation.
9. Parmi Dheensa: Parmi Dheensa is Founder and Executive Director of Include Me TOO, a charity supporting Black Asian & Ethnic Minority (BAME) disabled children and families.
10.Baroness Shreela Flather: Baroness Shreela Flather was the first Asian woman to receive a peerage, and is known for her frank opinion and out-spoken nature. Flather was recently appointed the honorary life President of the Memorial Gates Council that holds an annual commemoration at the Gates on Constitution Hill for Commonwealth soldiers and develops educational services.
11. Shivvy Jervis: Voted one of 100 people 'making digital Britain tick', Shivvy is the producer of video series' Digital Futures and The Trailblazers and head of digital content for Telefonica.
12. Bushra Nasir CBE: Bushra Nasir CBE was a secondary headteacher with 20 years’ experience at Plashet School in the London Borough of Newham before retiring in December 2012. She was the first Muslim female headteacher of a secondary school in the UK.
13. Gurinder Chadha OBE: Gurinder Chadha is an English film director of Sikh Kenyan Indian origin. Most of her films explore the lives of Indians living in England. This common theme among her work showcases the trials of Indian women living in England and how they must reconcile their converging traditional and modern cultures. Her famous film Bend it Like Beckham was turned into a successful musical for the West End.
14. Annie Zaidi: Annie is a youth engagement coach at Leicester City Football Club Community Trust. A rare female role model in the male-dominated world of football, Annie is a Muslim coach with Leicester City Football Club and the first ever South Asian woman to get a level two coaching certificate from the Football Association. She is passionate about training aspiring footballers and encouraging disadvantaged young people into the sport.
15. Shazia Mirza: Shazia Mirza is a British-Pakistani comedian from Birmingham. Before she became a comedian, she was a teacher in a school and in fact had taught Dizzie Rascal, now a rapper and song artist. She has also been a regular columnist with Guardian and a regular panelist on Channel 5.
16. Meera Syal: Meera is a British comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist, producer and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created Goodness Gracious Me and became one of the UK's best-known Indian personalities portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, Ummi, in The Kumars at No. 42.
17. Isa Guha: Isa Tara Guha is an England cricketer of Kolkata Bengali descent who played in the 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup in South Africa. She won World Cup in 2009. Guha writes a column for the BBC Sport website and joined ITV Sport in April 2012 as a co-presenter of ITV4's coverage of the Indian Premier League.
18. Preeya Kalidas: Preeya Kalidas is a British singer and actress. She previously played Amira Masood in the soap opera EastEnders. Preeya was born to Gujarati parents in Isleworth, and was raised in Twickenham, south-west London. She started ballet classes at the age of three, and tap at five. She then trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School in London. She also trained at Songtime Theatre Arts.
19. Meena Pathak OBE: British people are not strangers to the brand Patak's. Started by LG Pathak, the daughter-in-law, Meena left a promising Bollywood career in Mumbai in 1976 for her husband Kirit's pickle factory in Buckinghamshire, and developed and promoted the family brand with awe-inspiring energy. Soon they hit on the idea of sauces that made making a curry simple for people with little time to cook from scratch. The business blossomed. And now it employs over 700 people worldwide.
20. Samera Ashraf: Battling against stereotypes, Samera is a renowned kickboxer. She has contributed to the martial arts community for almost ten years, winning regional, national and international titles. Having qualified with a MSc (diploma) in sociology, she works with Shakti Women’s Aid, and combines her kickboxing training with radio work and stints as a stand-up comedian.
