The pendulum had to swing to find its balance

Anita Kaushal (of Indian origin) is the co-founder of Mauli Rituals; a British brand of self-care products, inspired by her Ayurvedic heritage. Her grandmother was a herbalist and a midwife and taught plant medicine and massage. Her mother was a firm believer in Satvik food and her father practised kundalini yoga and meditation. In an exclusive interview with Asian Voice, Anita shared her perspective on how we as a community must approach diversity and inclusion and the role of women from ethnic minorities in being the change.
We’re in 2022, and conversations around women empowerment and feminism are happening more than ever, yet there’s a lack of diversity and inclusion on boards. Why do think this is the case?
It’s a joy to see women empowerment and south Asians having such a strong voice now and with that, the lack of diversity and inclusion on boards will become broader. My generation was generally discouraged from applying for board level roles and that was as much from our society as it was from the boards themselves. This means fewer role models for the current generation, but fortunately, things are changing and the very fact we are having this conversation is testimony to that. Firstly, women need to find mentors they can relate to, then have the confidence to put themselves forward and finally, they must be the very best for the role. Now we see positive discrimination and while I’m not in favour of that, the pendulum had to swing to find its balance.
Could you please share some stories and experiences around inclusion and change for our readers?
Having started my career in a male-dominated sales environment, I was not only one of a handful of females, I was also Asian. I do recall, as I have throughout my career that it was not as easy for me to be given opportunities as others, but I believed then as I believe now if you work hard and get the job done, your actions will speak for yourself. I made more profit for my company than any male, and that could not go unnoticed, even if they wanted it to.
Do you think inclusion and diversity are confined to ethnic women or do women as a community face this?
I believe there will always be some form of discrimination, be it around sex, colour, disability, social background, and it can be on a company bias or that of the individual doing the hiring.
As a woman, what would your advice be to other women and men to nurture inclusion and promote diversity in businesses without bias?
To anyone hiring, I would say, we live in a multi-faceted, multi-cultural world and are all the better for it. If you want to be relevant as a business and to speak to your potential customers, consider hiring from all walks of life – not only do you have a duty to do so, your business will be better for it in every way.