The terms ’empowering’ and ‘inspirational’ are terms that I have thrown around on many occasions. I have said “they are inspirational” or “they are empowering”. However, it is something they are, and I’m not.
To describe the Asian Woman Festival, I would alter those phrases to say: I am empowered, and I am inspired.
For instance, Michelle Obama is inspirational; and she is also empowering (honestly nothing against Michelle Obama – she’s literally perfect). But I’ve always struggled to find a foundation on which to identify with these powerful women in mainstream media. The Asian Woman Festival introduced me to a whole new woman; who delivers all of her stories and all of her advice through a “brown” lens.
Of course, that’s not the make-or-break. But it opened my mind and helped me make sense of myself (does that make sense?).
It is a frame of mind I have adopted as a result of all the incredible women I had the beautiful opportunity to listen to.
And why do I feel this way?
a) When I first viewed The Asian Woman Festival website, what stood out to me is the metaphor: ‘starved of the community you crave.’
It created an excitement that I would be meeting women who are not only like-minded but who’ve already developed their opinions way beyond passive conversation.
In attending the event, what I found was much more than that. SO MANY successful women had been given a platform to express exactly what needed to be said and done against the deep-rooted prejudice Asian women face. And, the even deeper-rooted prejudices Asian people have put up against each other.
And I don’t mean successful in terms of careers (although they all were), I mean successful through successfully confronting the issues that have been shunned by Asian society. They tackled controversial issues head-on; topics such as depression, disability, tattoos, sex, colourism, etc.
I was exposed to topics which I had not yet ventured to think about. Topics which were elevated on a stage with a mic! I was forced to think about them.
But that’s the point! The purpose of the Asian Woman Festival was to lay out and redesign the definition of being an Asian Woman.
To me, the meaning of being an Asian woman is, simply, to somewhat be Asian and to somewhat be a woman. However, throughout history and even today, there have been boundaries placed on that. Whether you are from a particular region/country, whether you speak a particular language, whether you follow a certain religion, perhaps you don’t look “normal”, or the extent to which you are “westernised”.
Shani Dhanda, the organiser of the Asian Woman Festival, quoted the term “intersectional;” meaning that women are not only marginalised for being women, it is further broken down to their race, gender, class, ethnicity and ability.
What the festival has done, is showcased how this intersectional system is internalised within the Asian community. It is unfortunate that we forget to create an environment where we can embrace and discuss our commonalities and differences.
The Asian Woman Festival facilitated a rhetoric of exposing and accepting each other. It motivates us to overcome boundaries and accelerate the progress of supporting diversity.
‘I’ve never had a space to talk about all the features that make up my whole identity, so I created it – because true diversity is intersectional.’
Shani Dhanda
b) Even though the festival is promised to target the fresh, new generation of British-Asian women, the blanket term of “Asian Woman” in Asian Woman Festival has been used so that no one gets left out!
To prove:
As a volunteer of the event, all the volunteers gave a short feedback on how they felt about the festival. One, in particular, stood out to me; a lady slightly older than us mentioned how having heard and seen the issues British-Brown women face today, it resonated with what she had experienced 20+ years ago. She was surprised that half of the issues are still recurrent today.
This comment not only made me feel that this event is important for women now, but will always be important.
What I have to take away from the Asian Woman Festival is that we should feel confident about our opinions. We should realise that – yes – these issues do exist. Vocalising them will resonate with someone and potentially help them. This event helped to open minds and teaches us to love and accept each other.
c) It really is a great way to connect with a community you never knew you were craving. The festivals concordance means you have the opportunity to relax and talk to these inspiring and empowering women like a friend. Its accessibility and lack of barriers means you feel you’re on the same level. Everyone there is so kind and sincere, it genuinely surprised me! Nobody is there to tell you, or make you feel like, you’re not good enough.
And it’s crazy how much people are curious about you, they want to ask you questions and offer advice where they can. The environment was such that there is time to talk.
A five-minute conversation was enough to make me feel empowered and inspired.
Since March 30th, the Asian Woman Festival has garnered a lot of attention. It’s name has been passed through BBC Asian Network, BBC News and has appeared in various different news articles. For the first ever UK Asian Woman Festival, its outreach and positive response has gone beyond what could have been expected of an initial event. It’s exciting to think how much bigger this could become in the new year. I’m hoping to see way more talks/panels/stand-up shows/poetry/bollywood dance and much more. Maybe even make it a two-day event so the fun lasts longer!
To end this post, I sincerely hope that I have the opportunity to be involved in this specific event again. I’ll be waiting for it to show up on my insta feed for March 2020. After hearing the well-deserved hype around the Asian Woman Festival (and my stream of how amazing it is), I hope you’ll be looking out for it, too.