Comments

I love asian women... especially those with a nice fake rack!

Posted by McMaster at March 25, 2005 4:15 PM

"At that point I had not yet earned the right to be different."

Isn't that a sad statement? It seems to take quite a bit to afford that right in corporate America.

Posted by Dustin at March 25, 2005 4:19 PM

Amazing the way India and Islamic countries discriminate against women via a caste system. It is their loss to discount/humiliate over 50% of their talent.

Posted by John at March 25, 2005 5:28 PM

Knowledge@Wharton also had a good coverage of the India Economic Forum at http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/index.cfm?fa=specialsection&specialid=27

Posted by Manni at March 25, 2005 6:55 PM

yes, if one reads that article, one sees that coporate amercia's was discriminating the person based on Ethnic clothing. I wonder with the current trends of the MBA' and other aspiring Executive who are taking on spots in India, will they be discriminated because they wear slacks and ablouse to work ?? What will happen if the Indian Corporations inisit that the aspiring western Applicant, apply in the mode and fashion which is deemed to appropirate to that specifc culture ?? i.e a sari or salwar !!

how many fo the westerns will still want to go to that type of work envoirnment ?? Now , think how much the woman Executives of Asian Origin have gone thru.. Its only now that their voice is getting heard !!

Posted by /pd at March 25, 2005 7:57 PM

John, I am dazzled by your willingness to boldly assert what you seem to know nothing about.

Caste system = gender discrimination = Indian culture???

What an interesting way to try and pile one negative stigma onto another, essentially unrelated issue--and for what purpose exactly?

How about: It's amazing the way that discrimination seems to boil and fester within ANY culture after it stews and simmers under an oppressive imperialist rule.

I agree that discrimination is a painful disadvantage for all, but at least social discrimination is straightforward in South Asian countries. Class discrimination is alive and well in the US and NOBODY talks about it. So is sex discrimination. Who are we kidding here? Where exactly did you get the high horse for this parade?

............

Posted by Jason Kerr at March 27, 2005 4:13 AM

Jason, I've lived and studied in India and South Korea - traveled for 2 years in Asian countries. The main sex and race discrimination in the USA is against white and Asian straight men. The freedoms/affluence most have in the USA are magnificent compared to most Asians and Indians. Islamic cleric oligarchies enslave their women for the fun of it - then slice your head off if you travel there and are caught speaking out about it.

Posted by John at March 27, 2005 3:25 PM

Women in India (as elsewhere I suppose) are discriminated , no matter what their caste...

In fact, in the "lower" castes they are more economically active and form a part of the workplace (even though it's unorganized and not taken into account as "corporate workplace")...

remember, in a country like India, more than 80% of the workforce is not organized and work as daily wage laborers, farmers...

So john, saying women are discriminated by the caste system is grossly incorrect. They are discriminated, for their gender, period!

regards
Gautam

Posted by Gautam at March 28, 2005 5:00 AM

John, Sagacious Ancestor:

Active ignorance, passive ignorance...same difference. You still tried to apply the "Caste" label to sex discrimination. I don't care if you spent your whole life tending orchards, if you call an apple an orange... And now you just lumped in race discrimination.

I mean race, sex, social class--those are all pretty much the same thing, right? Whatever.

Ok, then John, facts are facts. Toss in a legitimate link or two to support this one:

"The main sex and race discrimination in the USA is against white and Asian straight men." ???

Well at least THIS glib generality is indeed glib. Thank goodness you taught me how naive I was before I came accross your compelling argument. The way you tied your ridiculous claim in with some that are so obviously true--that had me going. I was almost completely bumfuzzled. Kudos.
============
Oh yeah, when I studied in Asia, MY student visa had restricted access. I wasn't allowed to go outside of government approved, tourist-friendly areas. But you're so sneaky the way you hide who you are and twist together fact and fallacy. No doubt you slipped deeper in and witnessed great atrocities first-hand.

Well, if you did, then I am sincerely sorry for my tone. But whether you did or you didn't, DON'T go throwing around such things so lightly--JUST to put some pathos behind your own agenda.

John, I don't argue with you about the disparity between US and Asia. I don't disagree that India, China, and a number of other nations have some severe social problems--inequities AND iniquities (But so does a certain country whose children introduced nuclear holocaust, danced and sang when it was done, and came to be called "The Greatest Generation.").

And I can stomach a little self-righteous, misguided, misinformed, ethnocentric, politcal missionary pablum - but when you slap a generalized "culture of evil" stamp on a taxon as broad as, "India this" or "China that" you start to sound just a little, well.....FASCIST!!!

Sheesh, I think I just pissed my pants!

Posted by Jason Kerr at March 28, 2005 5:05 AM

I am glad to hear asian voices "articulate" values in an environment that has a different set of expectations. and I think every environment (U.S, India, anywhere) has its norms. And having to learn to manage those expectations and still keep your values intact is never easy. But talking about, sharing stories is a good start. I attend school in Texas and wish right now, right here, there was a curriculum that could attend to this.

Thank you for the article.

Posted by Meera at March 29, 2005 11:45 AM