Breaking Barriers
Learn about five APID leaders and how they were able to overcome and break barriers.
When you are a person of color (POC), you have to work twice as hard to achieve your goals because there are stigmas against them. When you are a POC and identify as a woman, you have to work four times as hard because you have to fight the stigmas of race and gender, just like the old saying, “A woman has to work twice as hard, for half the respect.” On April 11th, a Pacific student and Center for Identity and Inclusion Program Support Intern, Bhajleen Khalsa moderated a panel discussion of five Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi (APID) women talking about the barriers and obstacles they had to endure because of their ethnicity and gender. One obstacle being the myth of the model minority. They spoke about societal and cultural challenges they have faced and how they overcame them to become the extraordinary leaders they are today.
The model minority myth goes back to the time when the first Japanese and Chinese immigrated to America (see APID article). Model minority is based on different stereotypes, but in this case, it means that they will not speak up, take up space, and rebel while other minorities will rebel.One of the challenges all these women have faced in their fields is that they are expected to stay quiet and not speak up. There are so many fields that are dominated by Caucasian men, and they often discount the value of a person purely because of their gender and ethnicity. These women have had to deal with getting spoken over, especially Sandra Chan. Sandra P. Chan earned her bachelor’s degree in comparative and French literature at UC Irvine. Chan served as Lincoln Unified School District President in 2023 and was elected into the office of Lincoln Unified School District in 2020. Her field, just like anything else, is dominated by Caucasian men. In a board member setting, it is expected that as a woman and Korean, she should sit there and be quiet to uphold the model minority myth. She said, “Don’t be afraid to make space,” by not letting the model minority myth be a reason to not be heard and respected.
Another common barrier is the lack of an advanced degree. Bachelor’s degrees are no longer respected; if one does not have a master’s or higher, you are not as valuable or considered for certain positions. It is to the point that a bachelor's degree is equivalent to having a high school diploma. It was discussed that in the APID community, people are expected to get an advanced degree in the medical field, and Danielle Shipes had to face a barrier by not following that plan. Danielle Shipes graduated from Pacific in 2018 with a Bachelor of Arts degrees in Psychology, Sociology, and Ethnic Studies. Shipes serves as an Admissions Counselor for Pacific McGeorge Law School JD Admission Office and the Center for Inclusion and Diversity Liaison for the Sacramento Campus. It is not just barriers from society they had to face but also from their family expectations.
The barriers of family and heritage were prevalent in Natsukhi Fukaswa’s journey. Natsukhi Fukasawa is a musician that has traveled across the world. She came to America to attend Juilliard’s Music School. She currently serves on the artist faculty of the Talis Festival & Academy in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and the Orfeo Music Festival in the Italian Alps. She is also a part of our faculty at the Conservatory of Music and American River College. Fukaswa grew up with traditional values in Japan, with certain stereotypes of different ethnicities and genders. Growing up in that traditional setting, she did not find anything wrong with some traditional values regarding what women should look like so they can get married. It was not until she went to Julliard that there were different stereotypes. She spent her professional music career traveling to various countries which opened her eyes and getting to know people broke down her traditional background barriers. She says, “The value and lessons of traveling and getting to know different people and cultures are unparalleled. Traveling opens your mind and helps you grow.”
Even though this was a panel discussion about APID women breaking barriers, we are also fighting for social acceptance. In fighting for social acceptance Singh says it is important to recognize the struggles of the APID men. Even though we live in a patriarchal society, there are stereotypes that are not in favor of men. For example, it is more socially acceptable for women to be emotional, but not men. We’re not just fighting for women's rights, but social acceptance across the board for POC.
The panelist at this event also discussed the value of mentorship. People are greatly influenced by their heritage and tend not to question it, but when you leave home, the world may expand your horizons to realize that some traditional values need growth. Mentors can make the transitions more manageable and help you grow as a person, passing some of the traditions of your heritage. Mentors are not just guides but also people who push you to grow and take opportunities you usually would not consider or take yourself.
Dr. Shika Gupta graduated from Goa Dental College and Hospital in India and earned her Master of Dental Science degree from the University of Malaya. When she moved to America, her degree was not expected, so she came to Pacific, Arthur A. Dugoni Dentistry School International Dental Studies program in 2007. After graduating from Pacific’s dental school, Dr.Gupta returned as a professor and faculty advisor. Dr.Gupta served as chair of the Academic Council here at Pacific, and she was named Chair of the Department of Clinical Oral Health Care.
Dr. Shika Gupta said, “It takes a woman to advocate for another woman.” Which is true because who else knows the struggles of being a woman than a woman. Having a mentor to advocate for you is a powerful tool in the workforce because someone with credibility is backing and supporting you. Having that support helps you grow and elevate, not to mention having someone in your corner that understands your struggles means you have someone to rely on and fight for you when there is injustice.
Mentors do not necessarily have to be one person; they could be many different people depending on your stage in life and the situation. Soni Singh currently serves as a Programs Associate with the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF), focusing on their SikhLEAD Internship Program, which allows interns to organize, collaborate on, and lead service projects across the U.S. She is a secondary school STEM educator who encourages holistic learning and exceeds educational goals. Singh tries to learn from everyone around her as if the people around her are her mentors. Shipes' mentor influenced her to be someone to do something with her struggles of being an APID woman.
Shipes mentor exposed her to the reality that she is going to have different perspectives because she is an APID woman and that she needs to figure out a way to get others to understand her point of view. Motivating her to find your voice and ensuring that your Caucasian male counterpart hears and understands you.
The barriers in the workforce is a real endeavor that women have to break through in order to thrive in their careers. The barriers become even harder when a woman is not Caucasian. As stated before “women have to work twice as hard for half of the respect” and it is even worse for POC women. These strong APID women have been able to overcome the obstacles that come with their genetics to become leaders in their fields. This event was a powerful panel that educated us on the struggles of an APID woman working in a man's world.