Description
This paper will be focused on the women diaspora of South Asia in the USA and the United Kingdom, what challenges they faced and the prospects. The diaspora that originates from the seven South Asian nations—Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka—is mostly spread across UK and USA. The twenty-million-strong, South Asian community presents a challenging yet rewarding opportunity for cross-cultural missions in nations which are now their home. The foremost challenge of the diaspora is integrating with the native community. To preserve cultural and social identity, South Asians keep their social and religious traditions and faithfully practice them in the host environment. Parents in the South Asian diaspora, for example, not only arrange their children’s marriages, but also arrange them within their own caste. Often they look for a spouse for their son or daughter in the place of their origin. Clinging to their traditions at the expense of openness to the host culture can hinder their integration with the host community. This paper will also discuss the identity crisis of 2nd and 3rd generation diaspora. Identity is a challenge specific to the second and third-generation diaspora, born and raised in a host culture. The question each second and third-generation diaspora person faces is whether he or she is Asian, British or American. Within the diaspora community, the cultural gap between older and new generations raised in the host culture leads to conflict in matters of preserving tradition and cultural practices. I will give two short profiles from South Asian diasporas communities with a particular focus on the efforts made by the different ethnic groups to preserve languages and customs. The South Asian presence in the UK originates from the 18th century when they were simply called "Overseas Indians". The 1991 census was the first effort to identify the different groups in South Asia living in the United Kingdom, with data showing that 3 million or around 5.5 percent of the population are South Asian society. Lastly this paper will discuss the education and employment issues that the women diaspora of South Asia faces. In spite of mission challenges that the diaspora presents, opportunities overflow to reach out to the women diasporas. It plays a vital role in development and progress of their countries of origin. So overall in this paper I will try to explore all of the challenges and prospects that women face. I will use quantitative method of research.
