Where are Our Kamalas?

America’s election fever engulfed the world and Sri Lanka too waited  to see who will be the President elect while his running mate Kamala Harris became the first woman of colour to be the Vice President elect of the USA.

Indeed a historic moment for women around the world, especially women of colour like us. For the first time in history a woman of colour had climbed the ranks emerging as a definite winner. Of course her path to the top was not without its fair share of trials and tribulations. Despite living in the land of the free, Kamala Harris is said to have endured more than her fair share of racism and gender inequality in the journey to become the first woman Vice president of the USA.

In the run up to the election Genealogists made great efforts in tracing Kamala’s maternal ancestry to a village in Chennai in the heartland of the Tamil Nadu state. Once the results were announced over fifteen thousand miles away, Sri Lankans were waking up to news on their social media that Kamala Harris was indeed one of us. 
Several posts were doing the rounds that Kamala’s maternal family hailed from Batticaloa and had gone to Tamil Nadu in search of pastures new. Much to the chagrin of many, these posts went viral. Never was there any mention from Kamala or her family that they originated from Sri Lankan shores. Another group of people started sharing memes with images of former Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaiake and Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi stating that they made history when they were elected to parliament many decades ago. Added to that duo were Benazir Bhutto and Shekh Hasina. These memes insinuated that the Americans were lagging behind their Asian counterparts. 

What these meme makers failed to understand was that the circumstances were a little different. These  South Asian women’s political careers were tied to husbands, fathers and family members  in politics.. These were women whose fathers and husbands had been felled in the most brutal manner, either assassinated or hanged. 
They were of course strong women who did contribute to their countries and juggled their many duties alongside politics in an Asian country. 

Kamala rose to the top through her own hard work and efforts. Let’s recognize that.  Yes we may have produced the world’s first woman Prime Minister in the 1960’s,  but, even now,  do you feel that our female political representation is adequate?

•  Yes we may have produced the world’s first woman Prime Minister in the 1960’s,  but, even now,  do you feel that our female political representation is adequate?