Southeast Asian American Women's Leadership Initiative

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The Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) established the Southeast Asian American Women’s Leadership Initiative to support and develop leadership among Southeast Asian American (SEAA) women who work in the nonprofit sector and on advocacy issues impacting their communities.

• Barriers to Leadership
• Current Successes
• Passion for Social Justice
• Goals for the SEA Women’s Leadership Initiative
• Funders
• Staff Involvement

Barriers to Leadership

Although half of the almost 2 million SEAAs are female, very few SEAA women are represented in leadership roles in Southeast Asian community-based organizations, the cornerstones of SEAA life since the resettlement of Southeast Asian refugees in America. Even as SEA communities have made strides integrating into the larger American community, SEAA women still face difficult social and economic struggles in this country. Hmong American women continue to have among the highest teen pregnancy rates in the country, and according to the United States 2000 Census, only 39% of Cambodian females ages 25 and over have a high school or equivalent degree, versus 81% of the overall U.S. population.

In addition to the poverty, educational, and social challenges faced by their entire communities, SEA American women continue to struggle with the challenge of balancing and confronting different understandings of gender held by different community members. Traditionally in Southeast Asia, public leaders in the community were male, a precedent that continues to be prevalent in the United States today. Very few SEAA females become executive directors or board chairs of SEAA community-based organizations. This lack of visible SEAA female role models makes it difficult for younger SEAA women to envision themselves as potential leaders in the nonprofit sector and/or in advocacy circles.

Current Successes

Despite the many challenges that SEAA women face, their enrollment and graduation rates from institutions of higher education are rising. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of Southeast Asian Americans, both male and female, in higher education increased. For example, according to the 1990 Census, only 3% of Hmong Americans ages 25 and over had a college degree. In the 2000 Census, that number increased to 7% with males obtaining degrees twice as fast as women.

Passion for Social Justice

SEAA women continue to be committed to their communities’ issues, and they are looking for ways to engage in advocacy and social justice issues. However, few have networks to increase their interest and connect their passions to social justice work. Now is the time to cultivate that leadership and interest, simultaneously introducing them to policies and policy-makers who should also be aware of the needs of this population.

Goals for the SEA Women’s Leadership Initiative

With the establishment of the Southeast Asian Women’s Leadership Initiative, we hope to build the capacity of women to become leaders and advocates of change in communities that have not traditionally accepted them in these roles. If this void of leadership of SEAA women continues to go unfilled, and the commitment of potential female leaders continues to go unnoticed, these SEAA communities that need strong advocates will be denied the leadership gifts of some of their communities’ greatest potential leaders.

The program has two primary goals:

1. to increase the capacity, and support the participation, of Southeast Asian American women to engage in social justice through public sector careers and Southeast Asian community-based organizations; and
2. to engage in an advocacy agenda that is informed and supported by Southeast Asian American women and which forms a strategy on national policies.

Funders

The Southeast Asian American Women’s Leadership Initiative is generously supported by the New Voices Fellowship Program.