Meet Dr Ruha Shadab, The Young Muslim Woman Driving Change Among Her Community
Summary
TLDRThe speaker reflects on her journey from aspiring doctor to public health advocate, inspired by the impact of preventive medicine. She discusses the lack of representation of Muslim women in leadership roles and her initiative, 'Led By,' a leadership lab aimed at empowering Indian Muslim women to achieve professional success and increase their presence in the private sector. The summary also touches on the importance of agency, access, and avenues for these women to realize their potential and contribute to society.
Takeaways
- 👩⚕️ The speaker initially aspired to be a doctor due to the noble nature and social impact of the profession.
- 🌟 The transition from clinical medicine to public health was inspired by the subject of preventive and social medicine during medical college.
- 🎓 The speaker pursued a Master's in Public Policy at Harvard, which was facilitated by male mentors, sparking a curiosity about the absence of Muslim women mentors.
- 🤔 The speaker questioned the visibility and representation of Muslim women, noting their underrepresentation in the workforce despite making up 8% of the population.
- 💡 The idea for 'Led By' was conceived during the speaker's time at Harvard, with a focus on empowering Indian Muslim women through leadership development.
- 📈 'Led By' aims to increase the representation of Indian Muslim women in the private sector to be proportional to their population percentage.
- 🛠️ The organization provides professional training and development to amplify the impact of Indian Muslim women as future professionals.
- 💡 'Led By' also serves as an incubator for startup ideas, encouraging more Muslim women to become founders.
- 📚 The speaker emphasizes the importance of education, reflecting on the Right to Education Act and the need for accessible college education and support.
- 🔑 The three 'A's identified as crucial for Muslim women are avenues for visibility, access to networks and opportunities, and agency to believe in their potential for success.
- 🌈 The Shaheen Bagh protest demonstrated solidarity across religious lines, inspiring the speaker and reinforcing the mission of 'Led By'.
- 💖 The speaker encourages dreaming big and being ambitious, acknowledging the challenges but also the support and opportunities available for creating change.
Q & A
Why did the speaker initially want to become a doctor?
-The speaker initially wanted to become a doctor because they thought it was a noble profession with great social impact.
What subject during medical college particularly intrigued the speaker?
-The subject of 'Preventive and Social Medicine' intrigued the speaker and led to an interest in system change.
How did the speaker's journey shift from clinical medicine to public health?
-The speaker's journey shifted after being drawn towards system change during their study of 'Preventive and Social Medicine' and subsequently working at an international health NGO and then at Nithya Yoga.
What motivated the speaker to apply to Harvard for a master's in public policy?
-The speaker was motivated to apply to Harvard due to the influence of their mentors, despite noticing the lack of representation among Muslim women mentors.
What issue did the speaker identify regarding the representation of Muslim women in India?
-The speaker identified that Muslim women make up 8% of the population but are only 1% represented in the private sector, workforce, and corporate India.
What is the main goal of the leadership lab 'Led By'?
-The main goal of 'Led By' is to increase the representation of Indian Muslim women in the private sector to be proportionate to their population percentage.
How does 'Led By' aim to support Indian Muslim women in their professional development?
-'Led By' aims to provide professional training and development to amplify the impact of Indian Muslim women as professionals and also incubate startup ideas to increase the percentage of Muslim women founders.
What are the 'three A's' the speaker mentions as necessary for Indian Muslim women to succeed?
-The 'three A's are avenues, access, and agency, which refer to platforms for visibility, networks and opportunities, and a belief in their ability to achieve intended results.
How does the speaker connect the Shaheen Bagh protest to the mission of 'Led By'?
-The speaker connects the protest by highlighting the unity and support from various religious communities for Muslim lives, which inspired and added to the mission of empowering and creating agency within the Muslim community.
What does the speaker suggest about the perception of identity in movements?
-The speaker suggests that it's not about asserting one's identity but knowing that whichever identity one chooses to express will be welcomed and accepted.
What advice does the speaker give regarding dreaming big and taking action?
-The speaker advises that while dreaming big is important, it's also crucial to consider the context and challenges one might face, and to be ambitious while thinking about creating change beyond oneself.
Outlines
👩⚕️ Journey from Medicine to Public Health Advocacy
The speaker reflects on her initial aspirations to become a doctor due to the noble nature and social impact of the profession. She discusses her educational journey at Lady Harding Medical College in Delhi, where she pursued medicine while also nurturing her creative side through extracurricular activities. Her interest in system change was sparked by the subject of preventive and social medicine during her studies. This interest led her to work at an international health NGO and eventually in public health. The speaker also highlights her experience at Harvard, where she was mentored by men, which led her to question the representation of Muslim women in influential roles. She identifies a significant underrepresentation of Muslim women in the workforce and aims to address this disparity through initiatives like 'Led By,' a leadership lab for college-going Indian Muslim women, with the goal of enhancing their representation in the private sector.
🌟 Empowering Indian Muslim Women for Representation and Agency
This paragraph delves into the concept of 'Led By,' a leadership incubator designed to empower Indian Muslim women by providing professional training and development. The incubator also serves as a platform for nurturing startup ideas, thereby increasing the number of Muslim women who become founders. The speaker emphasizes the need for avenues that increase visibility, access to networks and opportunities, and the development of agency among Muslim women. She shares her observations on the Right to Education Act and the challenges faced by the community in accessing higher education and the necessary support systems. The speaker also discusses the importance of internal and external support for the community, inspired by the Shaheen Bagh protests, which demonstrated solidarity across religious lines. She concludes by encouraging dreams and ambition, acknowledging the challenges faced by the community and the broader societal support available.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Noble Profession
💡Social Impact
💡Mentors
💡Public Health
💡Preventive and Social Medicine
💡Representation
💡Leadership Lab
💡Incubator
💡Agency
💡Right to Education Act
💡Shaheen Bagh Protest
Highlights
Grew up aspiring to be a doctor due to the noble nature and social impact of the profession.
Transitioned from clinical medicine to public health, influenced by the subject of preventive and social medicine.
Experienced a lack of female Muslim mentors during her educational journey, which raised questions about representation.
Founded a leadership lab called 'Led By' with the goal of increasing Muslim women's representation in the private sector.
Led By serves as a professional development platform and incubator for startup ideas among Indian Muslim women.
Discussed the Right to Education Act and its impact on the need for accessible college education and support systems.
Indian Muslim women possess the aptitude and ambition but require avenues, agency, and access to succeed.
The importance of visibility and networks in providing opportunities and building a sense of agency.
The Shaheen Bagh protest demonstrated solidarity across religious lines, supporting the idea that 'Muslim lives matter'.
Led By anticipates and addresses potential pushback, focusing on building internal agency within the community.
The speaker's personal experiences with identity and the importance of feeling welcomed regardless of which identity is asserted.
The inspiration drawn from the Shaheen Bagh protest and its impact on the mission of Led By.
The unexpected support and lack of pushback experienced by Led By, indicating a positive societal shift.
The importance of dreaming big and being ambitious, even when it's not easy to act on those dreams.
Encourages the audience to subscribe for updates and support independent journalism.
Transcripts
i grew up wanting to be a doctor for the
simple reason why i thought it was a
very noble profession
and had great social impact now during
all of this this movement from
clinical medicine to public health and
then after nathi i applied to harvard
for my master's in public policy was
made possible because of fantastic
mentors
but all these mentors were men none of
them were women
and hence none of them were muslim women
which made me just
wonder where are these 100 million
muslim women
i grew up wanting to be a doctor for the
simple reason why i thought it was a
very noble profession and had
great social impact i got into medical
college in delhi went to lady harding
medical college and had a fantastic time
for five and a half years
studying medicine but also exploring my
more creative side
set up the debate society the magazine
committee in college
but i started getting pulled more
towards system change while i was
in medical college so there's a subject
called preventive and social medicine
that's taught to you for
three and a half years out of your five
and a half year course
and that's a subject that really
intrigued me i felt that systems change
is really the kind of
social impact and scale that i want to
work in
so after my mbps i found myself working
at an international health ngo
and then working at nithya yoga
eventually on public health as a young
professional
now during all of this this movement
from clinical medicine to public health
and then
after nithya i applied to harvard for my
master's in public policy
was made possible because of fantastic
mentors
but all these mentors were men none of
them were women and hence none of them
were muslim women
which made me just wonder where are
these 100 million
muslim women it could either be that
they have achieved success but there
really isn't a platform
to raise their visibility or it might be
that
they just aren't represented to the
level that they should be
and the issue is actually both of them
we make up eight percent of the
population but
one percent of say the private sector
and the workforce and corporate india
and that problem was something that i
was thinking about even when i applied
to harvard for my masters
i spoke over there about indian muslim
women
and their health outcomes but during my
first year at howard it was a very
interdisciplinary course
so i got to also have a bird's eye view
of what's happening in the country
spend some time thinking about what are
the bottlenecks
and that's how led by got incepted in my
mind
it's a leadership lab for college-going
indian muslim women
with the very simple but ambitious goal
to make our representation in the
private sector proportionate
to our population percentage and that's
how that pay started
[Music]
so led by is a leadership incubator for
indian muslim women
and when we say incubator we mean it in
two folds
one is in terms of giving them the
professional training
and professional development that would
really help
amplify their impact as they become
professionals
the second part is a more normally
understood aspect of incubator we are
also an incubator
for startup ideas to again raise the
percentage of muslim women
that are founders there's never a wrong
time to do something that is going to
create positive social impact
so regardless of the space time
coordinate we are in
the reason i'm so passionate about led
by
is it's working towards empowering a
community that so far has been very
uncatered to in terms of education and
employment
opportunities so for one thing that
comes to my mind
often is the right to education act
right it made
primary education compulsory in our
country and it's been 11 years since
that act was passed so you have this
massive cohort of people who've
been a generation that's been through an
entire rte phase
but is there a sucking noise being
created from colleges saying that hey
you did your schooling but there is
college that's there that's accessible
there is the financial social and
professional support that you need
along with going to college that we are
providing
and that's something people aren't
thinking about it's a conversation that
will for sure be more mainstay a couple
of years or maybe decades down design
but we want to expedite that
conversation indian muslim women have
the aptitude have the aspirations and
have the ambition
what they need are another three a's
they need
avenues they need agency and they need
access
so when i talk about avenues i talk
about platforms that
raise visibility of fantastic work being
done by indian muslim women as
professors in the private space in the
entrepreneurial sector
so that's in terms of avenues in terms
of access is
do they have or do they know people who
hold keys to doors that can
open up networks open up opportunities
which
something which is something that's
missing right now so you have avenues
you have access
and what's again really important is
agency a belief that
when you try to do something you will
achieve the obvious or
intended results and a sense of agency
can be built
by increasing the visibility of people
who have managed to overcome obstacles
who've managed to achieve their dreams
[Music]
i could never see indians
non-muslims hindus seek jains coming to
the streets and saying muslims lives
matter and that is why we need to create
this leadership that where we are able
to build
internal agency within the community
what was really interesting about the
shaheenbach protested me was i was
proved wrong
within six to nine months because they
were hindus sikhs jains parsis
christians everybody on the streets
saying
that muslim lives matter it's something
that seemed so impossible as a young
muslim woman
and that is what inspired me more and
added
fire to zed by's mission is just knowing
that
there are a lot of supporters out there
and that's again something else that
we've seen over the past year and nine
months that we've been working on that
by
we've anticipated push back but
i've mostly only been asked about hey
what about pushback instead of somebody
actually giving pushback
so this big bad word that we're told is
out that is actually not that bad
and there are a lot of supporters out
there and that's it
how the ca protest ties into that by
story what i personally feel
is that it's not a matter of asserting
your identity or even figuring out which
identity you assert because there might
be days where
my indians plays out more there might be
days where my female identity plays out
more there might be days
especially on eid when my muslim
identity plays out more
it's about knowing that whichever
identity i decide to play out or not
play out for whatever reason
it's going to be welcome draw paradise
to any other movement that depends upon
or
is around identity it's not so much as
asserting it's about
knowing that the identity would be
welcomed no matter how much i want to
dye it up or die down
[Music]
dream big i wouldn't say go ahead and do
it i think that comes from a position of
privilege it's not easy to go ahead and
do it
but we all can dream big we can all be
ambitious we can all think about
creating change that is beyond us
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