A university lecturer hopes her stories on female Asian migrants can start a movement that empowers others.
Dr Hafsa Ahmed from Lincoln University is putting together 10 stories in a series called Unquiet Women. Photo: Supplied / Dr Hafsa Ahmed
Dr Hafsa Ahmed from Lincoln University is putting together 10 stories in a series called Unquiet Women for the Asia Media Centre, inspired by Max Adam's original work under the same name.
Dr Ahmed said she had come across lots of women with inspiring stories through different social networks, such as Uniting Canterbury Women, but they were not always heard.
She believed sharing their stories would encourage other migrants to prosper in their new country.
Among those being featured are an Afghan well-being practitioner who escaped Taliban persecution when she was four, and a teacher who left behind her luxurious life in India and started afresh in New Zealand.
Dr Ahmed said having being born and brought up in India herself, she knew how culture could influence a person's upbringing.
"Being a woman in Asian culture sometimes can be hard because we deal with lots of patriarchy. We deal with lots of stereotype that comes with it," she said.
"So for me, it's more about exploring women's journeys ... because I find some of the stories were so empowering with certain values coming out so strongly in many of them."
She hoped the series could grow into something bigger and encourage more people to share their stories.
"Going forward, I really feel this can become an inspiring movement that people are proud to own their stories and the challenges they're going through and the lessons of life they have learnt."
She said she also noticed lots of commonalities between Asian culture and Māori culture, such as the respect for elders and the love of food, and she hoped the stories could build a bridge of understanding between Asian and New Zealand communities.
"The whole drive around doing this project was achieving more understanding of each other's culture to highlight that we have differences but we also have similarities," she said.
"That helps us build a better society, a cohesive society where we can all live harmoniously, accepting our differences, yet understanding the commonness that we all have, so then we can become stronger together."