Honoring Your Community’s Cultural Expectations While Finding Ways to Dream Beyond Them with Parween Mander

Navigating Culture | Sharing The Stories of Bold, Brave & Badass Immigrant Women Creating their Dream Life

A common belief held amongst older women in immigrant communities is the expectation for younger women to be the traditional good daughter and daughter-in-law. Parween came face to face with this expectation as a random auntie asked her, “What do you do for work?”

Parween told her about her business helping women of color improve their financial literacy. The auntie shook her head and cautioned Parween, saying, “You shouldn't get too busy with that career, because you will not be able to manage the business and be a good housewife.”

If the elders within your community hold the same viewpoint, know that this is a consequence of the cultural obsession with a very narrow understanding of gender roles. It's a mentality that tells young women that their chief success is equal to how well they run a home, and how much they sacrifice for others. And while none of the former is intrinsically bad, success means more for many young immigrant women, including Parween.

If you want to learn how to stretch the boundaries of what success means when you live in a community with strong gender expectations, this episode is for you. Parween discusses how we can accept and honor our community’s cultural expectations while finding ways to dream beyond them.

The Three Things This Episode Will Teach You:

1. How to take the values from your community and evolve them
2. Moving beyond your community’s expectations and choosing yourself, your dreams, and your desires.
3. Having compassion for your elders and their values while seeing those values differently

Resources:

1. Download your free audio coaching here: navigatingculture.co/liveyourbestlife
2. Listen to more episodes: https://www.navigatingculture.co/podcast#recent-episodes
3. Buy Merch: https://www.navigatingculture.co/shop
4. Save $1000s on your Student Loans: https://www.navigatingculture.co/juno
   
   

Please know that by rating the Navigating Culture podcast on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen, you're co-creating this mission to inspire immigrants to live their own life, no matter what Aunty, Dad or that nosy neighbor next door thinks.
Connect with Anya:

Website: www.navigatingculture.co/podcast

Instagram: www.instagram.com/navigatingculture

Connect with Parween:

Parween’s Website: https://thewealthywolfe.ca/