Category Archives: Research

The Right to Education, Fair Compensation, and Safety

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When a woman was gang raped on a bus in Delhi in late 2012, the horror of such violence brought South Asian women to the forefront of the global discourse. It also sparked a much larger discussion on women’s rights that transcended the Indian subcontinent. Violence, inequities and unfair practices continue to affect women of all races and backgrounds across the world.

For the one in four women in the U.S. who will experience domestic violence, the one in six who will experience sexual violence, and hundreds of South Asian women and children who seek help from Chicago area domestic violence organizations like Apna Ghar and Hamdard Center, the call to action is both loud and clear. A woman’s right to a safe environment free of violence is a basic human right. United in this cause, SAAPRI joined forces with other South Asian organizations to denounce violence against women here and around the world.

As an organization that seeks to improve the lives of the South Asian American community by using research to formulate equitable and socially responsible public policy, SAAPRI also sheds light on other women’s issues through its research.

In its 2013 demographic profile on South Asian Americans in Illinois, for example, education and income levels reveal a notable gender gap between South Asian American men and women. South Asian American females in Illinois are about twice as likely as males to have less than a high school education. South Asian American men make around $52,137, while women make $42,240. While these inequities stem from a range of cultural, social, and economic factors, these statistics act as the necessary starting point to drive further analysis and influence social change on community and policy levels.

In addition to unfair pay and educational access, women face additional struggles in the growing domestic workforce. Hundreds of thousands of domestic workers – most of whom are women – are excluded from many of the basic protections of labor laws, which include minimum wage, overtime, sick, and vacation pay. Many work without health care and do not earn enough to support their own families. To address this problem, SAAPRI signed on to the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, which is currently pending before the Illinois legislature. Additional research and policy work is needed to find sustainable solutions, not only for workers but also the families that they serve, which include increasing numbers of seniors and people with disabilities.

In extreme cases, domestic workers brought from other countries to work in the United States are indebted to the people that brought them here and expected to work no matter the conditions, leaving them inextricably stuck in sometimes dire situations with little access to outside help. This form of labor trafficking has been linked to several Asian communities. In fact, according to a 2010 U.S. Department of Justice Report on Trafficking, the majority of immigrant human trafficking victims in the United States are from Asia and the Pacific. SAAPRI is working with the International Organization for Adolescents in an attempt to fill the current gap in research, services, and outreach for Asian American victims of human trafficking. Read more about the Asian American Trafficking Outreach Project (AATOP) here.

South Asian American women, like all women, deserve the right to equal access, fair compensation, and a safe environment.

What can we do?

We can value our women, supporting them in their occupational endeavors to become specialists in their field and vital members of the community. We can push for equal and fair pay for all people, regardless of race, gender, and background. We can conduct further research to inform and pass stronger laws that will protect South Asian women from violence, unfair policies, and structural barriers. We can say no to violence against women in our communities and lift the cultural stigma attached to making their voices heard.

Women’s rights are human rights. Workers’ rights are human rights. These movements intersect and overlap in more ways than one. The victim of the Delhi gang rape is a perpetual reminder that such human rights must not be ignored and that we, as members of the South Asian American community, must always strive to do better for our men and women – and for the generations to come.

Summar Ghias
SAAPRI, Communications Intern

Report – South Asian Americans in Illinois: Making Data Count (2013)

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Snapshot from “Chapter 2: Where South Asian Americans Reside”

As part of a joint effort to understand and more effectively address the growing South Asian American population in Illinois South Asian American Policy and Research Institute (SAAPRI) and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago (Advancing Justice-Chicago) released a demographic report titled, “South Asian Americans in Illinois: Making Data Count”. The report captures some of the challenges faced by the community including the growing issue of limited English proficiency and lower than average rates of per capita income. With about two-thirds of the community being United States citizens, the community is increasingly interested in having a voice on issues of concern, ranging from immigration to health care. The large number of South Asian American eligible voters in Illinois indicates the potential for political empowerment, but it also indicates the need for civic engagement.

There are currently more than 242,000 South Asian Americans in Illinois, a 55% surge from 2000 to 2010, with much of that extensive growth coming from the suburban six-county area. Indian Americans are the state’s largest Asian American ethnic group and other South Asian Americans include people of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, and Nepali descent. As detailed in the report, there are many disadvantaged segments among South Asian Americans who could benefit from policy reform and advocacy efforts, in collaboration with other immigrants and communities of color. For example, in Illinois, South Asian Americans have a lower per capita income ($26,567) than the overall population ($28,782). About 85% speak a language other than English at home and about one in four South Asian Americans speak English less than very well, serving as a barrier to accessing social services, courts, hospitals, and polls. Furthermore, South Asian American females are about twice as likely as males to have less than a high school education. With Indian Americans being the second largest immigrant group in the Midwest, second only to Mexican Americans, the complexity of the South Asian American community should be considered during discussions of immigration reform and integration.

We celebrate the successes and contributions of South Asian Americans in Illinois while acknowledging the ongoing barriers that our community faces. This report empowers us with facts and data, so that we can address the unmet needs of vulnerable members of our community

Ami Gandhi, Executive Director of SAAPRI

In summary, the report reveals the critical issues confronting South Asian Americans and provides insights to a variety of audiences – community-based organizations, policymakers, government officials, media outlets, and the public at large. Building upon SAAPRI’s groundbreaking 2005 demographic report, this new report presents a demographic profile of South Asian Americans in Illinois, utilizing data from the 2010 Census as well as other recent research.

  • Read WBEZ’s coverage of the report here
  • Read the Full Report here

Report – Social Capital in Illinois: Potentials and Pitfalls

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In September of 2012, SAAPRI released the pilot study, “Social Capital in Illinois: Potential and Pitfalls”, which illustrates how South Asian Americans, along with other immigrant and minority groups, are uniquely positioned to help move our society towards ethical governance by using social capital for good. The pilot study was published by Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University.

  • View the Full Report here

SAAPRI’s Executive Director Ami Gandhi discusses new Pew Research Center Report and South Asian Americans on Vocalo/WBEZ

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On July 13th, 2012, SAAPRI’s Executive Director Ami Gandhi spoke with Vocalo and WBEZ to discuss the newest Pew Research Center report on Asian-American demographics and how it affects South Asian Americans who don’t fit into these categories. The largely positive report claimed that Asian-Americans are better educated and have higher incomes than other immigrant groups.

  • Listen to her interview here

Report – SAAPRI Recommendations to FBI Advisory Board

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Hate crimes and hate groups continue to be a serious threat facing this country. The aftermath of the tragic events of September 11th, 2001 has caused Sikhs, Muslims, South Asian Americans, Arab Americans, and other communities in the Midwest and around the country to suffer an unfair burden of vulnerability.

As a result, on December 15th, 2012, SAAPRI submitted recommendations to the Federal Bureau of Investigation Advisory Policy Board to strengthen the collection and reporting of statistics on hate crimes.

  • Read SAAPRI’s recommendations here

Update:

On June 5th, 2013, the FBI Advisory Policy Board voted to begin tracking hate crimes against Hindus, Sikhs, and Arabs, in addition to the existing categories of Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Atheists. We thank the FBI for considering SAAPRI’s recommendations, and we congratulate the many diverse coalition partners who advocated for this measure, which will help awareness and prevention of future hate crimes.

  • Read more about the new changes expected here
  • Read more about SAAPRI’s efforts to pass anti-hate laws here

Report – Our Immigrant Story: South Asians in Illinois, 1945-1965

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Snapshot from “Memories and Milestones” exhibition

The journey of South Asians who came to Illinois between 1945 and 1965 remains one of the great untold stories of American immigration. In late 2005, SAAPRI began collecting the oral histories of South Asians who came to Illinois between 1945 and 1965. This was the first attempt by any group to document the history of South Asian immigration to Illinois in the pre-civil rights era and explore how they were affected by issues of race, gender, and homeland politics. The project attempted to understand the challenges faced by this generation of South Asian immigrants, both in the immediate context of their arrival in Illinois and the broader context of world history. It examined the circumstances of their migration, their patterns of settlement, the facilitating agents and supporting institutions, and the structural and cultural barriers to advancement. The project brought together a pioneering group of immigrants whose voices might have been lost to history if not for this effort. Another special feature of this project was that the interviews were conducted and/or transcribed by university students or family members of the younger generation.

In 2007, SAAPRI began the second phase of this project, using the same methodology. This time, the oral histories were expanded to include interviewees from downstate Illinois and beyond the Chicago metro area. Through community forums and dialogues, SAAPRI created and distributed a publication that provides a pictorial and narrative history of the South Asian immigrant experience.

In 2009, SAAPRI celebrated the culmination of this project with the “Memories and Milestones” exhibit, an exhibit dedicated to recording, documenting and preserving our immigrants’ momentous journeys.

  • Read the Full Our Immigrant Story Report here
  • Read an Executive Summary of how the oral histories were collected here
  • Access the SAAPRI TEAACH Act Advocacy webpage here
  • Access the Oral History project Instruction Guide here (for instructors/teachers)

Are you an educator looking to bring SAAPRI’s Oral History Project into your classroom in alignment with the Illinois TEAACH Act’s emphasis on teaching diverse histories?

If so, we’d love to connect! Fill out this brief form, and we’ll follow up with more information and next steps.