Monsoon Woman
Wouldn't Take No for an Answer
by
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I learned that I could leave behind a set of circumstances but the issues would follow me. I am not a victim but a survivor and a winner. I feel empowered and want to speak out. I have chosen to write my story using the lens of overt and subtle discrimination based on race, gender and age, some of which have been wrapped up in domestic violence and religious control. My experiences are not new but they are my own. I do believe that most of the behaviours and words I write about are based on people’s ‘ignorance’ of not knowing how others live and feel; of having been fed on images and stereotypes by various forms of media and versions of history written by ‘colonising victors’ or patriarchs, both religious and societal, about people living in other countries without having taken the time to understand or approach each person as a unique and wonderful human being.
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About the Book
Monsoon Woman tells the story of Laxmi Lall, a self-made woman who escaped domestic violence and religious control to carve a new life. She educated herself and ascended the corporate ladder; her struggles with domestic and religious control were replaced by the triple whammy of sexism, racism, and ultimately, ageism. Lall recounts her story starting as a child of privilege, living in mansions with a retinue of household staff, with her father, a high-ranking army officer and her mother, a society lady. She persisted through two unhappy marriages and the cruel and unusual punishments they brought. She tells how she earned her experiences the hard way in corporate life. Lall won despite the systemic obstacles placed in her path directly and indirectly by an unreflective patriarchy and the deep-rooted ethnocentrism of the mid- to late twentieth century and early twenty-first century. This memoir chronicles how Lall reinvented herself. She has found her passion working for women’s rights as well while gaining the freedom to follow her dreams. While first, second, and third waves of feminism have blunted the voices of migrant women, she remains a feminist and is an advocate for diversity and equity for women and a campaigner to end domestic violence.
About the Author
Laxmi Lall immigrated to Australia in the early 1970s as a young, married mother. Soon after, she left an abusive husband, taking her four-year-old daughter with her and experienced poverty, racist abuse, and sexism. She later earned two master’s degrees and worked for ASX100 and international organizations developing cultural change and diversity programs. Through her counselling practice and advocacy work, Lall supports, empowers, and challenges women to take control of their futures.