Davuluri reveals gender discrimination speaking at Harvard University.
AB Wire
WASHINGTON, DC: Former Miss India USA Nina Davuluri helped launch gender equality campaign ‘Side by Side’ by the Undergraduate Council at Harvard University, on Monday.
The former pageant winner featured in a panel discussion, which also had former Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, participating, along with several Harvard affiliates, reported The Harvard Crimson. Former Speaker of the New York City Council Christine Quinn was scheduled to participate, but couldn’t attend.
Davuluri and others shared several personal recollections of their own difficulties with regards to gender and gender norms, reported Crimson.
Davuluri said that after being named Miss America, she was not taken seriously by nonprofit foundation leaders she interacted with because of stereotypes surrounding her gender and the pageant.
She recalled an instance in which an older Indian gentleman asked her “So Nina, can you cook?”
Davuluri, who was born in the US and grew up in New York, had come under intense scrutiny after she won the pageant, because of her dark complexion. Many individuals expressed shock and also heaped ridicule on her, asking, commenting on social media, as to how could a woman like her win the contest.
Davuluri was the star of the discussion, with one student, Gunjari Raychaudhuri, quoted by the Crimson as saying: “I wanted to come out to support the campaign and also to hear Nina Davuluri speak.”