Upon reading "Killing Machine" I can't help but feel bad for Asian American women who have to go through hell just to achieve a standing in the academic institution. In addition to the harassment, labor exploitation, and limited promotion opportunities, Asian American women also have to deal with their own health, physically and mentally. It is a heavy load that they carry through years and years as they progress through their career paths. It makes me truly appreciate my mom and what she had to go through. Albeit it wasn't through academia, she still had to deal with being a first generation Filipina American who was pregnant during nursing school while also raising another child back at home.
To know that there is a struggle in other career paths is somewhat relieving, it is also simultaneously disheartening. There's so much stress to reach our career goals. Whether it comes from competition with other students, expectations that seem unreal, or deadlines that are closer than you think. It can be daunting. But if every occupation goes through stress, would that mean that stress is essentially required? I know for the case with Asian American women in academia they have to deal with additional stressors, but isn't that also the case with Asian American women in pre-health fields?
Reading the article makes me see this as less as an occupational issue and more of a social issue that we have to address. I know that at least here in the states we value hard-workers but are we putting ourselves in a situation where working hard is also working off our well-being?
Sources:
Valverde, K. C., Pham, C. M., & Mai, M. Y. (2019). Killing Machine.
image: https://miamioh.instructure.com/courses/62207/pages/identifying-stressors
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