BRITAIN'S LEADING SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN

A chance remark has inspired Mrs Lopa Patel, Editor of award-winning UK Asian Lifestyle portal Redhotcurry.com, to compile a list of Britain's Leading South Asian Women. "I was reading about the Queen's first ever reception for high-powered women on March 10th, when I noticed Dame Anne McLaren had said that there was "too high a proportion of white faces and that the lunch should have been more multicultural".

"Amazed that the head of the Commonwealth could not even manage to incorporate multiculturalism into her guest list for a party, it occurred to me that the reason could be that the Queen's advisers may not know enough about Asians in the UK," said Patel. "So I sat down for a few minutes and idly noted down as many leading South Asian women as I could think off". After an hour she had 180 names - same as the number of guests who attended the lunch at Buckingham Palace in celebration of International Women's Day (March 8 2004).

"Of course, I was on a roll after that" Patel added, "so I put all these names onto a spreadsheet and started looking through all the existing sources that celebrate Asian excellence in the UK". After that she sought advice from friends and colleagues in the media industry. The list, published today on Patel's website - Redhotcurry.com - currently stands at 325 leading South Asian Women drawn from a diverse range: the arts, entertainment, media, business, government, education and the not-for-profit sectors.

"Here is a list of Britain's Leading South Asian women", the list states. "There are no gongs for being included in this list, no awards to collect, no accolades. Indeed many of the women on this list may consider it a curse at being so singled out. But there are so few comprehensive databases of leading South Asian women that many of Britain's organisations remain a little nonplussed as to who exactly are - to use a hackneyed term - "the movers and shakers" among British South Asian women."

The criteria for entry on this list are simple, age and wealth are immaterial, but the nominee has to be:

* female of South Asian descent, resident in the UK.
* a pioneer, a leader, challenging and resetting the boundaries in their field, be it on television, in the media, in government or in education.
* at Director/Partner Level in Corporate Britain or a business leader in their market sector.
* nominated by another South Asian woman.

The UK focus has led to some notable exclusions from the list. Dhaljit Dhaliwal, the well-known news anchor for CNN International, who was born in London, has been excluded because she now lives in Atlanta (USA) but the media industry is well represented overall. The only exceptions to the geographic rule are Parminder Nagra, star of 'Bend it Like Beckham' who is currently in the USA filming for hit TV show 'ER' and Madhur Jaffrey, who is a New York resident. Jaffrey, however, is well recognized as being the "Queen of Curry" for her cookbooks and TV programmes for the BBC and has been included.

In literature, Monica Ali, author of 'Brick Lane' has been included, but fellow Orange Prize 2004 nominees Rupa Bajwa (based in Amritsar, India) and Jhumpa Lahiri (based in the USA) have not.

"This list is a labour of love," says Patel, "I do not claim to know every leading South Asian woman". She invites the public to suggest more names to help her keep the project alive. "I would love for the list to continue to grow and grow, there must be hundreds of South Asian Women in Britain who deserve recognition".

And recognition is the key. "The women on the list play a crucial part as role models for future generations of British Asian Women. It is important to encourage, motivate, mentor and highlight excellence that South Asian Women bring to British life".

There are so few South Asian women politicians (there are currently no MP's or Ministers) and local councillors, that Patel has included all those she could find. Similarly the top echelons of the corporate world are remarkably sparse and there are currently no South Asian Women CEOs of FTSE 500 companies. From the Corporate world Patel has included those at Director/Partner level and above and from the world of business, chosen those who are making a "mark" in their industry sector.

Patel encourages organisations and the public to refer to this list when thinking about Britain's South Asian Women - perhaps researchers can call upon the skills of these women for specific projects, but Patel stresses that this is not a mailing list. "I do not own this list, nor do I have contact details for individuals, but most of these women are already in the Public Arena and this list celebrates their achievements."

"Perhaps the Queen might like to do the same at next year's lunch?" Patel adds.

Click here for ' Britain's Leading South Asian Women' (69KB, ). To download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat so that you can read the PDF document, click here.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

ABOUT REDHOTCURRY.COM

Redhotcurry.com is a celebration of Asian life in the UK with an informative collection of in-depth articles on race, culture, entertainment, religion, food, curry, ethnic fashion and beauty, all written with a South Asian perspective. The site covers news, views, money, business, entertainment, food and drink, health, style, sports and travel with interactive discussion groups, on-line chat, web based email and a comprehensive searchable UK South Asian restaurant directory.

http://www.redhotcurry.com

BIOGRAPHY OF LOPA PATEL

Mrs Lopa Patel is editor of Redhotcurry.com (www.redhotcurry.com), the award-winning lifestyle portal website for UK Asians launched in November 2001. Lopa is also Managing Director of DMS DIRECT Ltd - a business-to-business database management, mailing, storage & fulfilment and response handling company - which she founded with her husband and co-director Amit Patel in 1991.

Before this she was on ICI's fast-track graduate training scheme gaining experience in export sales, product management and marketing communications. She joined ICI after attaining a joint honours degree in Biochemistry & Applied Molecular Biology from the University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology (UMIST) in 1986.

Her professional skills lie in marketing; direct marketing, database management, IT, and e-commerce. Apart from now being a Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing (IDM), she is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the Institute of Directors (IOD) and The Marketing Society. She has attained a Diploma in Marketing (1991), a Diploma in Direct Marketing (1994) and is one of the few Chartered Marketers in the UK (1998).

A high-resolution photograph is available to go with this story from the link below:
http://www.redhotcurry.com/about/pressroom_photos.htm

For further details contact:
Katy Howell
Immediate Future Ltd
01932 706 810
katy.howell@immediatefuture.co.uk

Click here for a Word version of this press release.

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