Promising Young Women: Raising Successful Malaysian Women in the 21st Century

Malaysian women are making global headlines - and for all the right reasons!

This topic had been at the top of my head for some time after a night Whatsapp chat session with my girlfriends where one of them said “I’ve noticed more successful Malaysian women have made headlines as opposed to men. Maybe my feed is biased” - bias or not, Malaysian women are making a name for themselves globally. Some may attribute their success to luck, or even “who they know” - but while it may be a little bit of both, a lot of their success was thanks to how they grew up.

In the most recent of ‘Malaysians Boleh’ is Sabah-born ‘Red’ Hong Yi whose artwork graced the cover of Time Magazine’s April 26, 2021 edition.

Image source: TIME

She is known as the artist who “paints without a paintbrush” having done portraits of Jackie Chan made of chopsticks including a portrait of Taiwanese Superstar Jay Chou out of coffee mug stains. Her rebel from mainstream art may have started from childhood. Her mum wanted her to wear dresses and do ballet, but she was more interested in playing with mud and catching bugs. Though her dreams were to play basketball with the WNBA but were dashed due to vertical challenges. She however maintained a competitive spirit. Thankfully her parents noticed her talent for art from a young age and signed her up for some classes.

Other Successful Malaysian Women Who Were Also caught RED-Handed - for being GREAT!

In just the last few months, other amazing Malaysian women who made headlines and made us proud include:

Dr Amalina Bakri - being feature in Vogue UK for pulling off a wedding while battling a Pandemic as a frontliner and for just being incredible with her endless contributions to the world of medicine.

(Image credit: Nicol David)

Nicol David - for being named Greatest Athlete of All Time.

Adele Lim - for making Disney’s first Southeast Asian princess in Raya And The Last Dragon. She also made news for exiting the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians over pay disparity which was widely applauded among the women in the Asian-American community.

While all these ladies deserve their own piece, let’s delve a little as to WHY these women are where they are in life.

Raising Them Resilient

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch from Pexels

It inspires me when I read about all these women who paved the way to success in their own right. I have a daughter who is three years old and I constantly question whether I’m doing this parenting thing right. According to many different sources, your child's personality is going to emerge between the ages of 3 and 5. That is why it’s crucial from then onwards you nurture them into the promising young women you hope they become.

Remember that each child is unique and a healthy personality development is supported by parenting that is sensitive and responsive to the child’s strengths and needs. It’s like reading a book, but not just understanding the words, but also the plot, setting, characters, conflicts, and ultimately the resolution.

After much digging down the rabbit hole, I came across various references that inspired me to come up with my own list of characteristics in raising our girls resilient and giving the C-word a positive undertone.

Curiosity

Fortune magazine interviewed 15 powerful women who shared their personality trait that's key to their success. Some key outtakes were to have a constant thirst to learn. Also, tell your children to ask people about themselves, to be curious to learn about others and to respect their journey.

Competition

Surely Nicol David wouldn’t have been crowned Greatest Athlete of All Time if it weren’t for her competitive spirit. As parents, we often give in to our children’s whims. A little competition makes them realise they have to work for what they want, even if sometimes they fail.

Communication

In a lot of Asian families, communication hasn’t always been a strong point. But as we progress, we realise communication is probably the most important C-word of all. It’s the driving force that helps people to express their ideas and feelings. Without it, Adele Lim would have never communicated her dismay over pay disparity and women would have continued to accept that it’s okay to be paid less than their male counterpart (which should not be the case!).

There Are No Markers for Success

With all the above said, there are no markers for success. Success is what you make it. It is the status of having achieved and accomplished a goal of yours. Also, being open to new things, accepting failure and the resilience to continue helps too.