“Women are told they can’t before they even start” – NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador Malmi Kiriwandalage

The definition of success is very much subjective, and yet, many tend to define success in terms of materialistic or financial achievements. Astronomer and NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador Malmi Kiriwandalage takes a different approach. “Success is satisfaction – the thought that you have reached the point you aimed for and can now relax a bit,” she said in conversation with Development Media Network (DMN).

“That heartfelt joy – that’s what success is,” she added.

And yet, women face barriers when chasing their dreams, with Kiriwandalage pointing out that women are told they can’t before they even start.

Defining success

Kiriwandalage described a moment of success in her life. Her appointment as a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador drew the attention of Sri Lankan media. A week later, she received an email from a young Sri Lankan from a rural village.

“She told me that she rode a bus for two hours in search of an internet café having seen my details in a newspaper. She found my email address and said she was sending a message because she was happy to see my journey. She asked if I would teach her how I did it,” Kiriwandalage recalled.

The email brought tears to her eyes, and Kiriwandalage described feeling a great sense of satisfaction that she had completed a journey and that someone was aiming high having seen her own path. The satisfaction she felt in that moment is what success feels like, she said.

Aiming for the stars

Kiriwandalage’s journey began at a very early age. When she was just 3 or 4 years, her father taught her about the stars. This was when he told her fairytales to encourage her to have her meals.

A few years later, when Kiriwandalage was around 9 years, she watched her first movie: Koi… Mil Gaya. As a child who hadn’t heard about extraterrestrial beings, the movie piqued her interest.

This curiosity led her to publications, such as books and newspapers, through which she learnt all about space and celestial objects. This was her first step towards studying astronomy.

It wasn’t a journey free of obstacles. Kiriwandalage said: “It’s sad that, at the time, Sri Lanka didn’t have any commonly known avenues to study astronomy.” What many students with an interest in space turned to were astronomical societies and the inter-school events they organised. These events included observation camps and quiz competitions.

Apart from these initiatives, Kiriwandalage resorted to self-education, maintaining a dedicated notebook for astronomy. She recalled: “In the night, after everyone had gone to bed, I would go to our rooftop and stargaze. This is how, to my memory, I began conversing with the stars.”

And yet, she added: “The challenge was that there weren’t people who could answer my questions. This is what made me sad.” Kiriwandalage shared that her father taught her about celestial objects to the best of his ability. When she took her questions to her teachers, they didn’t seem to possess sufficient knowledge to provide answers.

“At the time, the internet was still new and we didn’t have a connection at home,” she said, adding: “I remember when I was 12 or 13, I used to visit internet cafés and read articles online. I would spend an hour or two at internet cafés during the weekend, reading about NASA and recent research.”

These challenges didn’t deter her or stifle her curiosity, and Kiriwandalage was determined to have her questions answered.

A step in the right direction

Kiriwandalage, when asked what advice she had for students who wished to follow a similar path, said: “It is very difficult to take a step towards studying astronomy in Sri Lanka. But one shouldn’t back down because of this and we need to somehow find a way.”

She said the path to studying astronomy involved completing one’s A-Levels in the science or math stream, followed by physical science subjects for a bachelor’s degree. Educational institutions such as Colombo University offer astronomy courses now, she added. One can further their studies overseas.

For those still in school, Kiriwandalage emphasised the importance of astronomical societies. “It was when I was 13 that I started engaging a lot with the Astronomical Society of my school, which was Viharamahadevi Balika Vidyalaya, Kiribathgoda. The other club members and I took part in all the events organised by the astronomical societies of other schools, making maximum benefit of them,” she recalled.

Kiriwandalage further shared that after she became the president of her school’s Astronomical Society in 2011, the club hosted a massive two-day inter-school event partnering with the Colombo University and the Arthur C. Clarke Institution for Modern Technologies (ACCIMT).

“Developing a network like that only increased my curiosity and interest and I knew I was drawn to this path. Thus, even though I couldn’t study astronomy as a subject in school, I’m glad I was able to learn about it in some way,” she said.

She added that one can still learn about astronomy through programmes held by universities as well as the ACCIMT and take part in international conferences, especially those that are held virtually. Kiriwandalage stressed that one needed to go in search of opportunities instead of waiting for them to come one’s way.

Obstacles posed by society

Fields such as astronomy tend to be dominated by men, and the relatively low number of women engaging in such fields translates to many women not even knowing such fields exist. When asked about the barriers women face, Kiriwandalage, who is currently pursuing her academic goals in the US, said: “What poses a big issue is the place given to women in society and by culture, whether in Sri Lanka or the US.”

The general path for a woman, Kiriwandalage said, is completing school at 18, graduating from university four years later, and gaining employment, after which women are expected to get married and have children – it is only then that their lives are seen as complete.

She explained that some parents do not expect this from their children, but others insist on it. Kiriwandalage teaches astronomy to students online. These students aren’t only from Sri Lanka, but also countries such as India and Pakistan. “One of the biggest challenges these students face is the restrictions placed by their families. These restrictions make it very difficult for them to move forward. And it is why these field have more men working in them,” she said.

The issue, she said, is that people doubt women’s capabilities. “Before we can even take a step, we have been told that we can’t,” she said.

Going into more detail, Kiriwandalage pointed out that women face the challenge of society believing they will not be part of the workforce for long, choosing motherhood over employment. While emphasising that she had many great lecturers, Kiriwandalage recalled one of the biggest challenges she faced when entering the field. “Some of my lecturers didn’t show much interest in teaching me, thinking that I was merely here to feed my curiosity, that I would conduct research for a few years, publish it, and then leave the field. These professors were my parents’ age. They were American. And yet, that patriarchal thinking was prevalent among them,” she shared.

She explained that this is where feminism comes in, as it argues that if a man can run a company while being a spouse or a parent, so can a woman. “It’s not that many women are afraid to dream big, but that they don’t know how to. They haven’t been taught that they can dream big,” she said.

Kiriwandalage added: “If you have interest and determination, whether you are male or female, you need to follow the path you want.”