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Back in India, Nagashree Yagati was about average height.
Standing at 5 feet 4-and-a-half inches tall, Yagati is actually right at the average height for American women, too. But she said women here seem taller and more concerned with height.
Ellen Frankel, a licensed clinical social worker and advocate for short-statured adults, argues society puts too great an emphasis on height. She calls "heightism," the bias glorifying the tall and stigmatizing the short, the latest social injustice.
"All people, males as well as females, short as well as tall, hunger for power and respect," said Frankel, author of Beyond Measure: A Memoir About Short Stature and Inner Growth (Pearlsong Press, 2006).
"Short girls and women face challenges similar to short boys and men but the struggle is typically private and on an internal level because it is unseen by the public. The prejudice against short people is seldom acknowledged or taken seriously, and this is especially so for females," she added.
Ann Dogar, 60, of West Lafayette, said when she was younger her height of 5 feet 3 inches didn't seem to matter.
"Now anyone under 5 (feet) 7 (inches) is considered short," she said.
But Dogar said she's never noticed getting different treatment because of her height.
Frankel says, though, in a society where girls grow up idolizing Barbie dolls and leggy models, it's hard to be different.
And the author -- who stands 4 feet 81/2 inches tall -- said there's research documenting height prejudice in politics, business, dating and sports.
Frankel said a lot of short women face body image issues, too.
"Many short girls and women report that comments about their body size are made freely from strangers and friends alike, as if their bodies are public property," she said.
On the other end of the spectrum, Purdue women's basketball player Danielle Campbell said she gets comments and looks from strangers because of her above-average height.
"A lot of people stare and a lot of people ask me if I play basketball. They sort of just assume I play basketball because of my height," said the 6-foot-4-inch Purdue junior.
But Campbell said she's always been taller than girls her age, so beyond having to get her jeans custom-made she doesn't notice many differences because of her height anymore.
Campbell said it's not fair to assume all tall women get more respect than short women.
"If you're tall and you slouch over, you're not going to seem very sure of yourself," she said. "But if you stand direct, people will look at you differently and say you're a confident person."
Yagati agrees and said her stature isn't something she's concerned with.
"I think people pay attention to how you present yourself, whether you're short or tall," she said. "I try to be confident ... and I have not had an issue."