Blog 9

In this article, titled “A Prisoner in the House” published by New Internationalist, author Samira Shackle talks to women from India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh who are forced into arranged marriages with British citizens and are treated like prisoners by their in-laws when they marry.

Arranged Marriage

Jasminder, a woman forced into an arranged marriage by her parents who hoped it would give her a better life, was treated kind of like how Cinderella was, once she got to London.  After two long years of being a slave for her in-laws, she was expected to cook, clean, pick up her sister-in-law’s kids from school, do laundry, and iron.  She had to wash her clothes separately under the tap outside and she was only allowed to eat the scraps that her mother and sister-in-law gave her, which was very little.  She was also beaten on a regular basis and got her hair pulled.  She was only allowed to drink water when she was given permission, and couldn’t spend more than five minutes on the toilet unless she was drinking the tap water.  It wasn’t until she was taken to a clinic against her will to get an abortion where she escaped.  She told the counselor what was happening at home, so the counselor called the police.  Jasminder’s case was not a unique one.  About five hundred women every year face what she faced.  They’re brought to Britain to marry and undergo domestic violence and enslavement.  For the past twenty years, there has been significant approvement in the way Home Office who deals with immigration issues has handled it. In 1999, they passed a "domestic violence concession" that gave women the right to apply for leave to stay in the U.S.  That was only if they could prove they were victims of domestic violence.  They can apply for access to public funds while their immigration claim is processed,  Women who arent on spousal visas are completely vulnerable to exploitation, sexual slavery, and domestic violence.  The sad this is, most of these women don't know their rights.  in 2008 and 2009, 980 applications were sent in to for leave to remain.  540 faced deportation, and the rest of the 440 women could stay.  Every year, about 45,000 foreign spouses come to Britain.  Even though it's only a tiny minority that's effected by this issue, it still should be reported.

I think that women who marry into a family should never be treated this way.  What ever made people think that this was okay?  No one should ever have to go through something like this.  I can't believe it's barely reported to the police.  This kind of domestic violence and slavery should not go unseen.   I wonder why they never wanted to report about this before.  I'm sure they were scared, but why would anyone want to stay and put up with that?