A future not of my choosing

To mark International Women's Day, author Sufiya Ahmed tells us about the practice of forced marriages amongst British teenagers - and how this inspired her new book Secrets of the Henna Girl

Today people all over the world are celebrating International Women’s Day. 8 March is the common day every year for recognising and applauding women’s achievements, as well as observing and highlighting inequalities and issues.

I believe I could have chosen no better day to hold the launch of my new book Secrets of the Henna Girl which highlights the terrible cultural practice of forced marriages amongst British youngsters. My novel follows the story of sixteen year old Zeba, a typical British girl from a small Yorkshire town. Zeba is enjoying the English summer while she eagerly awaits the GCSE exam results which will determine her future. Out of the blue, Zeba’s parents announce a holiday to Pakistan and once she finds herself isolated in a rural village, she is informed that she will be expected to marry her cousin in weeks. She has no choice in the matter.

My story is fiction but sadly there are many British Asian women who will be able to relate to my heroine’s plight. They too, in their past, would have been removed from school and taken abroad to marry a stranger chosen by their parents. Since I wrote this book, I repeatedly get asked if this experience was my own. Did my parents put obligations to our extended family over their love for me? Did bridal henna adorn my hands whilst my heart cried in protest against a future that was not of my choosing?

Fortunately my parents did nothing of the sort. They, like so many people who originate from South Asia, are very firmly against forced marriages. This stems from their Muslim belief that a forced marriage is not a valid marriage as the free consent of both the bride and groom is essential. Forced marriages are, in fact, a cultural practice.

My fascination with the issue arose some seven years ago when I was working in the House of Commons as a researcher for an MP. As the place where the country’s challenges are raised, I came across brave Asian women who shared their harrowing experiences with parliamentarians so that awareness of the issue could be raised on a national level. Listening to the survivors, I always felt disturbed at how totally alone and desperate they felt when they were going through the experience. Some of them were forced to marry overseas (much like the situation of my main character) and some were forced into marriages right here in the UK. But none of them felt they could turn to an official body for help. Not the police, not teachers, not British embassies, no one.

Thankfully a lot has changed over these last few years because of the bravery of these women. They spoke frankly about their teenage experiences and now we have better informed teachers, social workers and police who have been trained to deal with such situations. The previous Labour government set up a help centre for potential victims called the Forced Marriage Unit which is based in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. The coalition government supports the department fully. Figures released last year by the FMU show that over 1,700 calls were made to the Unit from at risk British teenagers. Sadly this is just the tip of the iceberg and many potential victims are just not aware that they can ask for help.

Before I wrote this book, I spoke to a leading law enforcer who has dedicated much of his career to helping young victims. He was frank enough to say that not enough awareness of the issue has been raised amongst today’s teenagers. That, he told me, was where the challenge lies because until teenagers learn that they are allowed to ask for help, the cultural practice will just carry on and on.

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures’. I firmly believe that awareness leads to prevention and I hope that my own small contribution in the form of Secrets of the Henna Girl will inspire potential victims to seek the change that will lead to better futures.