ePolitix.com speaks to Dr Krishna Sarda (Hon), chief executive of the Ethnic Minority Foundation (EMF) about the issues of forced marriage and honour-based violence

EMF recently ran a seminar at the House of Lords on the issue of forced marriage at which Bridget Prentice MP discussed this problem with stakeholders and grassroots community groups. The seminar took place against the background of the Ministry of Justice's own policy consultation on the subject.

Question: Why did you decide to hold such a seminar and what were the main concerns raised by the audience? What type of recommendations and action points emerged?

Dr Krishna Sarda: We have taken an interest in the issue of forced marriage for quite some time, since the private members bill was initially introduced. Given that the government was seeking views and opinions on how the legislation could be implemented, we thought it would be useful to hold the seminar to bring key stakeholders and players together, to discuss how best to use the legislation to deliver far-reaching change. This was the main reason why seminar was held.

Some important concerns were raised by the audience, primarily regarding the lack of available funding for minority ethnic women's and civil rights voluntary organisations.

If the government is serious about implementing the Forced Marriage Act and bringing about the kind of change people want to see, there needs to be a long-term investment in these organisations; so they can actually reach vulnerable women and widen access to services as envisaged by the law.

Another issue raised by participants was the lack of accessible information, particularly online, for victims of forced marriages and honour-based violence. Grassroots organisations considered how best direct support could be provided to victims and how much online material was easily available to them.

Question: Why do you think forced marriage and honour-based violence are such serious problems among Britain's minority ethnic communities?

Dr Krishna Sarda: To set the question in context: the Forced Marriage Unit usually deals with about 400 cases per year. However, women's organisations' own experience suggest the number could be much higher, particularly when considering that domestic abuse can be associated with forced marriage.

Similarly, recent cases of honour killings that have grabbed the media headlines reflect just how serious and complex these issues are, particularly as they are linked to socio-economic, cultural and religious circumstances.

Question: Do you think that community leaders are doing enough to eradicate the practices of forced marriage and honour-based violence against women among their constituents? If not, why not? What would you like to see happen? What is EMF doing to nurture the next generation of female community leaders?

Dr Krishna Sarda: I think you can never do enough to address an issue like this. There is always more to be done and certainly there are some community leaders and organisations that have come out publicly against the practices of forced marriage and honour killings.

However, there is a long way to go in order to effect real change and I am sure in the coming years a lot more will be done.

One of the big issues clearly is that if you empower women to become leaders, then mothers, wives and daughters can play a more meaningful role within their families and communities. Lack of female leadership within minority ethnic communities is part of the problem and a key factor in community regeneration that we need to develop and invest in within the coming years.

EMF has a number of programs in place to nurture the next generation of minority ethnic female leaders. For instance, we have just completed a national empowerment and community leadership program focusing on skilling Muslim women, where we worked with about 900 beneficiaries over a period of two years.

The program focused on providing basic skills (for example, ESOL, ICT, etc) to women, while emphasising the need for them to become active citizens through exercising their civic rights, duties and responsibilities.

It was about what you can do, how you can do it, where you can do it. The programme was ultimately designed with one thing in mind: economic integration. If you can empower women to become financially independent, you are not only allowing them to have money in their pockets, but control over their own lives. By providing women with skills, knowledge and information through mentoring and volunteering, then you can begin to bring about long-lasting change that is sustainable.

Question: EMF has actively supported the enactment of the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007. Do you think that the law goes far enough in making forced marriage a civil offence or would you like to see it become criminalised instead?

Dr Krishna Sarda: The government consulted widely on this issue of whether it should be a civil or criminal offence and the consultation clearly came out in favour of it being considered through the civil courts.

Despite arguments in favour of the criminal approach, this route presented a number of obstacles. We need to remember that with a civil offence, a much lower burden of proof is required, which makes it easier for cases to make it to court.

Overall, the Act represents the beginning of a much longer process. The fact that it provides a remedy to address forced marriages should not be seen as the only weapon in our armoury to tackle this problem. However, it is undoubtedly a step in the right direction and, hopefully, over the coming years this particular piece of legislation will be reviewed and analysed in the light of experience.

Question: What is your reaction to the present campaign aimed at exempting women with insecure immigration status and fleeing domestic violence from the 'no recourse to public funds rule', which denies them access to specialist support services?

Dr Krishna Sarda: I think this is a typical example of good intentions and social policy going drastically wrong. While you can understand the government's desire for spouses to have 'no recourse to public funds' – which simply means they should be able to support themselves, to actually apply this in cases where women are escaping domestic violence, in my opinion worsens their situation.

It means is that they cannot access public services that they desperately need, they are deprived of any kind of help and support from the state. This means that they are isolated and more reliant on the abuser; consequently, their ability to escape that abuse is considerably reduced.

There is an urgent need for the government to really look at the whole issue of 'no recourse to public funds' and look at providing flexibility in cases where women are being abused. So that the women that fall through the 'no recourse to public funds' gap as a result of honour-based violence can actually be adequately supported and protected.

Question: Do you think that the socio-economic situation of minority ethnic women in Britain has improved or worsen during the past decade? Why?

Dr Krishna Sarda: For some groups of women it has improved and for some it has remained the same. If you look at Labour Force Survey data, it clearly shows that women from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds in particular are still worse off.

Their rates of economic inactivity are still four or five times higher than those of white women. Lack of socio-economic integration is still a big issue here, but there are also high levels of health inequalities, illiteracy – often in their own language, aside from their inability to speak English.

While there has been some improvement, the vast majority of minority ethnic women that desperately need access to state run provision are still lagging behind. These issues appear connected with poverty because marginalised women are also going to end up in poverty in old age; there is an impact on any pension these women might receive, and it means their ability to avoid domestic violence and abuse is also reduced considerably. On the whole, not much has improved for these hard-to-reach groups of minority ethnic women.

Inequality is still there primarily because of inadequate levels of long-term investment needed to target this particular community. Investment so far has not really delivered the required results. The latest report from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and the National Audit Office (NAO) on ethnic minority employment demonstrates that there is a long way to go.

This is also the case because a combination of lack of education and skills together with cultural and religious factors have kept minority ethnic women away from the labour market. In addition, public programs designed to engage these women into main stream society have not succeeded.

It is within this context, that the role of grassroots third sector organisations – which are closer to these women has to be considered. If properly supported and invested in, voluntary and community groups and service providers can begin to break down this vicious cycle of poverty from one generation to the next.

Question: What do you consider to be the single most important factor that would dramatically improve their prospects? Why?

Dr Krishna Sarda: Economic integration is the single most important factor in my view. If you can make marginalised women economically integrated by getting them into work, you can empower them to run their own lives beyond any shadow of doubt.

Becoming financially independent empowers individuals to acquire a lot of self respect and the capacity to socially integrate with others through employment. You meet and interact with people not from your own background as well as being exposed to cultures, traditions and ideas different from your own. It broadens one's horizons and opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

If you accept the argument that minority ethnic women are prime agents for change within their families, particularly when it comes to educating and giving direction to their children; then clearly ensuring their economic independence becomes a very important area of investment, one that will also help to deliver greatly on social cohesion.

Question: Are there still major obstacles in the way of community cohesion in Britain? If so, what are they? What should be done to overcome them? What role should the Third Sector play? What programs/initiatives is EMF involved in to further the social cohesion agenda?

Dr Krishna Sarda: There are huge obstacles still in the way and unfortunately the government's strategy for social cohesion lacks this element of economic integration because it fails to recognise prevailing gender inequalities, which are often at the heart of the problem.

Unless we make a serious long-term investment to change the economic conditions of minority ethnic women, I am afraid we will only be skirting around the edges of what is possible in terms of social cohesion.

We will not create long-term sustainable change and we will not win our fight in the communities against extremism. In order to effect a real transformation, we need women to be at the forefront of socio-economic change; which comes back to the issue of leadership and empowerment. A great deal of investment and a different understanding is required from government in order to achieve results in some of these communities.

Certainly the third sector can also bring forward some innovative and creative solutions. Grassroots community groups are indeed best placed to reach hard-to-reach women. They understand their mentality as well as the cultural and religious factors that may keep women away from mainstream society. Voluntary organisations can therefore help break down those barriers, reaching and engaging with women and start delivering the kind of results that are needed.

At the end of the day, third sector organisations have the knowledge, community intelligence and years of experience that are central to bringing about change.

I am afraid to say that a lot of public sector programmes do not possess that community intelligence or networks and their representatives are not patient enough to work towards long-lasting change, instead they want results now, today, and of course, they are not going to get them. It takes time, commitment, understanding and sustainable investment to achieve that kind of social change.

Question: Can you tell us about EMF's plans for the coming months? What are the main social policy areas the Foundation will be working on? What would you like to achieve?

Dr Krishna Sarda: We are hoping to launch very soon one of our biggest and most ambitious programmes: a social investment scheme aimed at placing 10,000 British Muslim women – mostly of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin – into further and higher education, training and employment over a period of five years.

If we can achieve this, we will contribute greatly towards securing the economic integration needed to empower these women. We will open a new world of possibilities to them that will allow them to become confident, self-reliant and having full control over their lives.

We will therefore be nurturing the next generation of female community leaders. This will, in turn, have a beneficial effect on their children and families. Empowered and independent women will have a greater capacity to deal with situations of forced marriage and honour-based violence. Ultimately, contributing to bring about a sustainable change in the eradication of such practices.

EMF also has a number of other plans for the coming months, all of which are designed to keep the issue of gender inequality at the forefront of government policy. We will be hosting a series of policy seminars featuring policy-makers and stakeholders throughout the year in order to address key social problems with a view to developing solutions.

In addition, we are exploring a number of internet-based initiatives designed to enable vulnerable women access to information and support. We will certainly continue lobbying government and running a number of campaigns that can help deliver some of these results.

Question: Do you have any final comments for ePolitix.com readers?

Dr Krishna Sarda: My final comment is that we need, in Parliament and elsewhere, to have these difficult conversations. We need to start moving away from a bleak view of social cohesion, which is simply about tackling extremism.

If you really want to achieve cohesion in our society, you have to give people a stake in that society. This can be achieved through economic integration: ensuring marginalised individuals feel important and believe they have a positive contribution to make; investing in their education and employment is the strongest signal that could ever be sent.

This takes courage, and courage is what is needed to ensure that long-term investment and change actually happen.