S4 Ep3: Jasvinder Sanghera, the campaigner who gave up everything to escape an arranged marriage

Since winning the Women of the Year, Window on the World Award in 2007 in recognition of her unwavering campaigning for the rights of victims of forced marriage, domestic violence and honour killings, Jasvinder has been awarded a CBE and was made a Dame in the King’s Birthday Honours list this year. 

It’s all a far cry from her strict upbringing and arranged marriage to a stranger in India which she was informed about at the age of 14. Running away from home, she lost everything she’d ever known and faced many challenges as well as heartbreaking tragedy, all of which only cemented her determination to help others facing the same injustices and cruelty. 

Jasvinder describes what life was like growing up in her fiercely traditional Indian family and the traumatic, and still deeply felt, ramifications of choosing to run away rather than face a forced marriage like her sisters. She shares the roots of her campaigning work and reveals how long it took for her message and mission to gain any traction, and why she had to check under her car every morning before doing the school run with her children.