Women of the Year Award winners, Jayne Senior MBE and Jasvinder Sanghera CBE spoke at an event jointly organised by Newnham College and Women of the Year on Saturday 11th June. The event involved a panel discussion on the topic ‘Queen Bee or Role Model: Do Successful Women Have a Responsibility to Support Other Women?’
Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, chaired the event where Jayne and Jasvinder were joined by Sue Owen, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Culture Media and Sport and Clare McGregor, founder of Coaching Inside and Out discussed their experiences in helping other women. Jayne Senior MBE talked about running Risky Business, an outreach programme for vulnerable youngsters in Rotherham. She played a pivotal role in uncovering the Rotherham child sex abuse scandal, and was recently appointed MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to child protection.
Between 1999 and 2011 Jayne reported almost 1,700 cases of grooming or sexual exploitation to the local children’s services. Frustrated by lack of action by police and social services, she made contact with a Times journalist and shared documents which contained evidence of the abuse. Jayne was awarded the Women of the Year Outstanding Achievement Award in 2015 for her courage in sharing this story and helping the victims get the justice they deserved.
Jasvinder Sanghera CBE, is the author of Shame and a key campaigner in the creation of a specific UK forced marriage criminal offence in 2014. At the event Jasvinder spoke about her sister, who after being told she could not leave her husband because it would bring shame on her family, committed suicide by setting herself on fire.
Sanghera, who was born and brought up in Derby and is a survivor of forced marriage, founded Karma Nirvana, a national award-winning charity to support those affected by honour based abuse. She was awarded the ‘Window to the World’ Women of the Year Award in 2007 for her campaigning for the rights of victims of forced marriage, domestic violence and honour killings.
Jane Luca, Chair of Women of the Year, said “It was a real pleasure to be back at Newnham and be part of a wonderful afternoon full of stories of courage, determination and inspiration. I’m so delighted that Women of the Year were able to bring two of our wonderful winners in Jayne and Jasvinder to Newnham and look forward to more collaborations together.”
This was the second year Women of the Year have been invited to take part in an event with Newnham College and their Associates. You can read more about the event on the Newnham College website.
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