“I don’t know what god was thinking by giving us a granddaughter. Never mind, maybe next time you’ll be blessed with a boy. But just understand one thing, only good daughter-in-laws are blessed with sons.”

The struggle for female equality remains a very real issue. But this archaic mindset is not reserved for some Asians but in other families too where the husbands would be classed as 'educated'.

This toxic tradition is still frustratingly rife in certain segments of Asian society in the UK.

On the face of it we feel we have moved on but beneath the surface women still remain second-class citizens in their own homes.

All names and identities have been changed to protect identities.

Azra, spoke to us exclusively about her daily struggles simply on account of her gender.

Azra said, “After I got married, my in-laws and my husband did not hesitate to put me in my place.

“My mother-in-law told me that my university education had been a complete waste of time, energy and money. And that my place ultimately belonged in the kitchen. From now, I was expected to cook every day for the extended family, and serve food.

“All my books were thrown away, and I only allowed to read religious books.

“I am not allowed to leave the house without a chaperone. My mother-in-law will come with me everywhere I go, or else my husband. I can’t even go out to buy sanitary towels without being accompanied in the supermarket.”

As arduous as Azra’s struggles were, her bitter dilemmas were exacerbated following the birth of her first child.

“My in-laws and husband treated me so badly after my daughter was born. If she was ever crying, they tried to forbid me to pick her up.

“They said the baby was a burden on them as they could not even announce the birth of a female grandchild.

“My husband told me that the reason I didn’t have a son was because I didn’t pray hard enough during my pregnancy, that there was no real sincerity in my namaz and that I didn’t read enough koran. So now I had been punished by having a daughter.

“I know he is only repeating what his parents tell him. But the fact that he is so vociferous about it is really scary.”

Female equality remains a prevalent issue in society today in the most ubiquitous way. None more than the homes and within family life.

Sameena added, “I have other sister-in-laws who face the exact struggles that I do. But they have resigned themselves to this way of life.

“My in-laws have an unbelievable hold over us.

“I am not even allowed to ring my parents without my mother-in-law standing over me, listening to every word.

“I wasn’t even allowed to take birth control.

“I will never accept this way of life to be the norm. I am not a sub-class citizen.

“The future of my daughter scares me. If my in-laws are that backward with me, will my husband even let my daughter go to university?

“I can’t even leave my husband. Cultural taboos are still harsh.

"Any married woman who returns to her parent’s house brings shame upon the family’s honour.

“This attitude sounds strange in this day and age, but that is honestly the way it is.

“I have a younger sister who still is unmarried. I am well aware of the fact that if I leave my husband, it will make it almost impossible for my sister to get a decent proposal.

“No good family will be interested in marrying their son to someone whose older sister is divorced.”

Azra sought advice as a cry for help for what she deemed a toxic and beleaguered situation.

“I rang the sharia council. I wanted to know what my rights were, where I stood. The reason I rang the sharia council was because I knew that my husband would only accept words of advice or the opinion of a religious elder.

“But I felt so let down and disillusioned by them.

“They told me my husband had rights over me. And that even my ringing them was a sinful act as I was going behind my husband’s back and essentially I was disobeying him.

“I explained to the scholar that my husband subjects me to hours of emotional abuse.

"He makes me repeat after him that his mother is my only mother. That my mother is sinful for sending me to university. If I refuse to repeat his words, he threatens to hit me.

“The religious scholar in the sharia council turned around and said that ‘emotional abuse’ is merely a western concept, and that I should be able to control my husband’s anger by not antagonising him in the first place.

“But the must cutting words were when he said that by pursuing a divorce, I risked losing my daughter, as under Islamic law it is the man’s right to have full custody of any child after the age of seven.

“I don’t think I can ever escape from my awful life. By my sole drive in life is to ensure that my daughter and any future children I may have do not face the same struggles that I am living through.”