SI was privileged to take part in the Commonwealth’s ‘Women as Agents of Change’ competition, launched to celebrate the theme of Commonwealth Day 2011. Although we were restricted to only 3 nominations we received many fantastic submissions. This week, we will be running a special blog series to celebrate all the nominations – a fitting close to a month where women have been celebrated across the Commonwealth!

Ann Cryer – United Kingdom

Ann Cryer, a member of SI Bingley (
Yorkshire, SIGBI) left school at 14 and started work at 15. By 22 she was the youngest local authority Councillor in the

UK and in 1997 became a Member of Parliament for Keighley. Her grandmother was a suffragette and her son went on to become an MP, elected the same night as Ann, so an appetite for change does seem to run in the family!

Ann was been an MP for Keighley – an area with a high Asian immigrant population-  for 13 years until 2010. She sat on Home Affairs Select Committee and was the Rapporteur to Council of Europe on crimes of honour throughout
Europe.

She has been closely involved with Asian community since 1983 when she worked teaching English to women in their own homes. Ann has a track record of fearlessly battling for the rights of Asian women. She has for many years spoken out against forced marriages, honour killings and the grooming of young women for sexual purposes. She is always ready to take on board individual cases to ensure that justice is done. As a member of Parliament she successfully helped to steer the Forced Marriages and Civil Protection Act 2008 through the House of Commons, giving some protection to young men and women taken abroad against their will to fulfill a previously arranged marriage, of their parents choice. This has given power to protect against such abuse and is now commonly in use.

SI Bingley have this to say:  “Anne is a brave lady of great principle and integrity, who has committed many years to fighting for the rights of Asian women in her constituency and throughout the country.”

Ann adds, “my campaigns on behalf  of vulnerable young Muslim women in my former constituency  of Keighley, and beyond, without the well informed  support of friends in SI, I may well have given up regarding these difficult  but important arguments. They also deserve credit”.

We will continue to post Soroptimist Commonwealth Agents of Change every morning and afternoon this week. Please continue to follow these celebratory blog posts as we near the end of the week!