First-generation immigrant Sayeeda Ashraf founded the Brentford-based charity SHEWISE 10 years ago with the goal of empowering South Asian women after facing abuse and being in crisis.
When she was 19, her Pakistani family encouraged her brother to go to university and paid for all his expenses while Sayeeda was denied any support from her parents.
Sayeeda said: “That was the first time when it hit me… my first experience of gender bias within my family.”
Before founding SHEWISE, Sayeeda ran a successful business and often felt outnumbered.
She said: “Suddenly I found myself in a boardroom of 11 men… that was, as a woman, really difficult at the time.
“I was constantly in a state of questioning my self-worth. Am I worthy of being here?
“Even when I was right, I was still looking for validation.”
Through SHEWISE she hopes to help other women overcome these feelings of low confidence and self-esteem.
Sayeeda believes ways to reach out to these women is through community events such as garden parties and coffee mornings or direct action through their crisis helplines for women.
She said: “I think the biggest achievement we have is that we have service users constantly come back to us and tell us how much of a difference we’ve made to their lives.”
Sayeeda outlined a five-year plan for SHEWISE and hopes to go international in the future.
She hopes girls from younger generations will continue to aim high in their education and career goals, emphasising the fight the generations of women before them put up to allow girls the opportunities they have today.
She said: “You can’t let these opportunities go. We are all part of this big ocean. You are a drop in the ocean, that creates the ripple effect… don’t ever forget that.”
You can find out more about the important work that Sayeeda and the SHEWISE team does on their website here.
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