Professor Sundari Anitha is Chair in Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK. She has researched and published widely in two areas across the disciplines of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology:

(I) the problem of violence against women and girls including particular manifestations of domestic violence and abuse such as dowry-related abuse, forced marriage, transnational forms of violence such as abandonment of wives, and domestic servitude; sexual violence including everyday forms of sexual harassment in online and offline spaces; gender-based violence in university communities; and

(II) intersection of gender, race and ethnicity in employment relations; labour exploitation; agency, solidarity and industrial militancy by migrant workers; and trade unions’ representation of migrant workers.

She previously managed a Women’s Aid refuge and worked as a Case Worker for Asha Projects, a ‘by and for’ refuge for South Asian survivors of domestic violence. She has been active in activism, advocacy and policy-making on violence against women for over 25 years.

Her research on transnational marriage abandonment led to the recognition of this problem as a form of domestic abuse and to responses to it through family and immigration law in the UK. She served as a member of the REF 2021 sub-panel 21: Sociology.

More information: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6918-3680