Taking a sexual partner of their own choice or even applying for a university place is still regarded as an unforgivable crime for many young Asian women in Britain.
Fears of such damage to family honour prompt many British Asian families to force their daughters into marriage against their will, often to a cousin or other member of the extended family living abroad, according to government research.
Although some families do use forced marriage as a way of bringing in relations from abroad, the report says that that is not a primary factor behind forced marriage among British Asians.
The £30,000 study, which focuses on British Bangladeshi and Pakistani people, was published by the Foreign Office yesterday as part of an initiative to tackle the hidden problem of forced marriage within Britain's Asian and Muslim population of two million.
At least 1,000 young British Asian women are said to be forced into marriage each year. Women's groups believe that the figure may be much higher. They say that forcing girls to submit to a sexual relationship without their consent is tantamount to rape, but until now the police and social workers have been reluctant to intervene, fearing that they may be accused of racism or religious interference.
The study found that young people believed that the full scale of forced marriages had not been recognised by elders in their community who, for their part were exasperated by their inability to enforce or impose marriage decisions on young men and women, who they believed were straying from tradition.
"The reasons for forced marriage are complex but the analysis does show that sexuality and independence among young women can trigger off a forced marriage," the report said. "Women's behaviour which may jeopardise family honour appears to be an important variable."
Parents of British Asian women frequently interpreted their daughters' desire to go to university as a sign that they would end in an unacceptable relationship with someone from outside their own community, bringing shame upon the family, the report added.
"Forcing them into a marriage of their parents' choice was seen as a way of pre-empting such an eventuality."
The study says that although physical force is generally regarded as unacceptable in the Asian community "emotional and psychological pressure appear to be condoned" by parents.
Young people, however, considered any form of coercion to be unacceptable and said that there should be greater choice, even in arranged marriages. Young women in particular complained of the restrictions placed upon them to maintain family honour and contrasted that with the freedom given to their brothers.
Older people believed that forced marriage was a short-term problem that would be-resolved as the couple came to terms with the marriage. The study said, however, that marital difficulties were an increasing problem among British Asians.
Sumera, a 19-year-old Asian woman who grew up in Birmingham, still carried the emotional and physical scars from years of abuse administered by her own family after she objected to a forced marriage.
She was persuaded by her older brother to go on holiday to Pakistan when her father died. On arrival, she was forced to marry a family friend, who beat and raped her. When she returned to Britain while her husband was applying for a visa to join her, her family subjected her to continued physical abuse over her objections to the marriage.
Although she contacted the police, her family made counter-allegations and claimed that she had been violent to them. The police arrested her.
Finally, her family took her back to Pakistan, promising her that she could divorce her husband. As soon as she arrived, however, she was forced into another marriage, to her husband's brother.
Hanani Siddiqui, of Southall Black Sisters, a London-based charity with a strong track record of helping women to escape from forced marriages, said she was glad that the report finally gave official recognition to the fact that forced marriage was about controlling women's lives.
The study was based on interviews
with 120 Pakistanis in Bradford and 120 Bengalis in Tower Hamlets, East
London.