Ambia Khatun was in the tenth grade (15 years of age) when she was married. Her husband, like several husbands, did not let his young wife continue her education. Her fight for her rights began then. She managed to complete her matriculation in 1973 and by 1982 she had three sons and a daughter. Meanwhile, her husband rarely shared the responsibilities that came with a family.

Ambia Khatun did not face physical violence but she was tortured both mentally and emotionally. “My husband kept absconding without saying a word to me, he would disappear for months. My father had provided him with a job at the forest department but he was too lazy, he didn’t want to work and so I had to go live with my father.”

“I thought a lot about my life and I wanted to change my life. Eventually when my eldest son completed his higher secondary I decided to leave my husband.” She also decided to devote herself to work for women’s rights and began working with the Women’s Social Worker’s Association. Soon she joined Naripokkho (a women's activist organisation), she says “It is at Naripokkho that I developed my leadership skills.”

From then on there was no looking back. In 2000, Ambia Khatun founded a women’s organisation Agra Jatra which means Proceed Forward. She specifically works in the slum areas of Bagerhaat. In 2004, the training and information she received from the ‘We Can’ campaign further enhanced her capability to improve the status of women. It provided her with information that she had not been aware of before. With specific information at hand, Ambia Khatun has fought for the rights of several women. In her fight for justice Ambia Khatun has faced the wrath of the former government at the state level as well people in her local community.

One of her first legal battles was for a woman who was sexually harassed by a prominent journalist. This woman approached Ambia Khatun for help. Khatun helped the woman sue the journalist. “It was a very bold move because the journalist community can wield enormous power in this country,” says Shadat Hussain Bacchu, Project Coordinator of Rupantar.

But Ambia Khatun has no fear, she has taken up several legal battles since then, “If I am killed it doesn’t mean that this struggle will stop; it will continue, it has its own life. If you are an activist you don’t think about yourself. You think about your community. You need to have the strength to be part of this movement.”