South Asian Women in Britain, Family Integrity and the Primary Purpose Rule

Abstract

Modern state masculinism in Britain takes many forms. With particular reference to immigration law, it is not difficult at all to point not only to the racist but also the gender-biased nature of the British entry control system which has been put into place gradually, since the Aliens Act of 1905, the Commonwealth Immigrants Acts of 1962 and 1968, and especially under the Immigration Act of 1971, with its complex web of constantly changing Immigration Rules and secret instructions to immigration officials.¹