REJECTED EVERWHERE :(

So yeah that is it. I am an Indian student applying to the UK and yes I was reaching with the college preferences a bit but rejections from EVERY SINGLE PLACE are not what I had in mind. One feedback that stayed with me was that my background is not strong enough to study interdisciplinary gender studies. I studied English Literature at a top Indian university and performed exceptionally well (medals and such). After my master's, I did research consultancies with trafficking victim groups (proposed PhD topic is based on this) and got two gender-focused fellowships and some publications. I understand there is a dissonance between my BA-MA degree and the PhD programs I am pursuing but it is not unheard of. Could you suggest to me how could I further strengthen my degrees or where exactly am I going wrong in this career trajectory? How to rectify my situation?