Sikh Women’s Alliance

Our founder Guru Nanak Dev Ji gave us Sikh women full equality and got rid of customs such as purdah (veil), sati (widow burning on husband’s funeral pyre) and spoke against the practice of female infanticide (killing of girl babies). However, it is sad to see how in the 21st century, religion and cultural values are being used to oppress women and old traditions are being revived which effectively devalue a woman or girl child to second class status. Many Sikh women lead parallel lives – one at school or work under western values, and the other a traditional life at home behind closed doors.  Fortunately most of the Sikh community are liberal minded individuals but there are some still stuck in a time warp embedded in redundant rituals and confused cultural ideology.

Frequently it is women themselves who oppress other women expected to abdicate their own individuality and conform to the husband’s family values and norms.    Even in today’s enlightened equality times, baby boys are preferred by many Sikh families and the celebrations at the birth of son’s is evidence of that trend. It is distressing to hear regular news of girl babies being aborted and dumped in Punjab, and the evidence that the girl ratio is going down to 70 compared to 100 boys.  This is the same land where at one time in history, the Sikh warriors fought for the women’s honour and protected them. Guru Gobind Singh, our tenth Guru had proclaimed that ‘whosoever takes food from the slayers of daughters, shall die unabsolved’.

Violence against Women

Today’s Sikh weddings are not all sparkle and dazzle; there is a darker side to the lavish wedding. With second/third generation families becoming more prosperous over the last two decades, every family is trying to outdo each other in a great race for a wealthy status. Sociologists  are worried that spending astronomical sums on weddings fuels social evils like female infanticide, marriage breakdowns, suicides and murders.
Rituals such as Lohri, Rakhri, Karva Chauth Varat, expensive wedding gifts, including Dowry etc - effectively
elevate men to a higher status and women to a subservient level, thus the community seeing girls as a
burden. Due to clash of expectations, financial problems, alcohol misuse, drug abuse and mental illnesses, one in four marriages is breaking down, leading to ensuing family feuds where it is easy to get rid of the woman, than lose the house and the children

Sikh Women’s Alliance U.K.

Sikh Women’s Alliance was officially launched in October 2003 as a non-religious non-political voluntary group with the aim of empowering, inspiring and educating Sikh women to join the mainstream of society. Since then, we have organised three major conferences and numerous events and also given ‘Sikh Woman of Substance’ awards to prominent Sikh women. We work in partnership with like-minded organisations that are supporting Sikh women to become School Governors, Councillors, Magistrates, Judges, Members of Parliament, Business Directors,  and Media personalities in top-level professions.

Police Responsibilities

We thank the Metropolitan Police Sikh Association for their support and appreciate the difficult work the Police
have to undertake helping Sikh women whilst balancing the community’s sensitivities. Although there are some women who for several reasons will be unable to support a prosecution and the legal processes but wish
to see a change in their partners behaviour, the Police need to be aware that these women will eventually get
to the end of their tether and at some stage they will want the police to take assertive action. They will also
need the security and welfare of the children protected as well as the end of the partner’s abuse.

Government’s Responsibilities

What the Sikhs need from the Government is to be recognised as a distinct group and religiously monitored,
so that public authorities are aware of the problems and needs of the Sikh women and services are provided
for this group of people with their distinct identity and appearance. Sikh Women’s Alliance would prefer to see
a U.K. wide major Sikh culturally sensitive project being set up where women are trained in counselling skills 
so that they can provide empathy and mediation support to couples and families, so that marriages and lives can be saved.

Gurdwara Responsibilities

Gurdwara’s have a duty to ensure that gender equality is upheld in these great institutions of Sikh faith in
accordance with the Sikh Guru’s proclamations. However, they are afraid to speak out and many of them actively collude in the devaluing of females, as most of their income derives from people celebrating births of boys.   The majority of the Gurdwara’s are run by management committees consisting of patriarchal men-folk not willing to train or mentor women who are under-represented in their congregations. These Gurdwara’s need to start actively defending their women congregation and enforce the Guru’s teachings - on Equality.
Sikh Women’s Alliance salutes the courage of Sikh men and women who face discrimination whilst seeking
justice. We should all join hands and oppose all those who directly or indirectly discriminate against women 
and imprison them in rituals and traditions that treat  them as the inferior gender.

(Mrs Balvinder Kaur Saund is the Chairperson of the SWA. She is also a J.P. She has been awarded an honorary degree at the University of East London in 2007 for her services to society. She is the inaugural winner of the Shri Mata Gujari Award).