If you ask a Sikh about their religion, the first thing you will hear is belief in the Oneness of God. The second is that Sikh men wear turbans to cover their long hair, an article of faith which tragically became a target after 9/11 (See, I just did it). But if you linger a minute longer, you will hear us beam about the equality of women in our faith. Unlike in most other religions, our scriptures are explicit about women as equal in the eyes of God.
What if you asked for names of famous Sikh women? You will hear a short pause. Then, a slight effort in concentration, before: Ah ha! There's Mata Tripta, the mother of the first Guru! And Mata Nanki, the sister of the first Guru! And Mata Khivi, wasn't she the second Guru's wife? You will hear an earful of mothers, sisters, and wives of the Ten Gurus, or teachers of the Sikh faith in the 15th and 16th centuries. As the list ends there, you may begin to sense there is something amiss.
It's time to confront the gap between our ideals and how we live them.
Sikhs Americans like me talk a great deal about women's equality, but we are steeped in an old patriarchal culture that makes us complicit in the erasure of women, past and present. Even the few famous women in our history are defined in relation to their men. Their full contributions as thinkers, poets and warriors unto themselves are eclipsed by the men they supported. The real life consequence? Sikh girls today are told they're fully equal, and yet many are expected to carry out traditional gender roles -- with few role models to suggest otherwise.
We would never tell you this, of course. You can't blame us. There are so few of us, it's hard to air our community's problems -- especially after 9/11, when explaining that "Sikhism" is a religion in the first place became a matter of daily survival. In fact, as a third-generation Sikh American activist, it took me nearly a decade after 9/11 even to begin talking about women again. After the terrorist attacks, we women tacitly agreed to put our issues on hold. We needed to protect our men first -- our brothers and husbands and sons whose turbans and dark skin marked them as primary targets for hate in the years after 9/11.
This was a mistake. As we waited (and are still waiting) for the discrimination to pass over us, some of the cultural dysfunctions in our community worsened. Women are girls are always the first casualties within minority communities under siege. That is no different in ours. Just as in most patriarchal traditions around the world, the bodies of women have been considered vessels of honor in Punjabi culture. When riots and massacre swept Punjab during the 1947 Partition of India, some Sikh men poisoned their daughters before letting them fall into the hands of Muslim rioters. Today in America, while many Sikh families champion education and freedom for sons and daughters alike, others have tightened control over women and girls in the 9/11 decade. In the worst anecdotes, domestic violence is an outlet for men who bear racism on the street, intermarriage an act of betrayal, and honor killings an actual threat.
But there's another story too. The call for liberation pulses through the Sikh tradition: it's in our scriptures and songs and stories. Hearing the call, a new generation of Sikh women has emerged as lawyers, artists, entrepreneurs, doctors, filmmakers and more. They have found brave new ways to defend their communities while offering their own unique voices to public discourse. I am proud to call them my contemporaries -- they are sources of inspiration, wisdom and leadership in their communities who deserve to be known.
Here are 10 Sikh women who embody the highest Sikh ideal of the warrior-saint. Half are legends from early history -- women who we will never fully know but whose deeds ignite our imagination as the first female warrior-saints. Half are modern-day heroines -- each one stands for hundreds of Sikh women who are blazing their own paths as the warrior-saints of our era.
My hope is that the next time you ask a Sikh on the street about their religion, they will be able to name all these women. And you will already know their names.
Follow Valarie Kaur on Twitter: www.twitter.com/valariekaur
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Can our leaders not take up an awareness campaign for SIKHISM worldwide which will help to present our religion and all people know about SIKHS and understand their religions and other details like long hair, turban etc etc... Even in country like China which is neighbor to INDIA they do not understand much of SIKHS... S I feel AWARENESS CAMPAIGN WORLDWIDE SHOULD BE TAKEN AND this should be done in every country and in its every city...
Therefore, Sikhism is subset of Hinduism and Islam. The holy book is compilation of these gurus words in the form of poetry. There are 10 gurus that Sikhs believe in and except the last one, Guru Govind Singh none of their Gurus name ends with SINGH which is the proof that they were all Hindus. The religion never really thrived excepts only in one province of India because it had it's own idiosyncrasies and shortcomings and now the very existence is at stake as many Sikhs are converting to Christianity. Men started keeping short hair which is against the edict of Sikhism, changing names like the author of this article who changed her name to VALARIE, inter-racial marriages like Nikki (Randhawa) Haley, the Governor of South Carolina.
Therefore, I say what good the names of the good Sikh women does when the very ethos of the religion is fading, slowly?
Sikhism is based on its own principles which might have similarities from other religions but certainly cannot be called a subset of those religions.
The fact ia all Gurus have denounced many of the practices of Islam and Hinduism.
The fact that that only Guru Gobind Singh ji has the name that ends in SINGH is because he gave us this identity. During the Baisakhi of 1699 when he formed the Khalsa Panth and gave the edict that every Sikh male shall have SINGH.
When you say "... it had it's own idiosyncrasies and shortcomings.." can you even prove point? And to the fact Sikhism doesn't believe in forced conversions the number of Sikhs is ever growing.
There will always be some people who don't follow the path of religion and live their life on their own principles ... You cant judge the whole community seeking an example of them.
About Author its her personal choice whatever first name she wants to keep however the important fact your missed is her last name... KAUR... which signifies everything.
The Ethos of Sikh religion are very strong and in no manner fading. They have been tested by time many times over in history, we have maintained our identity during the most turbulent times in history. We have always succeeded with the Guru's Grace and shall continue to do that.
-Jasdeep Singh
I like the spirit behind your article--I think! But the broad strokes you feel entitled to make about the community, are quite disturbing to me, as a Sikh woman, who keeps identity, has not married outside faith, and works directly with violence against women personally and professionally, and has never been threatened (even if challenged) by the community for activism. We have way more role models and a way deeper understanding about gender in our community, than you let on. There are issues. Serious ones. Ones that Sikh women and men are actively dealing with. Like any other community, gender discrimination remains culturally embedded. For us, as Sikhs, it is a matter of great security that at least our faith believes in our equality and our anti-violence work. Many women I work with gain strength from our faith, and see no trouble in separating Punjabi culture or American culture for that matter (remember Chris Brown for example?) from the Sikh faith. I wish you wouldn't over-simply. And I wish you'd do less outside-in, ethnocentric viewing that has become all too common post 9/11. Thank you for highlighting 10 wonderful Kaurs, including Bebe Nanaki. But we have way more than 10, and let no one think differently!
Until we all learn to appreciate the diversity of our world, we will never be at peace in it.
humbly,