10 Sikh Women You Should Know and Why You Should Know Them

[riverwalker]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/valarie-kaur/10-sikh-women-you-should-know_b_1353700.html

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.
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