It might partly be the scarcity of female voices and public female faces in the Sikh community that makes Nikky-
Guninder Kaur Singh’s so distinctive and refreshing. But in addition to her position as one of the few public female voices in the Sikh community, her original and creative work is really what makes Ms. Kaur-Singh so refreshing. As we have discussed in the past, in the context of “Relocating Gender in Sikh History,” the vast majority of Sikh history has been written by men. And thus, despite their best intentions, for the most part, women’s voice in Sikh history has been non-existent. It is silent.
In this realm of mostly male voices, Ms. Kaur-Singh has taken an original position on a much-needed project: to explore a feminist perspective in interpreting Gurbani. Many translations of Gurbani have been written, some of which are quite good, and others that are quite lacking (in terms of staying close to the feeling of the original shabad and being easily understandable for today’s audiences). One of the most popular translations today, if not the most popular, is Sikhi to the Max. It’s heavily used in gurdwaras, at weddings, and by individuals at home. And in this translation, the divine is interpreted as He/Him/Lord. Not only is this archaic, it creates a framework of masculinity that limits our understanding of Waheguru. The Sikh conception of gender embraces as well as goes beyond gender.
In a piece we discovered recently, Ms. Kaur-Singh contrasts current practices of sex-selective abortion with the place of the feminine within Gurbani. In a chapter of “Imagining the Fetus: The Unborn in Myth, Religion, and Culture,” Ms. Kaur Singh orients readers with the history of sex-selection in Punjab. She then goes on to show how Gurbani holds the power to turn today’s practices on their head. In a few short pages, we are treated to a celebration of the feminine, reminded that our spirituality can focus on our source (the physical allegory of which is the mother) rather than its current infatuation with the end, and given a gender-neutral interpretation of excerpts of Gurbani which resonate as closer to a truer meaning than some other more widely used interpretations today.
Gendercide is a well-known problem in India. The BBC and ABC 20/20 have highlighted this issue. The low sex-ratio in Punjab, India shows how the soil, which gave birth to Sikhi is not devoid of this problem. The land on which our Gurus proclaimed the equality of women when others considered her impure has now become the dumping ground for unwanted baby girls. Their pure bodies are thrown onto piles of garbage for dogs to nibble away. Dead fetuses are stuffed into water wells.
A seminal research study conducted by Monica Das Gupta on selective discrimination against female children in Punjab states that Punjabi Sikh women are highly educated and well-treated in Punjab compared to other states. The harsh reality is that a rise in “status” has not changed the value of women. Women can be loved and cared for, but still under valued. They can be highly educated and treated well, but families want one of these daughters not two. But two sons would be okay. The value of daughters and sons is displayed when couples develop family-building strategies. How many children to have? If we have one daughter or two, will we be content with another daughter? Should we have only one son? Studies show that common answers to these questions are strongly rooted in a distorted value system, which reinforces the secondary status of women and allows for structures to be created to perpetuate this inequity. Thus, value systems and structures produce a circular cycle of mutually reinforcing each other.
The Sikh Gurus gifted us a value system that does not permit this secondary status of women. However, many have chosen not to implement it in their lives. It has even seeped its way into how Sikhi is practiced. Women are not allowed to do all kinds of seva at the Harmandar Sahib and our granthis/ragis’ kathaa most often highlight how a Sikh woman went to the Guru to request only a son.
If Sikhi is a key element to any solution for gendercide within the Punjabi Sikh community, wouldn’t kathaa/sikhyaa in the Gurdwara be the most logical place to start? We do enter the house of our Guru to understand and reinforce our Sikh value system.
Coblogged by Reema and Sundari
There is a deafening silence that surrounds Punjabi-Sikh women. Too often, when discussing challenges that some women may be facing, the conversation is shut down and de-legitimized by one or two angry voices. Interwoven into this is the unrelenting identity debate of labeling actions “Punjabi” versus “Sikh” which often distracts us from the true issue at hand.
For example, recent posts about issues affecting women turned out to be way more controversial to a few commentors than anything in the original post merited. A post on forced marriages drew virulent ire from a few readers for discussing forced marriages under a title that included the word “Sikh.” A post on a change in asylum law which also included “Sikh” in the title drew the same virulent response. Earlier in the year, a post named “The Rise and Fall of Sikh Girls,” was accused of creating unnecessary attention with it’s title.
This reaction is reminiscent of the treatment that was meted to Harshinder Kaur by an Indian government official when she attempted to talk about female feticide in Geneva.
She said in her talk at Geneva she had pointed that it was very essential to educate the women and girls of Punjab to make them aware of their rights and to alleviate their sufferings. For this, UN must give aid to needy girls in their education directly as it should reach at grass level where the aid is not reaching. She said he is giving monetary help to 300 needy girls for their education through her own trust. This issue was disliked by a participant P. Srivastava and she [sic] threatened her after she finished her talk and came out of hall and advised her not to visit UN ever again if she has to utter any [words against the] government. She clarified repeatedly that said [sic] she has not uttered anything about government but was worried only about education of poor girls of Punjab. [PunjabNewsline ]
Besides the insult felt by readers at the idea of Sikhs not living as Sikhs should and the fear that a negative image of Sikhs was being portrayed, there is another stream of thought shutting down these conversations that I think needs to be addressed.
Blogged by: Amritpan
For many years UNICEF India has attempted to survey and document the declining sex ratio and female feticide in India. And for many years the government of India has maintained that Punjab (and thus Sikhs) consistently registered the highest number of ‘kuri maar’ cases, as compared to states such as Haryana, Himachal, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. So when a Punjabi doctor took the stage at United Nation’s Geneva Conference and dared to question the validity of the government’s survey methods, she was met with a ruthless legislative backlash so typical of Bharat’s political response to its human rights advocates that it almost doesn’t even prompt a second glance.
A renowned, outspoken crusader of women’s rights and a pediatrician at Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, Dr. Harshinder Kaur presented a paper to the Geneva Convention that explicated upon the abject conditions of women in India, disputed female feticide as being a Punjabi cultural phenomenon by asserting that Rajasthan has the highest number of feticides, and challenged India’s injudicious spending of the UN’s funds, urging that the UN redirect this monetary support to specialized NGOs.
I wanted to take the time to highlight two issues (Part 2 to be posted soon) which have plagued the Punjabi Sikh community for many, many years. I know that discussing these issues over and over again is overwhelmingly tedious for the majority of people. Quite frankly, I agree. However, if I didn’t believe that having these important discussions and bringing awareness to these issues over (and over, and over) again added some value to potential solutions – then I wouldn’t waste the space. Needless to say, these issues don’t seem to be going away which means these conversations are that much more important to have.
A recent article in the NYTimes expresses surprise at the fact that female feticide is occurring within immigrant communities residing in the United States. The thought seems to be that preference of male children should ideally disappear with assimilation into western societies. (For those of us hanging out in The Langar Hall, we know this isn’t always the case in the Punjabi community). The article uses US Census Data to provide quantitative evidence that there exists a bias for male children in certain Asian American communities.
Demographers say the statistical deviation among Asian-American families is significant, and they believe it reflects not only a preference for male children, but a growing tendency for these families to embrace sex-selection techniques, like in vitro fertilization and sperm sorting, or abortion.
New immigrants typically transplant some of their customs and culture to the United States – from tastes in food and child-rearing practices to their emphasis on education and the elevated social and economic status of males. [emphasis added]
This latter point is especially significant. Is the problem of sex-selective abortions purely cultural and is that why it continues to be an “acceptable” problem?
As Lohiri season approaches us, the issue of gender equity was once again resurfaces. Some families will celebrate Lohiri for their daughters to show there is no difference, while others will keep it as a boy tradition. I think we should also reflect on the fact gender equity isn’t just solved by equal celebrations when from the beginning we don’t even allow daughters to be born. How many celebrations will “make-up” for the gross in-balance between the male-female ratio in our community?
The issue of female feticide in the South Asian community is an infamous issue. We have heard about the studies in India, Punjab’s high ranking, and the SGPC’s desire to raise unwanted daughters. The common source cited for killing female children is abortion- just never letting them be born. However, the issue is also prevalent in the South Asian Diaspora in America. According to The Mercury News, Indian families are 58 percent more likely to have a son after having three daughters, compared to the natural 51 percent chance.
Is the tipping point (the level at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable) approaching for a change in attitudes towards the value of women and need to have sons?
There has been a widespread, public movement condemning sex-selection by the government, ngos, and others in the community for some time now (this hard-hitting song by Sarabjit Cheema is a must-see). Since Amartya Sen’s articulation of ‘missing women,’ the rights of women in developing countries have been at the forefront of international agendas. In a recent development, Sunita Rao, an Indian pop singer, has released a song condemning sex-selective abortion and become the spokesperson for the LAADLI campaign, funded by the United Nations Population Fund.
Suneeta Rao’s latest album WAQT’s press conference was held in Hotel Palace Heights, New Delhi. It was on behalf of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The singer is the official spokesperson of the Laadli campaign of UNFPA that focuses on the pleasure and pride of having a daughter and motivates people to fight injustice against the girl child. ‘The video of the first song in my album ‘Sun Zara’ is a dedication to all girls, Suneeta said, UNFPA has gratefully supported in making the video of this album. According to United Nations Population Fund, “This video has been made for the Girl Child, to address the issue of Sex Selection and to help stop female feticide”. [link]
The song mentioned above, Sun Zara:
The issue of sex-selective abortion is not new here in The Langar Hall. A number of our bloggers have commented on this complex issue in the past; and even early community initiatives have been supported as well.
Recently I saw the official trailer of a documentary – It’s A Girl – that promises to look at the issue in China and India.
In India, China and many other parts of the world today, girls are killed, aborted and abandoned simply because they are girls. The United Nations estimates as many as 200 million girls(1) are missing in the world today because of this so-called “gendercide”.
Shot on location in India and China, It’s a Girl! explores the issue. It asks why this is happening, and why so little is being done to save girls and women.
The film tells the stories of abandoned and trafficked girls, of women who suffer extreme dowry-related violence, of brave mothers fighting to save their daughters’ lives, and of other mothers who would kill for a son. Global experts and grassroots activists put the stories in context and advocate different paths towards change, while collectively lamenting the lack of any truly effective action against this injustice.
Currently in post-production, It’s a Girl! is scheduled for an early 2012 release.
I invite our readers to take a look at the trailer and share their comments, as will I.
Last year we heard the story of Lakhwinder Kahlon, a Delta, B.C. man who had been arrested for the murder of his two-year-old daughter, Rajwinder. This past week, Lakhwinder received an automatic life term when he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. The father, who admitted to strangling and decapitating his daughter, will have to spend 11 years in jail before he can apply for parole. A few days ago, the judge released the 911 call of Lakhwinder admitting to the horrific act. The call is chilling – Lakhwinder tells the operator that he killed his daughter by cutting her neck, that he is depressed, and that the police should come and arrest him.
While it is hard to come up with any explanation to describe why Lakhwinder murdered his daughter, several suggestions were made. In an immediate reaction to hearing the news, there was speculation that Lakhwinder was upset that he only had daughters. This suggestion was vehemently denied by Lakhwinder’s wife and the community was quick to denounce female inequality.
Outrage and sorrow have poured out in radio talk shows and letters to newspapers, including one from Tara Diakow of Richmond, B.C., who wrote: “Who will battle against the ugly stereotype that Rajvinder Kahlon’s death has unfortunately brought to many people’s minds – the seemingly disposable position of Indo-Canadian women?” In a forceful statement on Monday, Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh used the case to denounce the practice of aborting female fetuses, which he says continues to take place in Canadian families. [link]
