Women in Sikhism

[2] Women participate in all Sikh religious, cultural, social, and secular activities including lead religious congregations, take part in the Akhand Path (the continuous recitation of the Holy Scriptures), perform Kirtan (congregational singing of hymns), perform Gatka (Sikh martial art) and work as a Granthis.

[1] Guru Nanak encouraged men and women to take a full part in all the activities of Sikh worship and practice.

[3] Sikh history also has recorded the role of women, portraying them as equals to men in service, devotion, sacrifice, and bravery.

To ensure a new equal status for women,[5] the Gurus[6] made no distinction between the sexes in matters of initiation, instruction or participation in sangat (holy fellowship) and pangat (eating together).

[7] Guru Amar Das had appointed a Sikh woman, named Mai Matho, as head of one of the Manji diocese in-contrast to the prevailing patriarchal hierarchy of his era.

[9] The Guru gave those women who were baptized into the Khalsa, the surname of Kaur, the status of a sovereign princess.

[10][11] Baba Ram Singh also did much for woman's rights including opposing infanticide, selling of young girls into servitude, the dowry system, the pardah system,[12] and endeavored to achieve higher standards of literacy, and the remarriage of widows.

[13][14] During the Sikh revival movement of Singh Sabha beginning in the 1870s, the Singh Sabha raised its voice against the purdah system, female infanticide, child marriage, sati, bad conditions of widows, practice of dowry and extravagant expenditure during marriage.

[28] In the present-day democratic politics of India, a fair amount of organizations study and work in order to rid women of many of their disadvantages.

Sikh women have shown enterprise in several fields and are among the most progressive in education and in the professions such as teaching and medicine.

They can lead congregational services and participate in akhand paths, uninterrupted readings of scripture to be accomplished within seventy-two hours.

However, gender equality has been difficult to achieve in practice due to heavy social, cultural, and caste-related pressure.

In the 1990s a group of Sikh women requested to wash the floors of the Darbar Sahib and were denied.

Women in Sikh Empire -era Amritsar , 19th century painting
Fresco art from Takht Hazur Sahib depicting Guru Hargobind granting devotee Mai Sulakhani's wish for children by writing the numeral one (੧) but his horse kicked and the Guru wrote the numeral seven (੭) instead
Mai Bhago (top right) in the battle of Muktsar ; December 1705
Guru Nanak in Kamarupa , the land ruled by women. From a manuscript of a Janamsakhi , c.1755–1770.
Wedding ceremony of Sulakhni Chona and Guru Nanak . From the Unbound set of Janamsakhi paintings, ca.1755–1800.
Depiction of a Sikh woman from a Haveli , c.1860s
Performance of dancing and singing women at a Misl -era Sikh court
Gurdwara Bhumman Shah fresco of a woman leading a hunt
Photograph of Sikh women at Harmindar Sahib (Golden Temple complex), 1906