“In woman, man is conceived. From a woman, he is born. With a woman, he is betrothed and married. With a woman he contracts friendship. Why denounce her, the one from whom even kings are born? From woman, a woman is born. None may exist without a woman.”
Sikh women are seen as individuals in their own rights. They are not forced to take their father’s or husband’s name. Women are initiated into the Khalsa the same way as men are and have “kaur” (which means princess) added to the end of their names to enhance their position. They play an equal part with men in the Gurdwara. This equality has lead to child marriages being banned and marriage-age laws to be introduced in the Punjab. Sikh widows are allowed to re-marry, contrary to the Hindu women who had to throw themselves on their husbands burning funeral pyre.
In the Gurdwara, a normal worshipper does the conducting of the service, which also highlights the belief that Sikhs have about equality. The Granthi, who reads from the holy scriptures is not seen as more important than the other believers.
At the end of every service everyone is invited to stay for a meal in the Langar. Everyone is welcome to eat in the Langar irrespective of age, social status sex or religion. For the meal, everyone is given Karah Prashad. This is a meal that is also suitable for vegetarians and vegans. This is also a sign of equality as if they served meat, then it would exclude vegetarians or vegans.
Another sign that Sikhs believe in equality, is the fact that most of the Sikh gurus practised and believed in equality. One of the Gurus wrote;
“From the Lord’s play, all living creatures came and from the Divine Light the whole creation sprang. Why then should we divide human creatures into high and low? The Lord, the Maker, hath moulded one mass of clay into vessels of diverse shapes.”
This view of equality, goes back to into the history of Sikhism, as the Sikh history is full of details of the persecution and racism early Sikhs faced. Because of this, the gurus were very tolerant and understanding of the other religions and refused to believe in the caste system created by the Hindus. This is why the scriptures contain text and songs that encourage equality.
The main principles that Sikhism is based on are, belief in the oneness of God, the oneness of humanity, equality of women, tolerance towards other religions and service to humanity. All of these prove that Sikhism is firmly in belief of equality.
Sikhism is one of the few religions that allow anyone to join their religion regardless of status, sex, race, former religion or age and they do this because they believe that all are equal.
There are some, however, who do not believe that Sikhs believe in the statement “all believers are equal.” This is because, although Sikhism preaches equality between all believers, there are still a few errors that seem to exist. For example, in the relationship between men and women and the relationship between adults and children, there are still a few things that suggest that there still is some prejudice happening. Firstly, we can take a look at the relationship between men and women. In the past and still stereotypically today, men are supposed to go out to work and women are supposed to stay at home and do the cleaning and cooking. Although Sikhism preaches equality, these stereotypical roles are still expected to be taken by the men and women. Although these roles are not forced upon men and women, they are expected. In Sikh families the man is the head of the family and he usually goes out to work, while the woman stays at home and looks after the children and takes are of the domestic chores. Although Sikhism claims that women have equal contribution in religious affairs, Sikh women feel that they are not given as much influence or responsibility as they would like in community affairs. Another thing that one might look at are the Sikh scripture that are supposed to encourage equality. An example is this is:
“Religion consists not in mere talk. He who looks on all alike and he who considers all to be equal is acclaimed truly religious” - Adi Granth 730
Underlined in this quotation are two examples that show that the Adi Granth is quite Gender specific. This could be seen as quite hypocritical as the scripture are supposed to show equality between the genders.
Sikhs might defend the accusation that they are being sexist by saying that this is the way that God created the roles of man and woman to be. But some might still see this as a breach of the equality that Sikhism boasts.
The relationship between adults and children is another relationship that one might accuse of showing prejudice. This is because of all the respect that has to be given to a person who is older by a younger person. For example, a child must not speak unless they are spoken to, first. A child cannot interrupt the conversation of their elders, even though an elder can interrupt their conversations. A child must greet any elder with the utmost respect, even if that was their first time of meeting them, and a child must address any adults as “uncle” or “aunty” even if they are not their mother’s or father’s brother or sister. Some might argue that this kind of respect that is expected of a Sikh child, should not be expected, but earned.
Another way that the statement seems untrue to some, is the fact that some Sikhs hold a higher status than others. Even though it is not supposed to be like this, it does happen subconsciously. For example, a Khalsa Sikh, would naturally be regarded higher than a Sikh that had been “suspended” from the Gurdwara for doing something against the religion like cutting their hair. If a person enters the Gurdwara, and comes without wearing the 5ks, or upholding a Sikh rule, they would not be seen as equal to a devoted Sikh. This also applies to Granthis. A full time Granthi may be seen as higher in the community, than perhaps a regular worshipper.
It is true that Sikhism allows anyone to join their religion, regardless of status, race, former religion or age. But some might argue that these Sikhs are not regarded as high in the community, as a Sikh who was born and bred in Sikhism. Some people might say that Sikhism does not regard a Sikh and non-Sikh couple (Sikh that marries a non-Sikh) as highly as they would regard a Sikh couple. This is because although not forbidden, Sikhism does not seem keen on interracial/inter-religion marriages. There is still tendency to marry within traditional occupation groups. The reason for this is because they believe that these marriages do not last as long a Sikh couple’s marriage would. This is because a Sikh couple have the same beliefs and therefore not fight as much as a couple whose beliefs were completely different. Sikhs also believe that it is also good for raising the children, as with both parents being Sikh, the child would definitely grow up to be Sikh. Although rational reasons, some people see this as a prejudice and think that because of this, Sikhism tends to look upon Sikh couples with higher favour than they do, couples from different backgrounds. This would make it seem as if their beliefs on equality were flawed.
