Sikh attitudes towards women
Women were another group who experienced prejudiceForming an unfavourable opinion or feeling about a person or a group of people, without a full examination of the situation. and discriminationTo treat someone differently or unfairly because they belong to a particular group.. They were prevented from entering places of worship while they had their period and in most cases not allowed to visit at all. They did not have a separate identity, as they belonged to their fathers, husbands and later, sons.
The Gurus taught instead that women and men were equal. They appointed women to lead prayers and had men cooking in the langarThe kitchen and place where food is eaten in a Sikh Gurdwara. Often volunteers provide and cook food that is served to all as an act of sewa (charity).. Women who joined the KhalsaThe Sikh community, literally 'the community of the pure'. Refers particularly to initiated Sikhs. were expected to bear arms and had their own surname for life: Kaur meaning princess.
purdahThe custom in some Muslim, Hindu and Sikh communities of keeping women socially separated from men and strangers with clothing that conceals them when they go out. was rejected, as was the full-face veil. This cannot be worn in a gurdwaraSikh place of worship. Literally, the 'doorway to the Guru'..
Guru NanakGuru Nanak was the founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Gurus, who lived from 1469 to 1539. wrote a famous hymnA religious song giving praise and worship to God. in praise of women and closed it asking:
Why curse Woman, from whom all the greatest of men have been born? None can exist without a woman.