Charan Singh

Paper: Women Leaders from Sikh Religion

Abstract

In Sikhism, a woman has been given equal status as that of man in all spheres of life. According to Sikh thought, as all things are created and inhabited by God, there is no scope for discrimination on the basis of gender of an individual in the practice of religion in life. The Sikh Gurus condemned the notion of inferiority of women and respected women for she gave life to all human. Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikh religion, in early 1500, had observed that women from whom kings are born cannot be considered inferior. Sikh Gurus did not approve of any inferior treatment to one-half of the humanity but rather encouraged the women who had become very meek and submissive by the sixteenth century to become courageous and independent. Consequently, women in Sikh religion have played an important role since the time of Guru Nanak.

The paper will present the role of Sikh women in different leadership positions, by drawing evidence from historical and living Sikh women. The focus of the paper would be on philosophical roots of the role that women should play in society, including marriage. Three Sikh women would be discussed – a) Mata Khivi, who took over management of Langar, community kitchen, in 1539 and provided hospitality, to the growing Sikh community; b) Sundar Kaur who provided leadership to Sikh community immediately after Guru Gobind Singh, from 1708 to 1747; and c) Dr. Inderjit Kaur, presently serving as Director of Pingalwara, Amritsar, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan for her selfless service to the sick and downtrodden.

Charan Singh, RBI Chair Professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, was a Senior Economist at the International Monetary Fund, Washington DC (2009- 2012) and Director (Departments: Research; Debt Management) at the RBI (1997–2009). Earlier, he was working as Director (Research), with the RBI since 1997 where he had joined in 1984 as a Research officer. He earned his doctorate in Economics from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, and post-doctorate at Department of Economics, Harvard University and the Stanford Center for International Development, Stanford University. His research is published in academic journals and edited volumes. He contributes in public debates thorough TV channels, and articles in daily newspapers and economic papers like Economic Times, Business Standard, Business Line, The Financial Express, and  MoneyControl.com.