Pearson Edexcel Level 3 Advanced GCE in Religious Studies – Anthology
287
ec helons of Sikh soc iet y. At Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s death, several queens
underwent sati.
Brit ish c olonialism made mat t ers worse. The Punjab was annexed by the
Brit ish in 1849, and t he imperial mast ers, who great ly admired t he ‘mart ial’
c harac ter and strong physique of Sikh men, produc ed a ‘hyper-masc uline’ c ulture.
T hat drive c ontinues. With the Green Revolution and the enterprising spirit of its
people, post-colonial Punjab became the breadbasket of India. T oday, it is in t he
ferment of globalizat ion. Cont emporary ec onomic and t ec hnologic al priorit ies have
made the patriarchal imperat ive for sons even st ronger. Parent s regard sons as
t heir soc ial sec urit y, financ ial insuranc e, and as religious func t ionaries who will
eventually perform their funeral rites. Sons are deemed to be essential to carry on
the family name, property and land. When a son marries, he brings his wife into the
family home, and she take care of her in-laws int o t heir old age. Wit h his wife
c o me s her dowry whic h adds to the ec onomic resourc es of his family. Simple
marriage ceremonies have become extremely opulent, dowries extravagant, and
gifts to the daughter and her in-laws for every rit e, rit ual and fest ival, exorbit ant.
Both in India and in Sikh diasporas, marriages are transformed into elaborate
affairs, and the quantity and quality of what is hosted for or given to the daughter
reinforces the power and prestige of her father. Daughters have no rights over their
natal homes; they are viewed as beautiful c ommodities and investments in their
father’s status and honour. The not-so -wealthy feel extreme pressure to squeeze
out their hard-earned money to keep up with the c ultural norms. While a son is
desired for the accretion of his father’s assets, a daughter is rejected because she
represents its depletion. The ec onomic and soc ial demands of c ontemporary Sikh
culture are extremely challenging.
Wit h t he c ombinat ion of anc ient pat riarc hal values and new globalizat ion,
gender disparit y is det eriorat ing at an alarming rat e. The proportion of baby girls is
beginning t o dec line rapidly. In India’s population of 1.027 billion, t he last c ensus
showed only 927 girls for every 1,000 boys – down from 945 t en years earlier.
Prenatal sex identific ation using ultrasound have made gender selec tive abortions
inc reasingly easy. Female foetuses are being aborted to preserve the legacy,
business, property and status of fathers and sons. Wit h t ec hnologic al and ec onomic
advanc es, Punjab, t he home of t he Sikhs, is ironic ally fac ing a t errible sit uat ion.
Newspaper articles have focused on the tragedy of female feticide in the affluent
agrarian area of the Punjab. A ‘diabolic link’ exist s bet ween sex-selec t ion
tec hnologies and the abortion of female foetuses, with the result that there is an
inc reasing imbalanc e in t he rat io of males t o females in t he populat ion of t he
Punjab. The selective abort ion of females reinforc es t his devaluat ion of girls and
further entrenches gender prejudices.
...