Sikh Women Now - Reflection

· While performing this activity, I felt very proud to be representing an issue that is very important to me. Growing up in the Sikh community, I have personally seen that role of a Sikh women the family and in the community. I feel that they should be recognized more and given a voice to be able to express what they want and what their desires are. I have seen many times, that a woman has given up her desires for the sake of her family. I don’t understand why it is only the woman who should have to make those sacrifices. These are the issues we spoke about on the launch day when people came up to us and asked why we thought the issues of Sikh Women’s rights was important. In the Indian culture, women have always been considered inferior to men. This means that they are not included in most major decisions even though it may affect them the most. Even though women here in America, even Sikh women, do have many rights, we want to expand our support to those women in other countries that need our support even more.

· The activity means a lot to me because I have heard stories and seen people who are victims of domestic violence and other issues that are a result of the absence of women’s rights in countries around the world. For example, many times, even today, girls from India are married off to boys from America or other foreign countries. The only thing that the parents look for in a boy is a green card and money. For some reason, they don’t look at the guy’s background or personality as long as he can take their daughter to another country. Many times, when the girl comes to the foreign country after marrying the man, she is caught in a trap of deception that was created either to get her money or simply make her life miserable to for some reason. Therefore I think it is important to raise awareness of this sort of atrocities occurring and gather some kind of support group who are victims of these sorts of frauds.

· Although I have volunteered for other organizations, I had never really seen the planning it took to create one and the time it took to plan one event. The planning portion of this activity helped me understand how to efficiently complete tasks on time. This skill can be applied in other situations that require the planning of an event or raising awareness of an issue. This activity has also taught me that it is important to fight for what you think is right and try to prevent a crime from occurring. Although the subject of women’s inferior role in Indian society is considered taboo by some, I think it is important that those with rights and voices should stand up for those who can’t help themselves. This can be applied not only to women but any group of people that are being discriminated against or wrongly treated.