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Summary of Question:	Is It Better To Have A Boy Over A Girl In Sikhism?
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Monday, 10/15/2001 6:59 PM MDT

1) Does the sikhism provides equal rights to men and women?

2) There is saying that one of the gurus granted 9 sons to Mata Sulkhani.
She was asking for one, but since the guruji was on a horse and horse
moved. This caused numeral one to become numeral 9. The question is did
Mata have many girls and she was longing for a son or she was longing for
a child? Similar story is told in Gurudwara for Baba Buda. Where lies the
truth?

I am Sikh and my parents were Sikh. I have boy and lovely daughter and
I am proud of them. However, this question is discussed many times with
friends and relatives who are Sikhs and no-sikhs.

Your view and source of information is appreciated.

Thanks for reading this and tolerating my ignorance.

Raj123

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REPLY
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Sat Siri Akaal. The idea that boys are more important than girls (as children) is NOT Sikh, but it is an outdated Indian cultural practice. I could not find reference to the story about Mata Sulkhani, but I have heard the story of Baba Buda. If Guru gave Baba Buda's wife a son, then he did so because of the souls involved and their karma.

In the Sikh faith, women are equal to men in ALL aspects. Don't let ANYONE tell you otherwise. For example, Guru Arjan said that when 2 people marry, they become 1 soul in 2 bodies, he did not say that the man absorbs the woman!

The outdated traditional reason boys are preferred over girls has to do with recording lineage through PATERNITY (not maternity) AND it also involved economics. Because girls requiring marrying off (this means a dowry, which means an outflow of goods and money). A son BRINGS in a wife (this means an inflow of goods and money). There may be other reasons, but in 'olden times' this was why sons were preferred over daughters (China also has this thinking). The absurdity of this thinking has, in China for example, created a population that has about 125 men to every 100 women (because girl babies would be killed). Practically speaking, if there are NO women, how can there be ANY babies or sons or daughters!!!???

Clearly, you do not buy into this old thinking, nor should you. Your daughter is a PRINCESS of the Guru. (Never let her forget her royal lineage!) Guru Nanak reminds us in a shabd sung in Asa Di Var that through women are born princes and gurus and kings, among others! That is all you ever have to say to the Sikhs and non-Sikhs who question your happiness over having a daughter.
Guru ang sang,
-DKK