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Number of young dastar-wearing Sikh women compared to number of young dastar-wearing (non-trimming) Sikh men


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Hello,

I would like to get SikhSangat's observations on the number of dastar-wearing Sikh women compared to the number of dastar-wearing (non-trimming, sabat surat) Sikh men under the age of 40 (I am most interested in the younger generation).

It will be very interesting to see what Sikhs who live in the different part of the world have observed.  Please state where you live, and whether your observation pertains to your locality, or if you believe it to be global (or over a wider geographic range than the area where you live).

 

Please state your answer in the following format:

"My observation is that for every non-trimming young Sikh man who wears a dastar, there are three young Sikh women who wear dastars"

or

"My observation is that for every young Sikh woman who wears a dastar, there are four non-trimming young Sikh men who wear dastars"

 

You get the idea

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My observation is that for every 10 Sikh man (may or may not be a Singh) wearing a Dastaar, there is 1 Sikh women (almost always a Kaur) who wears a Dastaar. 

The amount of women who wear Dastaars is and has always been lower than men, this is because historically and even today the dastaar is seen as more masculine by society. There is also the issue of higher beauty standards for women, that don’t affect men that much. 

Those women who do wear Dastaars, are always Kaur’s, Sikh women who have received Khand Di Phaul initiation into the Khalsa Panth. 

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19 minutes ago, TheeTurbanator said:

Those women who do wear Dastaars, are always Kaur’s, Sikh women who have received Khand Di Phaul initiation into the Khalsa Panth. 

That seems like a stereotype, I dont wear a dastar and Im amritdhari. Also, my sister who is older than me wore a dastar but isnt amritdhari. Theres  a khalsa school near us and I dont know if Id be able to label all of the dastar wearing people as amritdhari. There are so many amritdhari kaurs, a bunch dont wear dastars, rather chunnis/ramals.

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35 minutes ago, Preeet said:

That seems like a stereotype, I dont wear a dastar and Im amritdhari. Also, my sister who is older than me wore a dastar but isnt amritdhari. Theres  a khalsa school near us and I dont know if Id be able to label all of the dastar wearing people as amritdhari. There are so many amritdhari kaurs, a bunch dont wear dastars, rather chunnis/ramals.

 

 

Where do you live?  And how old are the Kaurs who you are referring to?

 

My observation is that, in the west, a woman wearing a dastar may not necessarily be amritdhari, but if she is amritdhari (and under the age of 40), there is a 99% chance she wears a dastar. 

Among older women, wearing a dastar appears to be more rare, and my guess is that most amritdhari women who are 50+ years of age do not wear dastars.

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3 minutes ago, californiasardar1 said:

 

 

Where do you live?  And how old are the Kaurs who you are referring to?

 

My observation is that, in the west, a woman wearing a dastar may not necessarily be amritdhari, but if she is amritdhari (and under the age of 40), there is a 99% chance she wears a dastar. 

Among older women, wearing a dastar appears to be more rare, and my guess is that most amritdhari women who are 50+ years of age do not wear dastars.

Im from Canada ji. The Kaurs would be under 35. Even at the amritsanchar I was at I think there were others who just had chunnis/ramals. I just think that theres more amritdhari girls than people expect since its hard to tell when we keep our kirpan sahib ji under our clothes and have a ramal. 

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2 minutes ago, Preeet said:

Im from Canada ji. The Kaurs would be under 35. Even at the amritsanchar I was at I think there were others who just had chunnis/ramals. I just think that theres more amritdhari girls than people expect since its hard to tell when we keep our kirpan sahib ji under our clothes and have a ramal. 

 

I see, I am surprised to hear that, as it is quite different from what I have observed.  Thanks for enlightening me! 

Where in Canada are you from?  BC?  Or GTA?

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16 minutes ago, californiasardar1 said:

 

I see, I am surprised to hear that, as it is quite different from what I have observed.  Thanks for enlightening me! 

Where in Canada are you from?  BC?  Or GTA?

BC : ) but to be fair, I usually tie a dastar during amritvela nitnem ji. Im not really good at tying it though so then I take it off afterwards. 

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28 minutes ago, Preeet said:

That seems like a stereotype, I dont wear a dastar and Im amritdhari. Also, my sister who is older than me wore a dastar but isnt amritdhari. Theres  a khalsa school near us and I dont know if Id be able to label all of the dastar wearing people as amritdhari. There are so many amritdhari kaurs, a bunch dont wear dastars, rather chunnis/ramals.

It is a stereotype and a lie as it follows the same one for men and Singh.

Actions and appearance define the name gifted to us from Guru pita ji - one without the other just doesn't work.

 

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4 hours ago, Preeet said:

That seems like a stereotype, I dont wear a dastar and Im amritdhari.

If you give your head to the Guru, and dont want to represent the Khalsa identity by wearing a Dastaar , then thats your choice, im just stating what I have personally seen in my community where i live. I literally said at the top if my comment that its my observation, im not passing it off as face and saying my opinions are statistically factual or anything. 

What I have personalty noticed is that those Sikh women who wear a Dastaar are almost allways initiated into the Khalsa Panth: Kaur. I didnt state that ALL who are initiated wear Dastaars, just that in my expedience those who happen to wear one are initiated, you are conflating the two. 

 

4 hours ago, Preeet said:

Also, my sister who is older than me wore a dastar but isnt amritdhari.

Respect to your sister, you as a Kaur should try to do the same. 

4 hours ago, Preeet said:

. There are so many amritdhari kaurs

In case you didnt pick up on it before in my comment, I define a Kaur as a Sikh women who has received Khand Di Phaul (Amrit). The entire point of a Sikh changing their last name to Singh or Kaur is that they go through a transformation to become initiated into the Khalsa Panth and become reborn into the Khalsa Family. Not even a single Guru, even Guru Gobind Singh Ji (who was previopusly known as Gobind Rai) was born with Singh or Kaur, it was only after the Guru received Khand Di Phaul and was the 6th person to be initated (first 5 were panj pyare) did he call himself a Singh.

Sikhi, especially the Khalsa Sub tradition is not passed on through blood or culture, its earned through individual merit. Singh and Kaur was once an honorable title, when a Singh would get on a train, people would feel safe, now the once honorable Khalsa titles are diluted by Punjabi culture...but thats a story for another time. 

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