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Good morning. This week, I was horrified to read that every year 12,000 women are abducted and forced into marriage in Kyrgyzstan. Men kidnap women to avoid courtship and save the payment of the kalym, or dowry, which can cost a groom up to £3,000 in cash and livestock. Fleeing brides, like Aizada Kanatbekova risk further violence and even death. In Afghanistan, it’s reported that the Taliban have asked women to stay at home because “Our security forces are not trained (in) how to deal with women - how to speak to women and how not to harm or harass women.” They are now prisoners in their homes and there are reports in the British press and elsewhere of Afghan women and young girls, being forced to marry Taliban fighters. Discrimination against women often starts in the womb. This month research was published outlining how countries from Southeast Europe to South and East Asia have a skewed sex ratio at birth, and how we are set, worldwide, through pre-natal sex selection to 'lose' another 4.7 million girls by 2030 mainly because of a cultural preference for sons. The Sikh Gurus raised a forceful voice against injustice towards women and condemned the second-class status of women and the violence that they were subjected to in medieval India. To curb the dowry system, which resulted in female infanticide, Guru Ram Das the fourth Guru wrote: O my father, please give me the Name of the Lord God as my wedding gift and dowry. Sadly, although the Gurus preached, for their time, a revolutionary message on women’s equality both social and religious, these teachings have not always translated into practice. In fact, social and cultural traditions that have been part of India’s society for centuries, continue. The sex ratio in Punjab, the homeland of Sikhs, was, last year, 919 to 1000, and while this is an improvement on the previous decade, it’s still a huge cause for concern. Other Indian states fare even worse. We in the UK might hear this and feel a sense of moral superiority. But we’d be wrong to do so. The UK Femicide Census highlights that a man kills a woman every three days. So, violence and discrimination against women, in all its forms, remains endemic worldwide. The rapid turn of events in Afghanistan has shown just how fragile progress can be . It‘s only when women, unconstrained by cultural or religious barriers, are given equal opportunities and access to positions of power so that their voices are heard, that we ‘ll be enabled to live our lives free from violence and misogyny.