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Good morning. Last week I listened to Iranian-born actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi speak at the UN about the atrocities that were taking place against ordinary citizens of Iran in the widespread protests following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. Mahsa was arrested by the morality police for wearing her headscarf incorrectly. Seeing girls and women shouting ‘woman, life, freedom’ has been totally inspiring to me. Unfortunately, violence and discrimination against women is still endemic across the world and cuts across all countries, cultures and religions. In Afghanistan the Taliban have limited women’s and girls’ rights to education and have enforced mandatory burqa wearing in public. In other places however, women are fighting for the right to wear the hijab. In Karnataka, India, Muslim girls have been denied access to education if they wear the hijab. And in Europe, the Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that under some circumstances companies can ban women wearing the hijab. Today Sikhs around the world mark the birth anniversary of their founding Guru, Guru Nanak, who was born over 550 years ago against a backdrop of social and political upheaval. He challenged and questioned the discrimination and violence perpetuated on women in the name of religion. He encouraged women to participate in religious, social and cultural activities. He critiqued the custom of purdah, veiling of women, and advocated for women’s autonomy and awakened men to the reality that a female is an equal because, “There is the same inner consciousness among all beings.” He argued that if the ruler’s orders were against justice and equity, it was not obligatory on the people to honour them, but that they should rise up and ‘With our own hands, let us resolve our own affairs.’ Although Guru Nanak preached a revolutionary message, this message has not always translated into practice and Sikh women still have not achieved the equality that the Guru advocated. There is a lack of women in roles of religious authority, and even after much protest women still cannot partake in all the religious observances in the inner sanctum of the Harmandir Sahib, more commonly known as the Golden Temple. As I watch Iranian women highlighting how ‘We don’t have the same rights as men. But even the rights our religion gives us, we don’t get’, I reflect on Guru Nanak’s advocacy for women over 550 years ago and ask myself when will things change for All women so that they are treated as equals and accorded the dignity and respect they deserve. I believe it is an imperative and a duty for us all to use our voice to fight for justice and challenge inequality, misogyny and systematic exclusion of women wherever we witness it.