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Good morning. Last week, a man was jailed for murdering the 23-year-old Irish schoolteacher Ashling Murphy. She was out jogging when she was attacked and stabbed eleven times. Reading her mother's victim statement was heart wrenching: "My memory, motivation, and drive for life are gone forever. There’s such a void in our home. I'm barely existing from day to day." One can only imagine the impact of such a brutal act of violence on Ashling’s family, friends and community. According to Counting Dead Women, a project that tracks the murders of women in the UK, at least 87 women and girls aged 13 and over have been killed in 2023 under circumstances where a man or men are the primary suspects. Globally, an estimated 736 million women have experienced physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lives. Whether it’s domestic violence or sexual attacks on women and girls in armed conflict, the consequences for women, their families, and communities are profound. This Saturday is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, leading to 16 days of global activism to raise awareness of the killing of girls and women - and the urgent need to address it. It's apposite that Sikhs will be celebrating the birth anniversary of their founder during this time. Guru Nanak was born in the fifteenth century at a time when women were severely oppressed and widely treated as second-class citizens. His writings reflect deep concern for the violent and discriminatory conditions women endured, and it led him to elevate their status through his teachings. Throughout his life he emphasized that no person can be “above” any other person and no one should harm another; all are a part of creation and the creator. The Divine Light is within everyone; You are that Light. Yours is that Light which shines within everyone. Over five centuries ago, Guru Nanak's words presented a revolutionary plea to eliminate injustice against women and reshape societal norms. But despite his passionate call for equality and respect, the unfortunate reality today is that it hasn’t translated into a significant change in the day-to-day experiences of many women. Despite victims and human rights activists sounding the alarm about the pervasive nature of violence against women, it continues, and their families continue to endure unimaginable pain and grief. The ending of this violence and the upholding of equality is not just a moral imperative, but a necessity and requires discipline from everyone so that we create a world where women can lead lives free from fear, and where no parent, like Ashling’s mother, has to endure the tragic loss of a loved one through violence.