'NRI Punjabis biased against girls'

Gur Kirpal Singh Ashk / TNN / Dec 15, 2007, 03:18 IST

Share

AA

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

The role of Asian parents is under scanner in North America as they are still not ready to give freedom to their daughters.

PATIALA: The Punjabis here have totally changed on cultural front, but those in North America still seem to be living in the past. This specific part of the community is still not ready to give freedom to the daughters. After the murder of an 11th standard Muslim schoolgirl Aksa Pravez (16) by her father in Toronto, the role of the Asian parents is under scanner in North America.
Kuldeep Deepak, a broadcaster of Canada, told TOI that his studio was flooded with the phone calls from youth asking about the double standards of their parents."They say that they are born and brought up in this country, then why are their parents forcing their culture on them?" Deepak said.
Another broadcaster from Surrey (British Columbia) Harjinder Singh Thind, who is running Radio Red FM there and presently visiting Punjab, said, "Though most of the parents from Punjabi community are accommodating, 20% of them are gender biased. They don’t allow their daughters to wear short dresses or use lipsticks, so these girls keep their favourite costumes hidden in their school lockers and change them during schools hours."
He said now daughters of such parents had started raising their voice against their double standards from the platforms like 'Save Your Daughters'.

Simran Kaur (name changed), a student of 10th standard in an Ottawa school told TOI, "We feel suffocated in our own house when our parents ask us the details of our phone calls and keep an eye over our internet usage." She disclosed that sometimes her friends’ parents have even threatened to send them to Punjab for their 'treatment'.
Canada-born 15-year-old Jasdeep Singh, who is studying here in Teja Singh Kandhari School, said, "I feel that parents in Punjab are more liberal." He said though his father had stopped from anything, but his friends in Punjab frequently use mobiles and chat on internet and their parents never stop them.
Baltej Pannu - a scribe from Canada - told TOI that the young girls in Canada were now ready to rebel.
The wise parents who wanted to keep their children rooted to Punjabi culture have started sending them to good schools in Punjab, he added. Pannu said these kids feel more independent in India than back home in Canada.

End of Article

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA