In a first, women will be allowed to perform kirtan inside Golden Temple

Ending years of gender discrimination, the Punjab Government has recently passed a resolution unanimously and announced that women will now be allowed to sing hymns in the sanctum sanctorum at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. The government, in fact, passed the resolution urging the Akal Takht and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) to allow women to sing inside the Harmandir Sahib.
As per the reports, this move comes after State Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa insisted that Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev fought for equality throughout his life and to help his cause, discrimination against women needs to be ended.
During the discussion, an Akali leader claimed that as per Sikh ‘rehat maryada’ (religious code of conduct), Sikh women are not allowed to perform kirtans at the Darbar Sahib, which the State Minister rejected. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa while refuting his claim, mentioned that there is no mention in the Sikh history of any discrimination against women. He added that till date, Sikh women have not been allowed to perform Kirtan Sewa, and that only Sikh men have been performing kirtans at the Golden Temple.
He also pointed out that Guru Nanak had preached about the promotion of an egalitarian society, based on democratisation of rights and entitlements. He got support for this move by AAP MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan, who criticised Akali leaders for raising questions over the resolution brought by the government.
Reportedly, back in 2005, Akali leader Bibi Jagir Kaur had also sought similar permission aimed at allowing Sikh women to perform Kirtan Sewa at the holy Sikh shrine in Amritsar.