On International Women’s Day, University of Victoria (UVic) grad student, Jasmine Padam shines the light on issues of race and ethnicity, gender inequality and violence toward Sikh women in Canada. Padam grew up as a Sikh woman in Vancouver, raised by her parents—her father immigrated from England—she faced micro-aggressions and racism.
When I started my master’s degree at UVic, I wanted to research the systemic barriers that immigrant Sikh women face in Canada. Many Sikh women face loss of autonomy, economic and social dependence, and increased vulnerability to domestic abuse.”
—Jasmine Padam
Padam says during her research she found women at the Sikh Temple in Surrey who would talk to her about their experiences in Canada.
“Temple is where our community gathers, women navigate barriers, support each other and find pathways of resistance,” says Padam.
Stop silencing women’s voices
Faculty in UVic’s sociology department support Padam’s research interests where she works as a research assistant to Dr. Anelyse Weiler.
“During my work with Dr. Weiler, I learned about harms to women who were hired for farmwork in Canada,” says Padam.
Poor working conditions, low wages, and racism toward immigrant women spurred Padam forward to pursue a PhD in sociology at UVic.
“My PhD topic grew out of this discovery of gaps in information about South Asian women’s lives, especially for Sikh women experiencing domestic violence and abuse,” says Padam.
Too often in Canada, Sikh women are forced into marriage, experience intimate partner violence and in extreme cases, honour violence and killings explains Padam. She hopes her PhD will build on her master’s research findings that showed “intricate legal, cultural, and community pressures led to a silencing of women’s voices and discouraged them from taking legal action, even in cases of clear rights violations.”
