**Barbara Bertolani**

Department of Sociology, University of Trento, 38122 Trento, Italy; bertolani.barbara@gmail.com

Received: 10 December 2019; Accepted: 14 February 2020; Published: 17 February 2020

**Abstract:** The paper reflects on the role of women in Sikhism in theory and social practice, starting from a case study in northern Italy. Although the normative discourse widely shared in mainstream Sikhism affirms the equality between man and woman and the same possibility to manifest devotion through every kind of *seva* (social service within gurdwaras), empirical observation in some Italian gurdwaras has shown a different picture, as there is a clear division of tasks that implicitly subtends a gender-based hierarchy. This relational structure is challenged by intergenerational tensions, especially by young women born or raised in Italy, who may want to develop a different Sikh identity, considered compatible also with the Italian social and cultural context. In this initial process of collective identity definition and of agency, the female participation in the religious *seva* within gurdwaras is identified as the tool for change of power relations that cross genders and generations.

**Keywords:** women and Sikhism; Sikh women in Italy; *seva* performances; Sikh youth; Sikhs in Italy; gurdwaras in Italy
