Balvinder Saund

Balvinder Kaur Saund (born ) is a British human rights activist and former politician. She has been the chair of the Sikh Women's Alliance since 2001, and has publicly called and campaigned for the rights of Sikh women in the United Kingdom. In 2014, she was named by the BBC as one of that year's 100 Women.

Activism Saund is a community activist in Ilford, a town in East London. Born into a Punjabi family, she is a member of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha London East.

In 2001, the Sikh Women's Alliance was founded in Ilford by a group of Sikh men, though shortly afterwards, its leadership was transferred to Saund and four other women, with Saund serving as the organisation's chair. Through the SWA, Saund has campaigned for greater awareness of issues including domestic abuse, honour-based violence and female infanticide within the Sikh community. She has called for a return to the gender equality espoused by Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and has said that the role and status of women in the religion has been negatively impacted by misogyny. Saund has called for more significant leadership roles for Sikh women beyond traditionally running langars, community kitchens in gurdwaras. Following the emergence of the #MeToo movement, Saund called for more safeguarding measures to be put in place for girls and women in gurdwaras. In May 2013, Saund, alongside fellow Labour councillors Filly Maravala and Virendra Tewari, publicly destroyed their Labour membership cards on the steps of Redbridge Town Hall in response to a change of the borough's local Labour leadership, which had deselected several long-serving candidates, including Tewari. The group established the Redbridge Independent Group, with Saund acting as its deputy leader until her retirement in 2014.

Recognition In 2014, Saund was named as one of the BBC's 100 Women. Saund received an honorary degree from the University of East London.