91: The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between
the...
The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the
sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged
prerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an
injustice against one half of the world's population and promotes in men
harmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the
workplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations.
There are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such
denial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership
in all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate
be created in which international peace can emerge.
(October 1985 to the Peoples of the World) [91]
Extracts From Letters Written on Behalf of the Universal House of Justice:
92: ...there is a much wider sphere of relationships between men and women
than in...
...there is a much wider sphere of relationships between men and women
than in the home, and this too we should consider in the context of Baha'i
society, not in that of past or present social norms. For example,
although the mother is the first educator of the child, and the most
important formative influence in his development, the father also has the
responsibility of educating his children, and this responsibility is so
weighty that Baha'u'llah has stated that a father who fails to exercise it
forfeits his rights of fatherhood. Similarly, although the primary
responsibility for supporting the family financially is placed upon the
husband, this does not by any means imply that the place of woman is
confined to the home. On the contrary, 'Abdu'l-Baha has stated:
In the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah, women are advancing side by side with
men. There is no area or instance where they will lag behind: they have
equal rights with men, and will enter, in the future, into all branches of
the administration of society. Such will be their elevation that, in every
area of endeavour, they will occupy the highest levels in the human
world....(4)
and again:
So it will come to pass that when women participate fully and equally in
the affairs of the world, when they enter confidently and capably the
great arena of laws and politics, war will cease;... ("The Promulgation of
Universal Peace", p. 135)
In the Tablet of the World, Baha'u'llah Himself has envisaged that women
as well as men would be breadwinners in stating:
Everyone, whether man or woman, should hand over to a trusted person a
portion of what he or she earneth through trade, agriculture or other
occupation, for the training and education of children, to be spent for
this purpose with the knowledge of the Trustees of the House of Justice.
("Tablets of Baha'u'llah Revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas", p. 90) (28
December 1980 to the National Spiritual Assembly of New Zealand) [92]
93: The duty of women in being the first educators of mankind is clearly
set...
The duty of women in being the first educators of mankind is clearly set
forth in the Writings. It is for every woman, if and when she becomes a
mother, to determine how best she can discharge on the one hand her chief
responsibility as a mother and on the other, to the extent possible, to
participate in other aspects of the activities of the society of which she
forms a part....
(22 April 1981 to an individual believer) [93]