As we celebrate National Women’s Month in August, we reflect on strides made towards empowering women in our communities and look at how to overcome challenges they face. The progress in empowering women to be on equal status with men is very important for the future well-being of our societies.
There are many positive developments, in our country and other parts of the world, towards the education and empowerment of women.
Despite these, women still do not have the full and equal enjoyment of all rights and freedoms in their families or in society, and the conventional beliefs that women are inferior to men make them easy targets for anger, frustration and violence.
The education and training of women and girls remains vital to the well-being and advancement of communities and nations. Without the qualities, talents and skills of both women and men, full social and economic development of the planet is impossible.
In the Bahá’í view, the capacity of women is equal to that of men. Women can achieve similar results if educated and given the same opportunities.
The Bahá’í Writings state: “ . . . men and women are equal in the sight of God . . . there is no distinction to be made between them. The only difference between them now is due to lack of education and training. If woman is given equal opportunity of education, distinction and estimate of inferiority will disappear”.
It is the Bahá’í view that education be provided to every child. The great need and priority today involves bridging the gap between educating boys and girls. One must also remember that it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge can be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society.
Therefore, while the overall goal of any society must be to educate all its members, presently the greatest need is to educate women and girls. Because, although in a family both parents share in the overall responsibility of educating their children, the mother is given recognition as the first educator of humanity, and she must be carefully prepared for this task.
While men and women are physically distinct, their spiritual identities are equal.
Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, states: “Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God.”
The human soul has no gender, and social inequalities, which may have been dictated by the survival requirements of the past, cannot be justified at a time when humanity stands at the threshold of maturity.
In one of its statements, the Bahá’í International Community says: “The advancement of civilisation now requires the full participation of everyone, including women. Women must, therefore, be educated. Not only for the service they render to humanity as the first educators of children, but ultimately, for the special contributions women must make to the creation of a just world order, an order characterised by such compassion, vigour and scope has never been seen in history.”
) Flora Teckie is a professional architect, a Bahá’í Faith follower, and spiritual columnist.
