As we mark International Women’s Day, it is opportune to reflect on the current status of women and girls, the ways and means of empowering them and their role in creating a peaceful world.
Despite many positive developments, and commitment by many of the world’s governments to the promotion of equal rights and opportunities for men and women in family, community and public life, women continue to struggle against deep-rooted patterns of dominance; and the conventional beliefs that they are inferior to men make them easy targets for anger, frustration and violence.
“Women and men,” the Bahá’í Writings assert, ‘have been and will always be equal in the sight of God’. They are like the wings of a bird. They complement each other in their roles and functions. The happiness and stability of humanity cannot be assured unless both are perfected and are treated as equals.
The empowerment of women, and attaining their rightful and equal status with men is necessary to both the individual progress and the transformation of society. The emancipation of women is not only necessary for individual and collective well-being; it is also a prerequisite to world peace.
Education plays a vital role in the empowerment of women. According to the Bahá’í Writing: “… men and women are equal in the sight of God. … The only difference between them now is due to lack of education and training. If [a] woman is given equal opportunity of education, distinction and estimate of inferiority will disappear”.
Implementing gender equality requires a shift in values, outlook and conduct of both men and women, which will ultimately transform the underlying ethos of social institutions, making them more welcoming to women.
The emancipation of women is not only necessary for the future well-being of humanity; it is also a requirement of justice, and it is a prerequisite to world peace. Only when women are welcomed into full partnership with men in all fields, the moral and psychological climate will be created in which peace can emerge and a just and united world civilisation can develop and flourish.
As the Universal House of Justice, the governing council of the Bahá’í international community states: “The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites of peace… 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”.
