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92: "...there is a much wider sphere of relationships between men and women than in..."
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...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 Bahá'í 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 Bahá'u'lláh 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-Bahá has
stated:
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In the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh, 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....
[1]
and again:
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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)
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In the Tablet of the World, Bahá'u'lláh Himself has envisaged that women as
well as men would be breadwinners in stating:
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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.
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("Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas", p. 90)
(28 December 1980 to the National Spiritual Assembly of New Zealand)
[92]
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