Bahá'í Faith and gender equality
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The Bahá'í Faith teaches and emphasizes sexual equality.
- There must be an equality of rights between men and women. Women shall receive an equal privilege of education. This will enable them to qualify and progress in all degrees of occupation and accomplishment. For the world of humanity possesses two wings: man and woman. If one wing remains incapable and defective, it will restrict the power of the other, and full flight becomes impossible.
- `Abdu'l-Bahá, Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 318.
The Bahá'í faith's endorsement of feminism takes the following additional forms:
- Celebration of saintly or heroic female figures such as Táhirih, Navvab, Queen Marie, Bahiyih Khanum, Martha Root, Lidia Zamenhof, and many others.
- Prescription of various social reforms which tend to favor women. Many concern marriage law (e.g. the requirement of monogamy). Others seek to lessen the rigidity of gender roles, encouraging women to enter various occupations and leadership positions.
- Long-term, good-faith attempts to raise the consciousness of both male and female Bahá'ís on the importance of this issue.
- Social initiatives aimed at improving the lives of women in a practical way. Examples include Third World health or literacy projects.
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Criticism
Exclusion from the Universal House of Justice
A commonly mentioned critique of the Bahá'í Faith is the fact that the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá'í Faith, is made up exclusively of nine male members. This is pointed to as a form of hypocrisy.
Shoghi Effendi, interpreting Bahá'u'lláh's references to the "men of the House of Justice", clarified this to mean males exclusively, adding that the reasons for this will one day become known. Bahá'ís speculate why this has not yet occurred.
The Bahá'í faith's endorsement of gender equality does not mean that men and women should never be differentiated. Men and women are considered different both biologically and socially.
Some provisions of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas favor women over men. A well-known example is a parent's obligation to make a daughter's education a higher priority than a sons's education when resources do not permit education for all, because women are the educators of the next generation. Bahá'ís take it on faith that other gender-specific legislation has purpose.
Inheritance and marriage law
Women receive less inheritance according to Bahá'ís law on intestacy. Also, a dowry is required for the bride upon being married per Bahá'í law. These are also pointed to contradictory treatment of male and female sexual equality.
Males traditionally have had more obligations to support their family due to a woman's childbearing resonsibility. Bahá'ís are strongly encouraged not to rely on this generic intestate will (or the equivalents from their local legal systems), but to write a will themselves which best fits the situation of their heirs.
The equality of the rights and privileges of both sexes does not mean that they are the same. The dowry and inheritance laws are examples of where a gender is favored.
Feminism
The Bahá'í Faith's emphasis on male-female equality reflects an older feminist paradigm. Feminism has moved beyond that, to a female superiority.
The Bahá'í Faith actively promotes a number of programs with the aim of greater access for women to health, education, child-care, and business opportunities, for example in India and South America.
Bahá'ís teach that a spiritual solution is ultimately necessary for problems like these to find lasting solutions. The faith aims to educate both men and women in this regard.
