Mind the Gap :: Baha'i Perspectives

Mind the Gap

nooshin February 15th, 2008

In the past few weeks I’ve been thinking a lot about woman leaders: I recently watched both a movie and a mini-series on Elizabeth I. And then there is the US presidential elections.

I’ve been thinking about what qualities a successful woman leader should have. There is the conventional wisdom that the most successful have been those that have exhibited mostly masculine qualities, downplaying their feminine side. A column by Nicholas Kristof, for the New York Times, gives an excellent account of recent female political figures. Most interesting for me, though, was a study he quotes which says that women, compared with men, tend to excel in consensus-building and certain other skills useful in leadership. In a statement released in 1983, entitled “Equality of Men and Women: A New Reality“, the Baha’i International Community quotes the following passage from the Baha’i Writings:

The world in the past has been ruled by force and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the scales are already shifting, force is losing its weight, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more properly balanced.

In a recent TIME article, “The Girl Gap“, which looks at the state of education for girls and women in Afghanistan, the authors state that every “social and economic index shows that countries with a higher percentage of women with a high school education also have better overall health, a more functional democracy and increased economic performance”. This closely echoes the words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, published in the “Promulgation of World Peace” (a collection of the talks delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His visit to the United States and Canada in 1912):

That is to say, there must be no difference in the education of male and female in order that womankind may develop equal capacity and importance with man in the social and economic equation. Then the world will attain unity and harmony. In past ages humanity has been defective and inefficient because it has been incomplete. War and its ravages have blighted the world; the education of woman will be a mighty step toward its abolition and ending, for she will use her whole influence against war. Woman rears the child and educates the youth to maturity. She will refuse to give her sons for sacrifice upon the field of battle. In truth, she will be the greatest factor in establishing universal peace and international arbitration. Assuredly, woman will abolish warfare among mankind. Inasmuch as human society consists of two parts, the male and female, each the complement of the other, the happiness and stability of humanity cannot be assured unless both are perfected. Therefore, the standard and status of man and woman must become equalized.