Trust in the capacity of this generation to disentangle itself from the embroilments of a divided society. To discharge your responsibilities, you will have to show forth courage, the courage of those who cling to standards of rectitude, whose lives are characterized by purity of thought and action, and whose purpose is directed by love and indomitable faith. As you dedicate yourselves to healing the wounds with which your peoples have been afflicted, you will become invincible champions of justice.

(The Universal House of Justice, message to the Paraguay Youth Congress, 2000)

Dr. Susan Moody, with Baha'i women and girls in Iran.

When I was in high school, I read a book that left an indelible impression upon my heart.  It was The Diary of Juliet Thompson, an early American Baha’i living in New York City who had the good fortune to have spent time with ‘Abdu’l-Baha in the Holy Land, Europe, and New York.  Juliet was loved dearly by ‘Abdu’l-Baha — He said that she would become the envy of future queens — but she was by no means perfect, and I think that’s why she appealed so much to me.

I read the book again this year, as summer turned to autumn: before going to sleep, my eyelids growing heavy as I tried to catch another chapter; on the city bus, almost missing my stop; at lunch breaks from work, sitting in a garden tucked behind high-rises and not wanting my hour to be up.  One evening, lying on the couch with dinner in one hand and my book in the other, I gazed out the window at the sunset, watching a plane descend at the distance.  I had the great feeling of wanting to sacrifice very much to help bring about a new civilization that Baha’u'llah taught of, borne out of the great love for ‘Abdu’l-Baha that Juliet transmitted through these pages.

And it occurred to me that I had had that very same feeling when reading it as a high schooler.  I wondered what I had sacrificed — it didn’t feel like very much, and it always felt like I had some excuse; that “it’ll come later.”  But later was now, and what could I show of it?

Juliet’s diary did something to me, for as the autumn progressed, I picked books up and couldn’t put them down.  Books of great heroes, who sacrificed and had faith in a cause that would bring a new world long after they had passed away.  One book became two which became four, and before I knew it, I had devoured ten such books, as the fiery leaves that lined my street shriveled to dust, and D.C.’s first silent snow turned to blizzards.

These were stories of women and men in far-flung places (Persia, Bulgaria, Libya, Australia) and those closer to home (New York, Washington, D.C., Berkeley). They were stories of men who risked their very lives by, openly and stealthily, sharing with others Baha’u'llah’s message; and of women sacrificed material comforts to travel, alone, to distant lands, at advanced ages.

There are my favorites: the Western women who, although single — some never married, others widowed — traversed the globe and performed great acts of heroism.

There was Ella Bailey who, at eighty-eight years old, did not let a bad fall and a recent hospitalization prevent her from alighting upon her pioneering post in Tripoli, equipped with an oxygen mask, only to pass away a month after her arrival.  Martha Root, the “archetype of Bahá’í itinerant teachers,” who circled the world twice.  Keith Ransom-Kehler, twice widowed, with her endless trunks packed with couture, sludged through the mud of East Asia.  Susan Moody, who, at the age of fifty-eight, traveled alone to Iran at ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s request to provide healthcare for women, likewise starting the country’s first school for girls.  Marion Jack, sixty-five years old, moved from Canada to Bulgaria, living in a small hotel room through ill-health, freezing temperatures, and the Second World War.

These names — Ella, Keith, Marion, Susan, Martha — echoed in the memory of my formative years, and growing up, I associated those names with, “Well, I could never do what they did.”

But as I read on, what became increasingly apparent was their great heroism despite their human frailties: impatience, feelings of inadequacy, struggling to work in unity with others.  A line I read from the foreward of one of these books summed it up:

As we read about these early Baha’is, we realize that they were in many ways very much like ourselves, for they too had human weaknesses and shortcomings.  Their greatness lay in the quality of their faith in Baha’u'llah and His Message. This was the secret of their victory– despite their shortcomings.

(Gloria Faizi, Fire on the Mountain-top)

I realized any of us could be like them, and that there were a lot more of such people around me — whose lives are yet to be recorded in books — than I had imagined.

As I leave this city which I have occupied intermittently for the past five and half years, for warmer climes — leaving the comfort of plentiful friendships, organic markets, rapid public transportation, and clean sidewalks — off to an unknown destination to follow in their footsteps; in moments of fear of what may lie ahead, I remember these individuals who, ever human, were champions of justice:

Though they themselves would not live to see that day, they were prepared to sacrifice all they had if by doing so they could raise the call to unity, and prove to an unbelieving world that the wolf and the lamb could truly drink from the same stream….

(Gloria Faizi, Fire on the Mountain-top)

Abuse commonly stems from, amongst other things, cultural standards, prior abuse of the now-abuser, insufficient parenting, broken homes or genuine illness. Barring the latter, all indicate just how pivotal education is:

The basis for such [moral] curricula is the belief that every person is a spiritual being with limitless potential for noble action but that potential, in order to manifest, must be consciously cultivated through a curriculum attuned to this fundamental human dimension.

Among the moral capabilities identified by Bahá’í­ educational institutions include the ability to:

• participate effectively in non-adversarial collective decision-making

• act with rectitude of conduct based on ethical and moral principles

• cultivate one’s sense of dignity and self-worth

• create a vision of a desired future based on shared values and principles, and to inspire others to work for its fulfillment

• understand relationships based on dominance and to contribute towards their transformation into relationships based on reciprocity and service.

In this way, the curriculum seeks to develop the individual as a whole integrating the spiritual and the material, the theoretical and the practical and the sense of individual progress with service to the community.

Such capabilities can be taught in schools but will not be effective unless they take root in family and community:

…it is the family environment in which children grow and form views about themselves, the world and the purpose of life. To the degree that a family fails to meet the fundamental needs of the children, to that same degree will society be burdened with the consequences of neglect and abuse and will suffer greatly from the resulting conditions of apathy and violence.

In the family, the child learns about the nature of power and its expression in interpersonal relationships; it is here that she first learns to accept or reject authoritarian rule and violence as a means of expression and conflict resolution. In this environment, the widespread violence committed by men against women and girls constitutes an assault on the foundational unit of the community and the nation.

Religion has historically been the primary contributor of the values espoused in most of the world, yet, today, it is voices arising in the name of religion that are obstacles to the eradication of abuse and violent behaviour:

Using religious appeals as a vehicle for their own power, proponents of extremist religious interpretations have sought to tame’ women and girls by limiting their mobility outside of the home, limiting their access to education, subjecting their bodies to harmful traditional practices, controlling attire and even killing to punish acts which were claimed to abase the family honor. It is religion itself that stands in desperate need of renewal.

A core element of such renewal is the need for religious leaders to state unequivocally and become the standard bearers of the principle of equality of men and women, a moral and practical principle urgently needed to realize progress in the social, political and economic spheres of society. Today, religious practices and doctrines in flagrant violation of international human rights standards must be subject to deeper examination and scrutiny, bearing in mind that all religions contain the voices of women, which have often been absent from the evolving definition of what religion is and what it requires.

Who is responsible for the protection of women? The highest, most influential (in terms of enforcement) body of power available to us is the State:

…the State has the duty and responsibility to protect the individual. It is at this level that enlightened leadership is desperately required. Many governments continue to hide behind cultural and religious reservations to international treaties, perpetuating a climate of legal and moral impunity and rendering this kind of violence and its victims invisible.

Ultimately, however, how can a self-sustaining solution to common plagues such as abuse be found? Progress is iterative. As each generation embraces, more and more, the idea that education is the sturdy foundation that can stabilize society’s shaky core, the closer will be the goal of eradicating societal ills.

Quotations extracted from separate statements located here and here at www.bic.org

In the aftermath of the genocide, a new constitution was adopted, one that ensured that at least 30% of the members of parliament would be female. Billions of dollars from donors and investors have been flowing into the country. There has been steady economic growth driven by a growth in rural agriculture and skills development, as well as improvements in clean water access and primary health care. And, while serious problems remain — such as the growing divide between rich and poor — it is surely heartening to see such significant improvements in such a short span of time.

And now a little piece of history has been made – a news story which very nearly slipped under the radar (hardly surprising with all the coverage of collapsing banks and looming elections). Just over a week ago, Rwanda became the first country ever to have a majority of women in parliament, with at least 55% of MP positions going to women.

Why might this be regarded as historic? Well, let’s start with the words of Bellancilla Nyonawankusi, a Rwandan election official, as quoted on News24:

All Rwandans have a role to play in the reconciliation, but women can do it better than men… They are the ones who were the first to be affected by the genocide and they are the ones who are bringing up the children.

This critical connection between war, motherhood and the raising of children was emphasized in a moving passage from Abdu’l-Baha, while He travelled the Western world expounding the teachings of the Baha’i Faith. It was part of a talk delivered to a Women’s Suffrage gathering in New York, in 1912:

The most momentous question of this day is international peace and arbitration, and universal peace is impossible without universal suffrage. Children are educated by the women. The mother bears the troubles and anxieties of rearing the child, undergoes the ordeal of its birth and training. Therefore, it is most difficult for mothers to send to the battlefield those upon whom they have lavished such love and care. Consider a son reared and trained twenty years by a devoted mother. What sleepless nights and restless, anxious days she has spent! Having brought him through dangers and difficulties to the age of maturity, how agonizing then to sacrifice him upon the battlefield! Therefore, the mothers will not sanction war nor be satisfied with it. 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; for woman will be the obstacle and hindrance to it. This is true and without doubt.

(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 134)

It is clear that the world is still playing catch-up to these words, and women everywhere continue to struggle for an equal voice in the decision-making arena.  But how poignant it is that a small, mountainous country in East Africa — which has endured so much recent agony — should suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, be showing us the way.

I have a plan: I want to buy a sewing-machine and earn my own living. I want to teach my brothers to read, and then I want to continue studying all the subjects we have studied here.

These are the words of a 25-year old woman from the village Siswala in India, as she is leaving the Barli Institute after completing a six-month program. Born and raised in one of the poorest areas of India, where education and training of women is almost inconceivable, her time at the Barli Institue has clearly changed the direction of her life.

Since 1985, the Barli Institute of Development for Rural Women, situated in the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India, has changed the lives of thousands of women from poor villages by teaching them to read and write, handicrafts, hygiene and personal development. Returning to their villages, they have been able to contribute to the economy of the household, take better care of the children and home and become supporting “pillars” in their families, as well as the whole village. This is where the name of the institute comes from; Barli means pillar.

The project is supported by the Baha’i Community in cooperation with the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). It was founded by Mrs. Janak McGilligan, who at the time was a young woman with a degree in social sciences from Punjab University. She has since then been running the Institute as its director together with her husband, Mr James McGilligan.

The vital question of education of women — far from being a matter of course in some parts of the world -– is indispensible for the advancement of civilization. Abdu’l-Bahá, in expounding the principle of equality of the sexes, tells us:

Daughters and sons must follow the same curriculum of study, thereby promoting unity of the sexes. When all mankind shall receive the same opportunity of education and the equality of men and women be realized, the foundations of war will be utterly destroyed. Without equality this will be impossible because all differences and distinction are conducive to discord and strife. Equality between men and women is conducive to the abolition of warfare for the reason that women will never be willing to sanction it… There is no doubt that when women obtain equality of rights, war will entirely cease among mankind.

Applying this universal principle to the poor villages of central India is the purpose of the Barli-institute. Supporting the economy, participating in the decision-making processes of their villages and passing on the knowledge gained to their children are some of the many ways that the participants contribute to development.

By giving women an education, they are given the key to independence and influence — they are given the possiblity to have a plan.

Such a commemoration has, as one of it’s aims, the promotion a more balanced civilization, following a past in which man has “dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind“; this being a product of physical difference. Although physically distinct, our spiritual identities are equal; a soul has no gender:

In the Divine Creation there is no such distinction. Neither sex is superior to the other in the sight of God. Why then should one sex assert the inferiority of the other, withholding just rights and privileges as though God had given His authority for such a course of action?

(Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 160)

I found this very nice short video, which illustrates how one African village is putting these ideas into practice. The interview is with Chief Ntambo:

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.