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The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Primary Health Care and the Empowerment of Women

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Primary Health Care and the Empowerment of Women

Chapter 2 of the "The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs" By Ethel G. Martens

Beijing, China—26 August 1995
The happiness of mankind will be realized when men and women coordinate and advance equally, for each is the complement and helpmeet of the other. --'Abdu'l-Baha

The task of saving the lives of millions of women and female children throughout the world, who die every year from easily prevented illnesses, is daunting. The outrage provoked by so many needless deaths, however, can now be tempered by hope because demands for better health care and improved quality of life for all females are being voiced by communities, health personnel, researchers and policy makers.

In all societies economic policies, such as those that enslave women in low-wage jobs under dangerous conditions, and development strategies, like those that take land out of subsistence farming and put it into cash crops, have a profound effect on the health status of women and their families. Mothers, many of whom are single heads of households, are burdened not only with economic problems but also with the consequences of civil conflict and environmental degradation. They are often ignored by male-dominated health and social services delivery systems or denied equal access to services.

Even within the family disparities exist because of social and cultural bias. For example, preference for the son can lead to the daughter's being given less food. The girl child is also expected to do more work and has less access to education and medical care than the boy. Consequently girls are often ill-prepared to marry and bear children, which they do before they are physically, psychologically and financially equipped to take on the responsibility. Often premature marriage begins a vicious cycle of malnutrition, where underweight mothers have underweight babies who are at risk of suffering from nutritional and educational deprivations. The problems facing women and girl children need, then, to be tackled at all levels: in the family, in the community, and in society at large.

World Health Organization (WHO)

The United Nations agency responsible for international health is the World Health Organization (WHO), which was founded in 1948 and now has more than 170 member countries. The WHO constitution defines health as "a state of physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Many organizations are now adding to this definition a fourth dimension of health - spiritual well being. The next challenge for WHO is to recognize that a major obstacle to enjoying the right to health is being born female. The WHO constitution states: "The enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental rights of every human being without distinction of race, religion, political belief, economic and social condition." Gender needs to be added to this list.

Improving health throughout the world is a gigantic task requiring global cooperation. To facilitate this cooperation, WHO established an annual two-week meeting in Geneva. During this World Health Assembly, representatives of member countries meet to exchange information, share experiences, consult about health issues, and devise global strategies. Due in part to these yearly consultations, WHO's understanding of how best to promote health throughout the world has continued to evolve.

During the first three decades, WHO made little progress toward its goal of a healthier world. In 1977 the Director General of WHO called for a new strategy, acknowledging that although the health care strategies of the industrialized world - that of big hospitals, drugs and curative medicine - had been exported to the developing countries for thirty years, the health of the world had not improved. In fact, it had worsened.

That year the World Health Assembly resolved that by the end of this century people everywhere should have access to health services enabling them to lead socially and economically productive lives. This goal is known as "Health for all by the year 2000" (HFA/2000).

Primary Health Care (PHC)

The strategy for achieving the goal of "Health for All" emerged in 1978 at an historic conference in Alma-Ata in the former Soviet Union. The conference was sponsored by the United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF) and WHO. Prior to the Alma-Ata Conference, WHO had identified eight components common to nine successful health programs. The code words "Primary Health Care" (PHC) were selected to describe the following eight components in combination:

  • education about common health problems and what can be done to prevent and control them;
  • maternal and child health care, including family planning;
  • promotion of proper nutrition;
  • immunization against major infectious diseases;
  • an adequate supply of safe water;
  • basic sanitation;
  • prevention and control of locally endemic diseases; and
  • appropriate treatment for common diseases and injuries.

Primary health care (PHC) stresses prevention rather than cure. It relies on home self-help, community participation, and technology that the people find acceptable, appropriate, and affordable. It combines modern, scientific knowledge and feasible health technology with acceptable, effective traditional healing practices. Of special importance for women is that the effectiveness of PHC depends very much upon community acceptance of the primary health care workers, most of whom are women and who, in most cases, are recruited from and selected with the participation of the community.

Other basic concepts drawn from the study were summarized as follows:

  • Primary health care should be shaped around the life patterns of the population.
  • It should both meet the needs of the local community and be an integral part of the national health care system.
  • Preventive, promotional, and rehabilitative services for the individual, family and community need to be integrated.
  • The majority of health interventions should be undertaken as close to the community as possible by suitably trained workers.
  • The balance among these services should vary according to the community needs and may well change over time.
  • The local population should be involved in the formulation and implementation of health care activities.
  • Decisions about the community's needs and solutions to its problems should be based on a continuing dialogue between the people and the health professionals who serve them.

These concepts were not new, but it was not until 1977 that they were put together as a comprehensive strategy. Furthermore, based on qualitative results from countries where the principles had been applied and found effective, primary health care was put forward at Alma-Ata not as one alternative but as possibly the only alternative, and the world's top health authorities agreed. They adopted primary health care (PHC) as the strategy most likely to meet the health needs of the majority of the world's population.

Thus at Alma-Ata previously accepted approaches to medicine were figuratively turned on their head. Curative medicine would in the future take second place to prevention. Representatives from all countries in attendance signed the "Declaration of Alma-Ata" and pledged to return home to start channeling funds to primary health care and to shift from central control toward regional and district control. These were drastic changes that, if implemented, would begin to empower people to take charge of their own health care. Such a dramatic shift in thinking and action, however, would require something that was not always forthcoming: political will.

An evaluation conducted in 1983 demonstrated that, even where the political will was present, those responsible for a nation's physical, mental and social well-being did not have sufficient spending power to make significant improvements without assistance. Therefore, in 1985 WHO invited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help governments achieve the goals of Alma-Ata. Many responded, primarily, by cooperating with national governments in the training of primary health care workers selected from their communities.

In 1989 in partnership with many NGOs, Facts for Life, a booklet published by UNICEF, WHO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Fund for Population Assistance (UNFPA), brought together vital information on child and family health that they determined every family in the world had a right to know. It was thoroughly revised in 1993 in light of the most recent research, and now 8 million copies in over 175 languages are being used in more than 100 countries. Facts for Life has become the basis for health education efforts by national health services, for NGO programs in PHC, and for adult literacy classes.

Facts for Life states that the multiple burdens of womanhood are too great. However, male and female roles in many cultures are deeply rooted in tradition and are often perpetuated by the attitudes of both women and men. If these roles are to change, women and men must both agree that change is desirable, and then they must decide together how responsibilities can be redistributed. The importance of consultation on this topic was highlighted by several male health professionals who were interviewed after a medical conference in Tanzania, where the need for men to be more involved in protecting the health of their children was emphasized. "When we try to do this," they said, "our wives think we want to interfere with their work."

Since Alma-Ata, PHC has both enjoyed solid progress and suffered serious setbacks, but where it has been implemented it has brought important benefits to women. Because primary health care relies heavily on the contributions of women, particularly in the area of health education, it raises their self-esteem and empowers them to serve their communities in a number of ways:

  • by improving women's health and the health of their families;
  • by training women both as care givers and as health educators;
  • by placing them in positions of responsibility; and
  • by encouraging individual initiative.

The following examples, drawn from experiences with PHC in Africa and India, illustrate how women are being empowered to participate more confidently in shaping the lives of their communities.

Primary Health Care Examples in Africa

Primary health care relies heavily on the contributions of women. It has been said that the real village health workers are the traditional birth attendants (TBAs). "We do it simple," said a seasoned TBA. "We deliver, we wash the woman and baby, we make our joy cries and we go home." Both trained and untrained TBAs agree that ignorance is dangerous. For every mother or infant who dies during child birth, many more who survive are maimed physically and mentally. "These tragedies are largely preventable," says WHO. By providing TBAs with access to primary health care facilities and training, by providing mothers with prenatal care, and by promoting simple hygiene measures, PHC programs have helped reduce high rates of maternal and child mortality and birth-related diseases.

It may take time for someone who has never taken an active role in community work to begin to take on responsibility, but the results can be well worth the wait. The story was told of one woman who was a slow starter. It was six months after her return from training before she began to reach out to the community. Later at a meeting in her community, government officials (from the agriculture and education sectors) sang her praises, saying how much they had learned from her and wondering aloud why women had not been trained to be agricultural or educational workers, as these were also needed to help the community progress.

Small investments in health education for women pay big dividends. A woman health worker attending a refresher course brought a bag of carrots to the coordinator. She said, "You suggested that we all have kitchen gardens to help feed our families. After training I obtained seeds from the department of agriculture and planted a kitchen garden. I also had a separate plot of carrots and sold them in the market to pay for my son's school fees." (It is hoped that when her daughter reaches school age she will do the same for her.)

Health workers are highly valued members of their communities. "Before I was trained as a health worker," one woman said, "nobody paid any attention to me, but now they listen when I tell them what I learned. We all work together. Now I am a somebody!"

Primary Health Care Examples in India

For many village women, PHC offers their first opportunity ever to be educated. A facilitator held a ten-day program on PHC for women from nearby villages. Although it was harvest time, approximately 30 women attended every day. Most were illiterate. One woman said, "I wouldn't miss one day of this. When I was a young girl my mother couldn't afford to send me to school. Now, I am receiving an education!"

Primary health care discussions bring women into the process of both making and implementing decisions that affect the community. In a mountain village a PHC worker facilitated an evening meeting on community development. On a raised platform in a house shared by oxen, the discussion took place, with men on one side of the room and women on the other. At first the discussion was dominated by men. Then one old woman asked, "Do we have to wait another fourteen years to get a cover on our well"? Evidently, fourteen years earlier some agency had given money for piping the water down the mountain to a holding tank, but the money ran out before the tank was covered. The women pointed out that dirt from birds flying over was getting into the water and babies were getting sick. After a fruitful discussion in which both the men and the women participated, the community decided to raise money for the cover during a religious celebration. The women said they would help, but asked what would happen if they couldn't raise enough money. They were told of a service club in the nearby town that wanted to help any village making an effort in development. A year later the village had a completely new water system in place.

Alcohol abuse is a major health problem in communities all over the world. These same women took bold collective action to stop liquor vendors coming to the village. The chief had closed the roads to the vendors, but the men were meeting them in the early morning in a corn field. One morning as the vendors approached, the women hiding in the fields rose up with a cry, brandishing their harvesting knives. The vendors fled in terror.

Conclusion

Primary health care is not only making a difference on the local level, it is having an impact on health planning at the national and international levels. In 1986, a crucial step was taken toward raising the profile and the importance of national health planning. During the 39th World Health Assembly in Geneva, three days of Technical discussions on the role of intersectoral cooperation in national strategies for Health for All were held. Among the more than five hundred people participating were thirty-six government ministers and high-level decision makers from areas of critical importance to health, including equity and health; agriculture, food and nutrition; education, culture, information and life patterns; and environment - water and sanitation, habitat and industry. Broadening participation in discussions of national health policy was a major breakthrough.

The signs of change are building up, global in scope, extending across all sectors and levels. Many of these changes are directly linked to health, while others have powerful potential effects on both health and health care. Primary health care needs to be adapted to varying circumstances at local and national levels. Any country that establishes a solid basis for PHC both provides for the needs of its most vulnerable and needy populations and, at the same time, empowers its most neglected resource - women.

Ethel G. Martens has been involved in the field of Primary Health Care for nearly forty years. She received her M.P.H. in education in 1957 from the University of California, Berkeley and her Ph.D. in social preventative medicine in 1973 from the University of Saskatchewan. She has worked in the past with the Canadian International Development Agency, US/AID, the World Health Organization, Health and Welfare Canada, and is presently the President of the Board of Directors of IntraDelta Management Consultant International. Dr. Martens has published numerous papers in national and international journals on health education, primary health care, communications and community development. Dr. Martens helped establish the Baha'i International Health Agency and has served as a consultant in primary health care to the Baha'i International Community.

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: UNIFEM/Baha'i Project Raises Community Consciousness

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: UNIFEM/Baha'i Project Raises Community Consciousness

Chapter 6 of the "The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs" This article appeared in the October-December 1993 issue of "One Country" By involving men in women's problems and using traditional media to communicate the results, grassroots changes are effected

Beijing, China—26 August 1995

As theater, the skits performed here in the village square on market day last July by the residents of this small West African village were among the most basic of productions.

Consider the simple plot featured in one short play, written by the villagers themselves: After selling his crops, a peanut farmer hides the money from his wife and goes to a bar, where he buys drinks for all of his friends and then spends the rest on a woman.

When he comes home, his wife berates him for his excesses. Then his son falls deathly sick -- but there is no more money for medicine. Fortunately, a compassionate doctor donates the needed drugs. In the end, the farmer realizes the error of his ways and resolves in the future to consult with his wife before spending their profits.

Despite the simplicity of the theme, the unprofessional acting and the absence of costumes or sets, this play and others like it have nevertheless been big hits in this remote and underdeveloped province.

Among the fruits of a two-year, three-country pilot project by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and the Baha'i­ International Community, the plays depict situations that are familiar to the men and women here, striking a responsive chord.

The project aims to stimulate improved social and economic development in the entire community by first uplifting the status of women through the use of traditional media presentations, such as theater, songs, and dances.

"There are many messages in this one simple skit," said Mona Grieser, the international technical director of the project. "There are messages about the responsibility of fatherhood, the importance of money management, and of family partnership. But most important, there were a lot of men in the audience. And it is men primarily that we hope to reach."

Although the UNIFEM/Baha'i­ experiment, which is entitled "Traditional Media as Change Agent," is distinctive for its integration of well-respected ideas about development communication with the promotion of women's equality, its most distinguishing characteristic is the degree to which it strives to involve both women and men in the process.

"What is ground-breaking about this project is that it is set up to involve men," said Pamela Brooke, an independent development communications consultant who was contracted to provide technical assistance to the project in Malaysia.

"Many projects for women involve just women, but it was the feeling of the Baha'i­s that change could be better fostered through a consultative process between women and men," said Ms. Brooke. "Because if you just end up with angry women sitting in the corner, it isn't going to change anything."

With funding provided by UNIFEM, the project has been undertaken simultaneously in Cameroon, Bolivia and Malaysia, where well-developed national and local Baha'i­ communities have provided on-the-ground resources and a network of motivated volunteers.

Signs of Success

The project seeks primarily to change attitudes. And even though attitudes, unlike efforts to provide concrete products like improved agricultural production or better vaccination rates, are hard to measure, there is nevertheless impressive evidence of success -- both in anecdotal and statistical terms.

Here in the Eastern Province of Cameroon, where the project has operated in seven villages, the men have begun to join women in the fields, they are consulting more with them about family finances, and they are allowing them a greater participation in community decision-making, according to surveys and outsiders who have visited the area.

"There is change," said Madeline Eyidi, senior program assistant at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in Yaounde, Cameroon, who spent a week in the project area last summer. "The women have traditionally done the farming, but I saw the men starting to participate. They are helping the women. I think the project is wonderful."

According to Tiati ï a Zock, the national coordinator of the project in Cameroon, a survey done in early 1992 among some 45 families in each of the seven villages reported that the men made virtually all of the financial decisions alone. A follow-up survey, taken in 1993, indicated more than 80 percent of the families now make such decisions in consultation between husband and wife. Another telling statistic: in Badan, the number of girls being sent to the village school has increased by 82 percent since the project started.

In Bolivia, the project is now underway in eight villages in the southern central province of Chuquisaca. In the village of Poqonchi, where the project has been going the longest, comments made in focus group discussions indicate that women are now participating more in community decision-making, are more willing to express their desire for education, and are receiving from men more help with their daily chores.

In addition, a woman was recently elected to the Poqonchi sindicato, a local political council. She is the first woman ever elected to the sindicato there and shortly after she was elected, the council passed a resolution urging greater attention to the concerns of women.

In Malaysia, where the project has operated in two villages and an urban community, there are also concrete signs that women are becoming increasingly involved in community decision-making and organization. (Indeed, in all three areas, the number of women elected to local Baha'i­ governing councils has increased since the project began.)

The biggest changes have come in Kampong Remun, a small and remote village in Sarawak, where the project has stimulated a variety of spin-offs. Using the project's methods for identifying community problems, the villagers there have started a vegetable garden, built new latrines, and established adult literacy classes, which are designed primarily for the women but are open to men.

All three efforts emerged from a consultative process that included men and women, said Joo Jong Kung, the national project coordinator for Malaysia. "In the village community, you seldom get the men communicating and consulting together with the women, but the project gave the women an opportunity to bring up the problems they faced," said Ms. Kung.

The importance of including women in any development effort is, of course, being increasingly recognized around the world. Numerous studies and statistical indicators show that as women become more healthy, more educated, and more involved, the well-being of the entire family improves.

"We believe that as women in the developing world secure economic and social advancement and equality, everyone will benefit," said Marjorie Thorpe, the deputy director of UNIFEM. "It won't only improve the quality of life for women, but it will improve the quality of life for men, women, children, everyone."

A Distinctive Approach

The project takes a multi-faceted approach toward achieving this goal. While various elements of the project, such as the use of traditional media to communicate new ideas, have been tried before, the project is distinctive for its integration of ideas drawn from a wide range of sources -- sources that include the Baha'i­ teachings.

In essence, the project is built around the following components:

  • It seeks to involve the people directly in analyzing their own problems, by first training them in the use of modern analytic tools like focus groups and community surveys, as well as in Baha'i­ consultation;
  • It then gives direction to that analysis by stressing the importance of a positive moral principle, in this case the equality of women and men;
  • It seeks finally to promote change in the community by communicating the results of that analysis through traditional media, such as theater, songs, and dance, which are relatively non-threatening.

"The project," said Ms. Thorpe of UNIFEM, "starts with the premise that traditional media in non-literate societies -- actors, dancers, puppeteers, ringmasters, singers -- the message that they communicate is taken very seriously by the community and, therefore, if the message delivered could be one that enhances the status of women, then it will be an opportunity to begin a dialogue with the entire community -- but in a manner that is non-threatening."

Although the effort is organized by the Baha'i­ communities in each area, it seeks to promote change in the attitudes of the entire population. "One of the advantages of working with the Baha'i­s is that they have very strong links with the grassroots," said Ms. Thorpe, explaining why UNIFEM chose to fund the project. "It is not an organization that is elitist. And because there are grassroots members of the Baha'i­ movement, because the organization has a history of working at the grassroots, they provided a very effective, very useful link for us."

In general, Baha'i­ communities are not isolated from the society around them; instead they are well integrated into the community at large. In the sites for the project, the percentage of Baha'i­s among the population range from less than one percent to about 10 percent.

The Process

In each country, the project began with training sessions at the national level to help local Baha'i­ volunteers build on their own experiences in community-building.

First came a refresher course on the principles of consultation, a distinctive method of non-adversarial decision-making used by Baha'i­ communities at all levels.

"Training in Baha'i­ consultation helps teach respect for the opinions of others, and that is very important to women," said Lee Lee Ludher, a development consultant in Malaysia, "because many women feel that their opinion is not important."

Volunteers were also given training in modern data gathering techniques, specifically in participatory surveys and the use of focus groups as a means for identifying community needs. Training in assessment, record-keeping and organization were also given.

The newly trained volunteers were then sent back to their communities, where they organized similar training sessions at the local level.

The result was the creation of a core group of project volunteers in each village. This core group was usually built around the members of the local Baha'i­ governing council, which is known as the local Spiritual Assembly. A locally elected body charged with overseeing the welfare of the community, Spiritual Assemblies have provided a ready-made body for the task of analyzing the community's needs and then consulting about a course of action.

After local training sessions, project volunteers went out to interview members of the community at large about their concerns. Video and Polaroid instant cameras were used in some cases during this data collection phase, since not every volunteer was literate.

In each country, the analysis was concentrated on how the women's equality (or the lack of it) related to local problems.

"One of the very simple diagnostic tools that was useful in helping these communities to analyze themselves was to ask that they list all of the daily tasks of the average woman in the area," said Dr. Richard Grieser, who was one of the initial trainers in Cameroon. Dr. Grieser is married to Mona Grieser and worked with his wife on most phases of the project.

"Then we asked them to list the daily tasks of the average man," Dr. Grieser said. "And the difference in the work load was always so striking. In fact, the men often got very embarrassed, because the list was never even half as long as that of the women."

Once the local problems had been identified, the community was asked to translate its conclusions into locally appropriate media, such as songs, dances, stories and plays. Local artists and performers were also encouraged to assist. These stories, plays, songs and dances were then presented to the larger community at various festivals, in special evening programs, and other gatherings.

The Same Problems Worldwide

The same basic problems were identified by participants early in the project at all three sites. Project participants, after consulting about the needs of their communities, gave the highest priority to addressing three basic problems: 1) illiteracy among women; 2) the mismanagement of family funds by men; and 3) the unfair burden of work on women.

"The people themselves, they are realizing not only that women have rights in society, but that they have important things to offer," said Mr. Tiati of Cameroon. "For example, many men now recognize that the woman has the ability to manage money, much better than men, who frequently spend too much on alcohol. And so one of the results of the project is that in most of the families that are involved, the woman is now taking custody of the money or at least they are consulting about how the money is spent."

In Malaysia, similar problems were found. "One of the big problems that has been highlighted in Malaysia is the lack of education and opportunity for girls and women," said Ms. Ludher of Malaysia. "But since the issues have been highlighted in a non-threatening way, people now realize that this is a problem."

In Bolivia, also, unequal education and work emerged as issues in the focus discussion groups there.

The Next Phase

The idea for the project emerged from a statement by the Baha'i­ International Community to the 32nd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. The statement addressed the need to change attitudes that reinforce acceptance of women's inequality and said that "a primary target for communication related to development projects for women may well be men."

Impressed by that idea, Ms. Margaret Snyder, then director of UNIFEM, approached the Baha'i­ International Community about doing a joint project. After some three years of conceptual work, the project was initiated in October 1991. It completed its first phase in September 1993.

UNIFEM's total grant to the Baha'i­ International Community for this initial phase of the project was for US$205,000 a relatively small amount in the world of development funding, considering that the project had sites in three countries and ran for a period of two years.

The Community hopes not only to continue the project, but to expand it to other sites.

"Interest has been expressed already by participating Baha'i­ communities in taking the project into another phase," said Mary Power, director of the Baha'i­ International Community's Office for the Advancement of Women, which is administering the project at the international level. "These communities now have a cadre of trained Baha'i­ consultants who can be drawn upon in their home countries, and who can be used as technical resources for other countries as well."

Indeed, the Baha'i­ communities of Nigeria and Brazil launched their own pilot "Traditional Media as Change Agent" projects in concert with the UNIFEM funded effort. In addition, local Baha'i­ communities in Malaysia, seeing the success of their neighbors, have recently started up their own media-based projects on the advancement of women.

The world in the past has been ruled by force... But the balance is 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. -- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Baha'i Law and Principle: Creating Legal and Institutional Structures for Gender Equality

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Baha'i Law and Principle: Creating Legal and Institutional Structures for Gender Equality

Chapter 5 of the "The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs" By Martha L. Schweitz

Beijing, China—26 August 1995
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. -- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

The intent of this brief essay is to demonstrate, from a Baha'i­ perspective and drawing on the insights of recent feminist legal critique, the depth and breadth of legal and institutional change demanded by the principle of equality, and to indicate, in most summary fashion, the nature of such change as prescribed in the Baha'i­ writings. Religion has always operated as a source of guidance at the level of individual morality. The Baha'i­ writings extend as well to the collective life of humankind, ordaining laws, principles and institutional processes on which to build social and economic structures for gender equality, structures which can only undermine and eventually replace current patterns of subordination.

Reforming laws and legal systems is one vital avenue in achieving equality. In the Platform for Action, strategies for each of the critical areas of concern depend at least in part on enacting and enforcing laws at the national level and on reorienting institutions of government. As has been said repeatedly, however, such changes can only be effective if they occur in tandem with the evolution of personal and social values and attitudes.

Legal and institutional change can be both cause and effect. Laws and institutions change as the result of new attitudes influential enough to muster the necessary legislative vote. In reverse, such change is also strongly conducive to further evolution in attitudes, both through actually enforcing new standards of behavior and through a gradual process of altering social expectations. Laws and institutions which remain unchanged in the face of new social realities have a similar effect, but working instead in the negative direction of supporting an outdated status quo and those who wish to retard change.

Many of the legal reforms necessary to achieve equality are technically simple. For example, laws protecting the civil and political rights of women and prescribing remedies for their infringement are not particularly difficult to draft or apply, given the political will to do so. In some countries, the process of legal reform along these lines has proceeded a great distance in recent times. Women and men are guaranteed equal civil and political rights as well as equality of opportunity in education and employment, under laws which, by and large, are enforceable and enforced. While not yet completely effective, this reform nevertheless has produced societies in which women enjoy a degree of choice and control over their lives unimaginable elsewhere. Despite such advances, it is apparent that equal opportunity is not sufficient. As most women (and an increasing number of men) in such "advanced" societies will attest, women remain, in so many aspects of family and social life, a subordinate class. Recent feminist legal scholars have begun to explain why this is so. They are identifying the need for more complex legal and institutional change, reforms which alter the fundamental assumptions and preferences which underlie our laws and governing institutions. We will return to this theme shortly.

One of the essential principles of the Baha'i­ Faith is equality of the sexes. As explained in this volume's introduction, the Baha'i­ system of values categorically upholds the principle of the equality of women and men in all areas of human endeavor. The Baha'i­ writings envision future societies in which women are participating "fully and equally in the affairs of the world,"1 as the "peers of men."2 Moreover, when this occurs, "when they [women] enter confidently and capably the great arena of laws and politics, war will cease."3

At the same time, it is evident in the Baha'i­ writings that equality does not imply sameness, that "equality of status does not mean identity of function." 4 Most notably, great honor and nobility are conferred on the role of motherhood. Mothers have the unique privilege of being the "first educators, the first mentors"5 of their children. "O ye loving mothers, know ye that in God's sight, the best of all ways to worship Him is to educate the children and train them in all the perfections of humankind; and no nobler deed than this can be imagined."6 If and when a woman is fully occupied with raising children, the husband has corresponding responsibilities for financial support of the family. 7 However, the father also shares the responsibility for educating his children, a responsibility so weighty that one who fails to exercise it forfeits his rights of fatherhood. 8 Roles and the allocation of responsibilities are not fixed in the Baha'i­ writings; all such decisions in a Baha'i­ family are to be made through family consultation, 9 a process based on explicit principles of frankness and mutual respect. Neither husband nor wife is permitted to "unjustly dominate" the other. 10

The exaltation of motherhood gives rise to two problems in relation to equality, one highly subjective and the other a matter of implementation.

The subjective problem is that reverence and protection for motherhood has often be used as justification for keeping women socially and economically disadvantaged. Deference to woman's "natural and proper timidity and delicacy" and to her "paramount destiny and mission . . . to fulfil the noble and benign offices of wife and mother" 11 has led not to placing women on a pedestal but rather in a cage. Moreover, history and experience have convinced many that any distinction in treatment between men and women is a badge of female inferiority - as indeed it has been. On the other hand, there are societies in which women have faced the opposite problem. In Czechoslovakia two generations of women were required by the state to work long hours each day and to put their children in state-run group homes, a practice which many there now conclude has had serious detrimental psychological effects on those children. 12 As a result, women there now prize most dearly the right not to work and the opportunity to raise their own children. Finding the path to equality would seem to require that we learn from the vast experience of women worldwide and refuse to be constrained or prejudiced by one perspective alone.

The second problem presented by the exaltation of motherhood in the context of equality is how it is to be implemented. Although there is no inherent logical inconsistency in women both being mothers and participating "fully and equally in the affairs of the world," and an average life span should allow ample time for both, it is more often than not a practical impossibility. The incompatibility of motherhood (or parenthood generally, for that matter) and participating fully in the affairs of the world arises rather from the nature of economic and social systems, laws and business practices, radically different as they are in various societies, but nearly all seemingly tailor made to enforce a permanent division of labor between those who care for children and tend to homes and those who produce income in the formal economy and have a voice in public affairs. Much of the recent advancement of women in the work world has been achieved in spite of such obstacles, but often at great personal cost to the women themselves. How can these "two lives" of women be reconciled? The unwavering insistence in the Baha'i­ writings on both indicates that it must be possible.

Here we may return to the insights of feminist legal critique into the meaning of equality and the depth of the legal and institutional change necessary in order to achieve it. Consistent with traditional liberal feminism, advances in equal opportunity over the past 30 years have proceeded on the assumption that equality means freedom to be treated without regard to gender. Although this may be an effective implementing principle in a majority of cases, it falls short of exhaustively defining equality and can be positively damaging to the interests of women in issues related to motherhood. (For example, why is it that a pregnant woman must claim to have a "disability" in order receive certain insurance benefits?) Feminist scholars have revealed convincingly the gender bias in facially neutral systems of rules. They have shown that sexism is a pervasive structural problem in the law, and that inequality is perpetuated by a host of unspoken assumptions which permeate our laws, our courts and legislatures, our legal procedures, and even our inherited forms of legal reasoning. They have effectively debunked the notion that law should regulate the world of public affairs (read: the world of men) but must not invade the privacy of the home, e.g., to protect women from violence. They have shown that although formal legal equality, emphasizing equal rights and equal treatment, may have been appropriate in earlier stages, we must now move beyond the rhetoric of rights. Equality, more fundamentally, is freedom from systematic subordination because of sex. 13

The implications of this definition of equality are vast, challenging, as it does, the underpinnings of long-standing traditions and institutions. This definition is consistent with the Baha'i­ vision of equality. Nothing less will enable a practical reconciliation between the public and private lives of women, or do justice to the full range of Baha'i­ teachings bearing on equality.

The systematic subordination of women is starkly evident in each of the following areas: (1) education; (2) violence and abuse at home and in society; (3) discrimination in income-producing opportunities; (4) family decision-making; (5) inequality in, or exclusion from, economic and political power structures; (6) male control of (and unaccountable use of) family income; and (7) sole, socially unsupported female responsibility for child-rearing. The subordination of women in each of these arenas is the result of an almost inextricable combination of laws, attitudes, institutional arrangements and procedures, economic structures, and legal silences. In each of these areas, the oppressive system and structures are undermined by explicit Baha'i­ laws and social principles which address the pervasive inequality which is stubbornly surviving even formidable legal reforms. Baha'i­ laws and principles go beyond the notion of equal opportunity to create societies which systematically and institutionally value both motherhood and the participation of women in public affairs, societies which embody and express both the feminine "ethic of care" and the masculine "ethic of rights," 14 which strive both to preserve relationships and to promote justice. Some of the specifics of the Baha'i­ teachings may be found elsewhere in this volume in connection with the various critical areas of concern.

A world in which women and men are free to "achieve the greatness which might be theirs" is almost impossible to imagine today, but Baha'i­s are among those who are convinced that each step toward that goal is a critical advance, not only in permitting individual women and men to realize their God-given gifts, but in bringing humankind a step closer to peace.

 

Martha L. Schweitz has been a professor of international law at Seinan Gakuin University in Fukuoka, Japan, since 1989. She graduated from Stanford University in 1976 and received her J.D. degree from New York University School of Law in 1981. She practiced international business law for five years with Baker & McKenzie in Chicago and taught corporate and international law as an assistant professor at the University of Oregon Law School for three years prior to moving to Japan. She has just completed a one-year sabbatical as a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University, pursuing research in international economic organizations and the relationship between civil society and international law.

Notes

1. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace (Wilmette, IL: Baha'i­ Publishing Trust 1982) 135 (reprinted in Women: Extracts from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice (Ontario, Canada: Baha'i­ Canada Pub., 1986) [hereinafter Compilation on Women] no. 91).

2. Ibid., at 375 (reprinted in Compilation on Women, no. 85).

3. Ibid., at 135 (reprinted in Compilation on Women, no. 91).

4. Universal House of Justice, letter dated 23 June 1974 (reprinted in Compilation on Women, no. 68).

5. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, 1978 World Centre edition, 126 (reprinted in Compilation on Women, no. 56).

6. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, 1978 World Centre edition, 139 (reprinted in Compilation on Women, no. 58).

7. Universal House of Justice, letter dated 23 December 1980 (reprinted in Compilation on Women, no. 71).

8. Ibid.

9. Universal House of Justice, letter dated 9 August 1984 (reprinted in Compilation on Women, no. 74).

10. Shoghi Effendi, letter written on his behalf dated 22 July 1943 (reprinted in Compilation on Women, no. 64).

11. Bradwell v. Illinois, 83 U.S. 130, 139 (1873), the US Supreme Court case holding that a woman could constitutionally be barred from practicing law, by interpreting "all persons" in the Fourteenth Amendment to mean "all men."

12. Helena Klimova, Czech dissident and director, "Tolerance," a Prague-based civic group, speaking on "Women in East Central Europe: After the Collapse of Communism" at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University, October 14, 1994.

13. Ann C. Scales, "The Emergence of Feminist Jurisprudence: An Essay," Yale Law Journal 95:7, 1373 - 1403, at 1395, using a phrase often cited to the work of Catharine A. MacKinnon.

14. Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's Development (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982). Gilligan's work has been relied upon extensively in legal critiques of the social/psychoanalytic feminist variety. The terms "ethic of care" and "ethic of rights" are used by Gilligan to distinguish the processes of moral development in females and males, respectively. Stated as simply as possible, the "ethic of rights" describes a process which highly values individuation, and in which maturity is achieved when moral decisions are made on the basis of abstract, universal principles of right and wrong. In contrast, the "ethic of care" is based on understanding moral maturity to be the capacity to demonstrate caring for others; moral decisions are based on the value of preserving relationships and carrying out mutual responsibilities.

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Women in the Informal Sector in Malaysia

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Women in the Informal Sector in Malaysia

Chapter 4 of the "The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs" By Lee Lee Loh Ludher

Beijing, China—26 August 1995
It is enjoined upon every one of you to engage in some form of occupation, such as crafts, trades and the like. We have graciously exalted your engagement in such work to the rank of worship... Occupy yourselves with that which profiteth yourselves and others. -- Bahá'u'lláh

Govindamah: Entrepreneur

Her roadside stall faces the T-junction where the road heads off toward a housing estate. It is not what the Chinese geomancy master would call a favorable location - facing an open road which might drain away her fortunes - but it has brought Govindamah luck and more. It has brought her a new challenge and with it the sweet taste of success and confidence. As a 'nasi lemak' (rice cooked with coconut milk) vendor, Govindamah now has a whole new sense of herself.

It all began a year ago. Govindamah's husband lost his job as a van driver and turned to odd jobs to feed his family. They moved into low-cost housing. Vani, their eldest daughter, left school to work in a local factory. But even with Vani's wages, there was still not enough to feed and school their other two daughters and one adopted son. Quarrels had become increasingly frequent. It was during one of her many post-quarrel walks that Govindamah noticed this spot on the road and decided it was time for her to do something.

It took Govindamah a few days to gather enough courage to tell her husband that she had decided to make some packets of 'nasi lemak' to sell at the road junction. He was furious. He abused her, ridiculed her and assured her that she would fail. But the more she countered his criticisms, the more convinced she became that her venture could succeed.

The next morning she got up bright and early, cooked 5 cups of rice, made the 'sambal' (a hot chili mixture) with whatever 'ikan bilis' (anchovies) remained in the house, added pieces of cucumber and laced the 'nasi lemak' with tiny pieces of omelet. She wrapped them into small packets to sell for 50 sen each, placed them in a basket, and crept out of the house, bound for the spot at the T-junction.

She looked searchingly into the faces of passers by. Three ladies stopped and bought packets. Govindamah was encouraged. Soon more stopped and eventually she had a pocketful of notes and coins and an empty basket.

Unable to contain her happiness, she ran home to share her joy with her daughters, who agreed to help her. But the minute her husband walked in, all the excitement stopped. He grumbled about his cold tea and left. Nevertheless, Govindamah prepared her baskets for the next day, barely able to wait for her second round of success.

As her 'nasi lemak' business grew, Govindamah added more products: tea, snacks and cakes. Vani assisted during her off-shift hours. Customers requested a stall with tables and chairs, which Govindamah secured from her cousin in exchange for a 50% share in the business.

The business prospered, but there were problems. When gangsters demanded protection money, Govindamah and her cousin were too afraid to resist. Because they had no license, municipal council enforcement officers often came by threatening to confiscate all their items. They were reluctant to go to the authorities, having heard how difficult it could be to get a license. So there they were: their promising business in jeopardy and nowhere to turn.

The Informal Sector

Govindamah's story is not unusual. Like many other women around the world, Govindamah, faced with a family crisis, became an entrepreneur. She found a niche in the market, worked hard, and succeeded. Women like Govindamah contribute to the economy of communities in almost every country. What's more, they tend to spend their earnings not on themselves but on food for their families and education for their children. However, as her story illustrates, working in the informal sector of the economy has its pitfalls.

In Malaysia, as in most countries, there is no official definition for the 'informal sector'. However, for research purposes the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of Women (INSTRAW) has developed a list of identifying characteristics: 1

 

  • simple technology;
  • very little capital;
  • no fixed place of business;
  • quasi-legality or lack of registration; and
  • little record keeping.

Development specialists have noted that "in developing countries, where jobs in officially licensed enterprises are scarce, much of the population makes a living by working outside the official tax and regulatory systems. These people who make up the informal sector, are innovators, skilled at surviving, and sometimes prospering, in a highly regulated environment. Although the informal sector is an important source of jobs, income and even housing, its participants lose their full rights as citizens by operating outside the legal economy." 2

This legal vulnerability affects women particularly because so many are employed in the informal sector. According to a study of the Malaysian economy from 1985 to 1992, an average of 47.05% of women in the female labor force were employed in the informal sector. 3 Of those, the vast majority, 61.2%, were employees, 21.8% were unpaid family workers, 16% were self-employed, and only 1% were employers. Within the informal sector, an average of 26% of all self-employed workers were women. Of all unpaid family workers, 65% were female. 4 Thus a significant portion of women's contribution to the economy -- in Malaysia and throughout the developing world -- is unrecognized and uncounted.

Malaysian Women in the Informal Sector

The typical urban or rural woman in Malaysia's informal sector has a primary education and an average household size of five. She entered the sector after she married and began bearing children; now she contributes substantially to the total income of her household. Approximately one third have incurred debt to provide capital for their businesses. Most urban women have worked previously in the formal sector. 5

In recent years, a relatively new group has entered the informal sector. They are professionals with good earning power who have opted to go into business for themselves, often working out of their homes. Advancements in information technology and the democratization of work have made it possible for them to work outside the formal sector. Lily and Eng Eng, for example, opted for early retirement from their teaching jobs when they found themselves saddled with more and more administrative work. As home tutors they can focus on teaching and be more involved in the welfare of their pupils. They also have more control over their time. 6

Obstacles

Despite their contributions to the overall economy of the country, women in the informal sector face significant obstacles: low pay; lack of access to such resources as capital, education, and training; and exclusion from the policy-making process.

Low Pay

The work women do in the informal sector is often viewed by the women themselves and by others as an extension of their domestic work. As a result, their compensation is based not on labor market rates but on rates for domestic work, which is little or nothing. Even professionals in the informal sector charge lower rates than their counter-parts in the formal sector. Mrs. Ng, for example, does bookkeeping at home in between household chores and looking after her baby. She charges her clients lower rates, as she has little overhead and looks upon this as supplementary income.

Lack of Access to Capital

Women in business in the informal sector have little or no access to loan capital from banks and other financial institutions, as requirements and procedures are biased toward the formal sector and against women. Currently there are 40 government agencies in 14 ministries assisting formalized (registered) small and medium sized industries, offering loans totalling RM1 billion (USD1 = RM2.57) or more, while for the informal sector there are only three major loan schemes. The most wide-spread and most successful of the three, the Ikhtiar Loan Scheme, in 1993 disbursed loans to some 21,000 women organized into 4,303 groups. From its inception in 1986 until 1993, the cumulative total of loans disbursed was RM13 million. More often capital is raised through traditional loan mechanisms such as money lenders, relatives and the 'kutu' - a traditional rotational self-help system.

Few women in the informal sector know how to keep accounts in forms financial institutions would recognize. Salmah, Foziah and 4 other ladies, for example, measure their profits by the number of gold bangles and chains they are able to buy for themselves and their loved ones and the savings they have for their Muslim pilgrimage (a goal they set for themselves). These women don't speak the same language as financial institutions. They would, however, be trustworthy clients, repaying every cent borrowed. But which bank would believe them - no collateral, no bank account, no income statement or balance sheet to prove their success and their honesty!

Lack of Access to Training and Education

A recent study 7 dispels the belief that for women employment in the informal sector is temporary. The study indicates that most women in the informal sector are not there by choice but have been driven there by lack of skills and education. Mrs. Lai sews pockets on sportswear. After marriage, she became a home worker for a contractor with the garment factory where she used to work. She is paid piece rate. She would like to become a tailor, but without access to training, she has little choice but to keep doing piece work.

Exclusion from the Policy-Formulation Process

Those involved in the informal sector, and particularly women, are, by and large, not organized, so their voices and views are not heard, and they are rarely involved in policy making.

In Malaysia current policy emphasizes formalizing the informal sector, requiring registration of businesses and payment of taxes. To register a small business in Malaysia will cost initially RM2,000 or more; yearly secretarial and accounting services will cost no less than RM1,000.

The truth is that many women like Govindamah would be willing to legalize their businesses and even pay fees and taxes, but they are easily intimidated, officially and unofficially. Thus dealing with licensing authorities and government bureaucracies may prove an insurmountable obstacle. Governments would do well to find a way to involve them in creating the policies that affect them so that the needs of those going into business for the first time are understood and addressed.

Platform for Action

First, the contribution of the 'informal sector' to the economy of every country needs to be recognized and appreciated.

Second, gender-biased practices and other obstacles to the full participation of women in the economic life of their communities must be eliminated. One of the best ways is to involve women in defining economic structures and policies governing the informal sector. Another is to recognize that women are good credit risks. Denying women, especially those in the informal sector, access to resources - including loans, education and training - is both a denial of basic human rights and bad business practice.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, participants in the informal sector of the economy, women in particular, must be involved in reconceptualizing economics altogether, both theory and practice. If women have a unique approach to economic activity, it would most likely be apparent in the largely unstructured informal sector of the economy. For example, preliminary findings in an on-going study of women industrial sub-contractors in Malaysia, show that the business objectives of the majority of women sub-contractors are defined not so much in monetary terms as in terms of values. 8

Such a value-driven approach to economic activity might shed new light on alternative approaches to the generation and distribution of wealth and on economic theory itself. The experiences, values and insights of women may, in fact, be the key to the development of economic models for the prosperity of humanity as a whole.

 

Lee Lee Loh Ludher is a senior administrative and diplomatic officer in the Malaysian Government and editor of the newsletter South-East Asian Focus. She holds a Bachelors degree in Social Science and a Masters in Business Administration and is writing her doctoral thesis on women homeworkers in industrial subcontracting. As a member of the Continental Board of Counsellors of the Baha'is in Asia, Ms. Loh-Ludher is involved in grassroots socio-economic development and human resource development, especially women's development programs in such countries as Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Korea, China and Mongolia.

Notes

1.

This same definition is also used by the Statistical Office of the United Nations Secretariat. The International Labor Organization (ILO) uses a slightly different set of criteria.

2.

Chickering, A. Lawrence and Mohamed Salahdine, eds., The Silent Revolution: The Informal Sector in Five Asian and Near Eastern Countries, (ICS Press, San Francisco, 1991). This same observation was made by Nicholas Ardito-Barletta, at one time General Director of the International Centre for Economic Growth in Panama, quoted in the Preface of The Silent Revolution - The Informal Sector in Five Asian and Near Eastern Countries.

3.

Loh Ludher, Lee Lee (1994), 'The Position and Status of Women in the Informal Sector in Malaysia for the period 1985 -1992'. Unpublished.

4.

Department of Statistics, Malaysia. The Labour Force Survey Reports, 1985-86, 1987-88, 1989-90.

5.

Berma, Madeline and Faridah Shahadan (1991). 'Meeting Women's Needs in Development and Family Welfare in the Informal Sector: A Proposal for action'; unpublished paper. - 'Poverty, Household Status and Women in the Informal Sector: A Structural Analysis'; unpublished paper.

6.

Loh Ludher, 1994.

7.

Berma and Shahadan, 1991.

8.

Loh Ludher, Lee Lee and Susan Chong (1993), 'Women Entrepreneurs: From Petty Trader to Entrepreneur - A Profile of Success.' Unpublished.

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: The Status of Women in the Baha'i Community

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: The Status of Women in the Baha'i Community

Appendix to the "The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs" Preliminary analysis of the findings of a survey undertaken in 1994 by the Office for the Advancement of Women of the Baha'i International Community

Beijing, China—26 August 1995
Change is an evolutionary process requiring patience with one's self and others, loving education and the passage of time as the believers deepen their knowledge of the principles of the faith, gradually discard long-held traditional attitudes and progressively conform their lives to the unifying teachings of the cause. -- The Universal House of Justice

Women's struggle for recognition and full participation in their religious communities has always been difficult, often more difficult than in the secular world. In both religious and secular life, women are excluded by attitudes and behaviors that derive from the belief that women are inferior to men, but in many religious communities the subordination of women is also enshrined in institutions and reinforced by the interpretation of scripture as the will of God.

Not so in the Baha'i­ community. The teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i­ Faith, are unequivocal in asserting the full spiritual and social equality of women. Moreover, the institutions of the Baha'i­ Faith have a moral obligation to support and encourage the full participation of women in leadership and decision making and all other aspects of Baha'i­ community life. A recent survey of the participation of women in Baha'i­ community life found women well represented in leadership positions in Baha'i­ communities the world over and illustrates the progress that is being made to overcome traditional attitudes and strong cultural norms.

In order to understand the information gathered by this survey, it is important to understand the nature of leadership in the Baha'i­ community -- a religious community without clergy. The emphasis on group leadership, as opposed to individual power, runs throughout the Baha'i­ administrative system, which has two branches: one composed of councils elected to govern; the other composed of individuals appointed to inspire and advise. The survey found that women make up 30% of the membership of the elected national governing councils (called National Spiritual Assemblies) and 40% of the membership of local governing councils (called Local Spiritual Assemblies). Moreover, 47% of those (called members of the Auxiliary Boards) appointed to inspire and advise the community at the sub-national and regional level are women.

Although these statistics put the Baha'i­ community well ahead of the world at large in the participation of women in leadership, the Baha'i­ community has yet to fulfill its own goal of full equality between women and men. For the vast majority of the Baha'i­s in the world today, many of whom are the first in their families to become Baha'i­s, the values and habits they have been brought up with are not easy to shake. But by becoming Baha'i­s they commit themselves to a process of individual and social transformation, based on the fundamental reality of this age: the oneness of humanity. The equality of men and women is one important aspect of this principle. Thus the entire Baha'i­ community is engaged in a shared struggle to overcome a variety of traditional prejudices, and its members are assisted in this struggle by the Baha'i­ administrative institutions.

Background of the Survey

This most recent survey of the status of women in the Baha'i­ community (1993-1994) is the third conducted by the Baha'i­ International Community. The first was conducted in 1972 in preparation for International Women's Year (1975) and the second in 1984 at the end of the Decade for Women (1976-1985). All three surveys examined -- in increasing detail -- the following critical factors affecting the status of women:

  • women's participation on the elected councils that govern Baha'i­ community life;
  • ways in which Baha'i­ institutions encourage women to participate in Baha'i­ community life; and
  • strategies used by Baha'i­ institutions to change attitudes toward women.

The 1993-94 survey collected data on women's participation in the administrative activities of the Baha'i­ community from two sources: the elected institutions and the members of the appointed branch of the Baha'i­ administrative order (Auxiliary Board members) whose functions -- advising, protecting, and encouraging the community -- complement those of the elected branch, which is charged with governing. The information gathered sheds light on the transformation process itself and shows how these complementary institutions are promoting -- each in its own way -- the process of understanding and implementing the principle of equality of the sexes.

Survey Methodology

Questionnaires were sent to all 165 National Spiritual Assemblies; 92 responded. Questionnaires were also sent to appointed members of the Auxiliary Boards, who inspire and guide individuals and consult with elected governing councils at the sub-national and regional level. Two hundred fifty-four (65%) of the 389 Auxiliary Board members serving worldwide responded, reporting on their activities and those of their assistants, appointed to carry out the same functions at the local level. Reliability of the survey sample was validated by comparing membership statistics on all 165 National Spiritual Assemblies, collected by the Baha'i­ World Centre, to the same information reported by the National Assemblies responding to the survey.

Preliminary Findings from the Elected Institutions

The percentage of women serving on the 92 National Spiritual Assemblies responding to the survey was 30%, demonstrating the degree to which Baha'i­s -- who vote by secret ballot -- are attempting to overcome traditional prejudices. This percentage, which has remained constant since the first survey in 1972, is consistent with the percentage for all 165 National Assemblies, according to statistics gathered by the Baha'i­ World Centre. The survey found that 41% of the national secretaries were women. This is a significant show of confidence, as the Office of the Secretary is a highly responsible and visible position in Baha'i­ administration.

In addition to basic information on male-to-female ratios in various positions of leadership, the survey also asked about women's activities at the local and national levels. The response indicated that over half of the national Baha'i­ communities responding held specific events concerning women's issues at least once a year over the last six years. Among the topics discussed were equality between women and men, women in leadership, marriage and family life, parenting, and "heroines of the Baha'i­ Faith." The 38 National Assemblies with literacy programs reported that, due in part to special efforts to recruit women, more women attended classes than men.

The survey also found that in Baha'i­ publishing ventures, women play a prominent role. Most national communities indicated that they appointed publication committees, and the male-to-female ratio on these committees was about one-to-one. Of the 54 communities which reported publishing books during the last six years, 24 produced books about women.

Particularly encouraging is the survey data on 4,680 local communities (approximately one fourth of the organized communities worldwide) indicating that an increasing number of women are being elected to serve at the grassroots level. Of those elected to serve on local governing councils, an impressive 40% were women. What's more, half of the local secretaries and a third of the local treasurers were women.

Preliminary Findings from the Appointed Institutions

The commitment of Baha'i­ institutions to the full participation of women is evident in the appointment of almost equal numbers of women and men to serve on the Auxiliary Boards. Of the Auxiliary Board members reporting, 47% were women; 53% men. Moreover, the assistants they appointed to nurture and encourage Baha'i­s at the local level were also approximately 50% women and 50% men.

These individuals exert a powerful moral influence in Baha'i­ communities. Their ideas and insights are frequently sought both by elected Baha'i­ governing councils and by individual Baha'i­s. Many of these appointed leaders, in responding to the survey, indicated that they regularly promote principles of equality and partnership between women and men in their speeches, workshops and personal discussions.

Conclusions

The survey produced a mountain of data that has yet to be fully analyzed. However, preliminary results clearly demonstrate that women play a significant role in governing (30%) and guiding (47%) Baha'i­ communities all over the world. The survey data also confirms that the institutions of the Baha'i­ Faith are taking affirmative action to foster the development and the full participation of women in the life of the community. In addition, and perhaps more interesting, the survey sheds light on the role of the two branches of the Baha'i­ administrative order - elected councils and appointed individuals - in catalyzing the process of individual and social transformation.

The international governing council for the Baha'i­ community, the Universal House of Justice, advises an integrated approach to this process: "The principle of the equality between women and men, like the other teachings of the Faith, can be effectively and universally established among the friends when it is pursued in conjunction with all the other aspects of Baha'i­ life."

The survey data confirms that in this evolutionary process both appointed and elected Baha'i­ institutions are exerting moral leadership. By appointing women to positions of responsibility within the community and then supporting and encouraging them, both elected and appointed institutions assist women to develop and demonstrate the capacities called for in those who serve on Baha'i­ governing councils at every level. According to the Baha'i­ Writings, these qualities include "unquestioned loyalty," "selfless devotion," "a well- trained mind," "recognized ability and mature experience." 1 As women arise to serve, particularly at the local level, the community can see them in new roles and experience for themselves the contributions women can make. Given this new evidence of women's capacity, many Baha'i­s are able to internalize this revolutionary principle of the equality between women and men. We speculate that as these efforts succeed in assisting Baha'i­s to "discard long-held traditional attitudes" more women will be elected to serve as members and officers of both national and local governing councils.

The findings of this survey are especially encouraging given that the Baha'i­ community is among the most diverse on the planet. The more than five million Baha'i­s worldwide come from virtually every nation, ethnic group, culture, profession and social or economic class, representing more than 2,100 different ethnic and tribal groups. Geographically, the Baha'i­ Faith has become the second-most widespread independent world religion, following Christianity. Baha'i­s, who have established communities in some 232 countries and territories, will continue to pursue the full emancipation of women because they understand that "Until the reality of equality between man and woman is fully established and attained, the highest social development of mankind is not possible."2

Notes

1. Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i­ Administration, Selected Messages 1922-1932,

rev. ed. (Wilmette: Baha'i­ Publishing Trust, 1974), p. 88.

2. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912,

2d ed. (Wilmette: Baha'i­ Publishing Trust, 1982), pp. 76-77.

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Educating Girls—An Investment in the Future

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Educating Girls—An Investment in the Future

Baha'i International Community’s statement submitted to the 39th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Item 2 of the provisional agenda: "Development: Promotion of literacy, education and training, including technological skills"

Beijing, China—26 August 1995
Without doubt education will establish her equality with men. -- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

For twenty five years, the span of a generation, the data have been available to document the correlation between a variety of crucial development indicators and the education of girls. From reductions in infant mortality, fertility, and the incidence of AIDS to improvements in the environment, it has been amply demonstrated that it is the mother's education that makes the difference 1 and that the positive effects increase with every additional year a girl stays in school. When all the benefits are taken into account, educating girls yields a higher rate of return than any other investment that can be made in the developing world. 2 Thus the decision by the 39th session of the Commission to include under the priority theme of development a focus on educating girls and women sounds a responsive chord with Baha'i­s, whose teachings call for full and equal partnership between women and men.

The Baha'i­ Writings speak to three kinds of education: material, human and spiritual. Material education concerns itself with the progress and development of the body, that is to say, teaching people how to improve physical well-being including better nutrition and hygiene, better family health and greater capacity to earn and provide food, shelter and clothing. Human education concerns civilization and progress in those activities which are essential to mankind as distinct from the animal world, such as knowledge of commerce, the sciences and arts, and the understanding of institutions and policy. Spiritual or moral education addresses values and shapes character; it largely determines to what end an individual will use whatever knowledge he or she acquires.

The international community set ambitious goals for material or basic education in the Jomtien Declaration, issued by the 1990 World Conference on Education for All (EFA). Those goals included universal access to high quality primary education, which would provide every child such basic learning tools as literacy, numeracy and problem-solving skills. A recent UNESCO report on progress toward EFA in 121 countries shows that, while 90% have completed EFA Plans, only 10% have budgeted the resources necessary to meet EFA goals. 3 Commitment to providing this most basic level of material education has yet to be fulfilled by the leaders of the world.

Scientific, technical and civic education, which Baha'i­s include under the heading of human education, is increasingly available through secondary and tertiary education in developed countries. In some countries and in certain fields of study, women's access to tertiary education has made them even better educated than men. But modernization has eluded the grasp of the majority of women, and the twentieth century may come and go leaving large numbers of women almost untouched.

Spiritual or moral education is almost never seen outside of parochial schools or religious institutions, is shunned in most developed countries as irrelevant or intrusive to modern education, and is rarely funded by international donors. It is the one kind of education which asserts the dignity of the human spirit in all its diversity, and formalizes its relationship to the Divine. Such universal human values as trustworthiness, honesty, courtesy, generosity, respect and kindness are rapidly disappearing from our increasingly belligerent and fractured world. Through moral or character education, whether formalized in religious or secular programs or provided informally by wise and caring family or community members, that which is valued by society and gives meaning to life is transmitted to succeeding generations.

Baha'i­s see all three kinds of education as important. Women are encouraged in the Baha'i­ Writings to study all branches of human knowledge and to participate as equal partners with men in every field of human endeavor. "It is... clear," the Baha'i­ Writings assert, "that the education of girls is of far greater consequence than that of boys. This fact is extremely important, and the matter must be seen to with the greatest energy and dedication."4

Among the consequences of providing girls with basic education are improvements in material circumstances. Research has shown that whatever the content of the curriculum, girls benefit from going to school, from problem-solving, from expanding their world and from sharing the knowledge base generally afforded to boys and men. Contributions of women to the sciences and the arts, albeit fledgling, provide evidence that, given opportunity, girls and women have the intellectual capacity to improve substantively the human condition. However, with regard to spiritual education, there are no charts, no progress reports, no quantifying studies that can prove to the world how important it is to equip future generations with the virtues conducive to promoting the establishment of unity and cooperation as the basis for functioning in an interdependent world community. In this respect, the Baha'i­ Writings stress the unique advantages that educated girls bring to their roles as mothers and first educators of the next generation, not only as the most effective diffusers of knowledge throughout society, but as transmitters of core cultural and social values. 5 It is time that the women of the world, at least, add a plea for education of the human spirit to the call for educational reform.

The failure to educate the human spirit and the neglect of character development have contributed to a number of seemingly intractable social problems. Given the obvious rightness of educating both girls and boys and the documented advantages educated women bring to their families, communities and nations, the continuing failure to ensure the education of girls suggests a lack of will. Indeed, the half-hearted commitment to education in general, and to girls' and women's education specifically, can be attributed to the lack of both a vision for the future and the inspiration to achieve it.

The Report of the Secretary-General points out a number of formidable obstacles to girls' education and suggests measures to overcome these obstacles. We note, however, the lack of any reference to principles or human values which might inspire the transformation of individual and collective attitudes and behavior. Baha'i­s find in the principles of the oneness of humanity and the equality of men and women inspiration for the abandonment of all prejudices, including those based on gender, nationality, creed, degree of material civilization, class and color. The principle of the oneness of humanity, with its implied recognition of the worth of every member of the human family, needs to be taught in all the schools, universally proclaimed, and "asserted by every nation as preparation for the organic change in the structure of society which it implies." 6

Indeed, profound changes will be wrought as women move to take their place on decision making bodies in every sphere around the world. This organic shift need not cause conflict. In the Baha'i­ view, the material and spiritual progress of society depends on women's full participation in every arena of human activity. Thus the Baha'i­ approach seeks a full and dynamic partnership with men for the advancement of civilization as a whole. Indeed, an important part of a larger program to educate girls must be the re-socialization of males for partnership. Boys and men must be given the opportunity to grasp, on the one hand, the harmful effects of attitudes and values which condone and even encourage violence, oppression, and war; and to see, on the other hand, the advantages to society, families and the girls themselves when girls are educated.

As we approach the Millennium, it almost seems that we need a year of reflection to allow the peoples of the world time to consider how best to respond to the rapid and dramatic changes transforming life on the planet. Women might usher in the year by hosting an international conference on world peace and prosperity. Such a conference could seek ways to accelerate the pace of demilitarization, to reduce prejudice, and to create a vision for global well-being which is defined not simply in economic terms, but in terms of quality of life.

A year of reflection might catalyze the process of creating a shared vision for the future and could provide local, national and regional communities an opportunity to examine their traditional values and identify those that will assist humanity to realize a vision of global prosperity. From such conferences could emerge values and principles that could be embraced universally and translated into pragmatic actions.

The Baha'i­ International Community can testify, based on its own experience, that examining and reshaping traditional beliefs and values to adjust to a new vision can be accomplished in a peaceful, harmonious, and participatory manner. We urge the world community to set the agenda for reflection, and we pledge our support for this noble initiative.

Notes

1. "Making the Case for the Gender Variable: Women and the Wealth and Well-being of Nations", Technical Reports in Gender and Development, Office of Women in Development, US Agency for International Development, 1989.

2. Summers, Lawrence H., Vice President & Chief Economist for the World Bank, "Investing in All the People," 1992.

3.Nat Coletta, "Education for All: What Next?" an article for World Bank, 1994.

4. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, "Education" #635, The Compilation of Compilations, p. 286.

5. 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, #95, pp. 124-125.

6. Universal House of Justice, "To the Peoples of the World", section III, paragraph 3.

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Religions as an Agent for Promoting the Advancement of Women at all Levels

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Religions as an Agent for Promoting the Advancement of Women at all Levels

Introduction to the "The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs" By Janet A. Khan

Beijing, China—26 August 1995

According to the spirit of this age, women must advance and fulfill their mission in all departments of life, becoming equal to men. They must be on the same level as men and enjoy equal rights. This is my earnest prayer and it is one of the fundamental principles of Bahá'u'lláh. -- 'Abdu'l-Bahá


The Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing stresses the importance of safeguarding women's human rights and emphasizes the principle of shared responsibility and partnership between women and men as the basis for achieving equality, development and peace. It sets out an Agenda for Equality which calls for immediate action to create a peaceful, developed and just world, based on the principle of equality and built on the strength of women's knowledge, energy, creativity and skills, for peoples of all ages and from all walks of life. The Platform for Action thus addresses the issues associated with the advancement of women from the standpoint of moral principle, as distinct from pure pragmatism. Effective implementation of these objectives will, necessarily, require changes in values, behavior, and procedures and modification of the internal dynamics of power and organizational structures.

The great religions of the world have traditionally been important sources of vision and values, and primary agents of socialization. The spiritual principles and values they inculcate not only form the basis of a unifying world-view, but also serve to motivate individuals and social institutions both to act on these principles and to use them as a standard against which to weigh practical actions.

Religious values have a dual potential - either to foster human solidarity or to intensify the processes of division and social fragmentation. Indeed, the history of the role of religion in promoting the advancement of women discloses a most uneven record. While, typically, in the early years of their existence, religions tended to encourage the advancement and participation of women, at other times, women have been actively held back and oppressed by religion, especially when the forces of extremism prevail.

While many commentators acknowledge the enduring relevance of the universal spiritual values inculcated by religion, they express the view that the application of these values needs to be re-examined in light of the trend towards globalization as well as the changing social circumstances and their impact on women. As a contribution to this discourse we offer the example of the Baha'i­ Faith, which has a system of values that categorically upholds the principle of the equality of women and men in all areas of human endeavour and whose world-wide community is actively working for the emancipation of women, most especially in those parts of the globe where the rights of women are traditionally and persistently denied. We will highlight those moral and spiritual principles, which, in our view, facilitate the shift in values required for the effective implementation of the Agenda for Equality.

Recognition of the basic oneness of humankind is a prerequisite to social evolution and the future well-being of the earth and its peoples. Integral to this concept is the principle of the equality of the sexes. The rights of women are clearly upheld by the Founder, Bahá'u'lláh. He emphatically asserts that, "Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God." The rational soul has no gender, and the social inequalities that may have been dictated by the survival requirements of the past can no longer be justified in an age when the members of the human family are becoming daily more interdependent.

The principle of equality has profound implications for the definition of the roles of women and men. It impinges on all aspects of human relations and is an integral element in domestic, economic, and community life. The application of this principle must necessarily entail a change in many traditional habits and practices. It rejects rigid role delineation, patterns of domination and arbitrary decision-making; calls for women to be welcomed into full partnership in all fields of human endeavor; and allows for the evolution of the roles of men and women.

The principle of equality also influences the manner in which the advancement of women is fostered. The Baha'i­ Writings contain the image of humanity as a bird in which one wing is woman and the other man. Unless both wings are strong and well-developed, the bird will not be able to fly. The development of women is considered vital to the full development of men and is seen as a prerequisite to peace. Hence, the members of the Baha'i­ community, male and female alike, and its democratically elected administrative councils share a strong commitment to the practice of the principle of equality in their personal lives, in their families, and in all aspects of social and civic life. Individuals and social institutions collaborate in encouraging the development and emancipation of women, and in designing and implementing programs to enhance their spiritual, social and economic development.

Great emphasis is placed on education in the Baha'i­ Faith as a means of promoting the advancement of women. The religion not only upholds the principle of universal education, but it accords priority to the education of girls and women when resources are limited, since it is only through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge can be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society. It advocates that girls and boys follow the same curriculum in school, and women are encouraged to study the arts, crafts, sciences and professions and to enter all fields of work, even those traditionally the exclusive province of men.

Education is considered an important means of empowering women. Apart from the acquisition of knowledge and moral values conducive to social evolution, education provides such benefits as the development of the mind, and training in logical and analytical thinking, organizational, administrative and management skills, as well as enhanced self esteem and improved status within the community.

The type of education envisaged and actively pursued by the Baha'i­ community strengthens the role of mothers and encourages the spirit of cooperation in men. It prepares women for participation in all fields of endeavour and provides them with the practical skills to enable them to share power and decision-making. Women serve at all levels of the Baha'i­ administrative system, playing a distinguished role on the international level and being elected to membership of Baha'i­ national and local governing councils in all parts of the world.

The system of values embodied in the Baha'i­ Faith is giving rise to the development of a vibrant world-wide community which is committed to [promoting] the emancipation and advancement of women. The approach which has been adopted is conscious and evolutionary. This religion is engaged, long term, in implementing systematic plans, plans that are guided and sustained by the vision of the principle of equality of the sexes, developed through consultation and with the full participation of women, implemented in a spirit of cooperation, and fully supported by its governing institutions. Such an approach is conducive to effecting fundamental social reconstruction and to lending significant support toward achieving the objectives of the Agenda of Equality as set out in the Platform for Action.

 

After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1970, Janet Khan worked as a counsellor and programme specialist at the University's Center for Continuing Education of Women until 1976 when she returned to Australia to take up an appointment in the Department of Psychology at the University of Queensland. Since 1983, Dr. Khan has served in the Research Department at the International Headquarters of the Baha'i­ Faith in Haifa, Israel. Prior to that time she was chairperson of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'i­s of Australia.

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: The Girl Child -- A Critical Concern

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: The Girl Child -- A Critical Concern

"The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs" Reflections on the Agenda and Platform for Action for the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women: Equality, Development and Peace

Beijing, China—26 August 1995
We must declare that her capacity is equal, even greater than man's. This will inspire her with hope and ambition, and her susceptibilities for advancement will continually increase. -- 'Abdu'l-Bahá

The Baha'i­ International Community welcomes UNICEF's efforts to focus attention on the plight of the girl child. Since deciding a year ago to give the girl child priority, UNICEF has contributed significantly to an increase in global awareness of the effects of gender discrimination on millions of girl children. By funding research, encouraging the disaggregation of data, disseminating information, and requiring that UNICEF programs be sensitive to the needs of girls, UNICEF has initiated a process that deserves ongoing, wholehearted support.

In the view of the Baha'i­ International Community, the advancement of civilization now requires the full participation of everyone, including women. For this to happen, girl children as well as boy children must be valued by their families and by society. We share UNICEF's distress at the blatant neglect of girl children, justified in many parts of the world as part of the culture. We concur with the recommendation, set forth in the Progress report on achievements made in the implementation of UNICEF policy on women in development (E/ICEF/1991/L.5), that UNICEF broaden its approach to maternal health to include an attempt to alter factors that affect girl's and women's health before maternity, including harmful traditional attitudes and practices.

Not only must girl children receive adequate food, health care, and education, they must be given every opportunity to develop their capacities. Girls will not only render service to humanity as mothers and first educators of the next generation, but, as women, they will make special contributions to the creation of a just world order-an order characterized by vigor, cooperation, harmony, and a degree of compassion never before witnessed in history. Mothers can now be the primary agents for empowering individuals to transform society. They alone can inculcate in their children the self-esteem and respect for others essential for the advancement of civilization. It is clear, then, that the station of mothers, increasingly denigrated in many societies, is in reality of the greatest importance and highest merit.

Women and girls must be educated-spiritually, emotionally and intellectually-because a mother cannot pass on what she does not have. A child needs a nurturing environment and wise guidance in the first years of life in order to develop sound character and a well trained mind. If the mother is unable, because of her own deficiencies, to provide her children with experiences which will equip them for later, formal schooling, they will find themselves at a serious, often crippling, disadvantage. It must be stressed, however, that this dual responsibility of developing the child's character and stimulating his intellect also belongs to the family as a whole, including the father and grandparents, and to the community. As Dr. Aidoo pointed out in her statement to the 1991 Commission on the Status of Women, "The family context provides unique opportunities for boy children and men to become involved in changing the status of the girl child and women." NGOs can also contribute substantially by focusing attention on the girl child in their community-based activities.

As the sexes are equal in intellectual capacity and in potential to serve humanity, girls and boys should study the same curriculum. The way should be open for women and girls to enter all spheres of human endeavor, including the arts and sciences, agriculture, commerce, industry and the affairs of state. There is no natural limit on women's ability.

Presently the world is caught in a cycle of miseducation wherein harmful character traits are passed from one generation to the next, retarding social progress. One source of this miseducation is the failure to respect women, even in the home. The denial of equality between the sexes perpetrates an injustice against one-half of the world's population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the work place, to political life, and ultimately to international relations. The world can ill afford the consequences of such ignorance and injustice, especially at this critical moment when prospects for establishing peace on this planet are bright.

The cause of universal education deserves the utmost support that the governments of the world can lend it. For ignorance is indisputably the principal reason for the decline and fall of peoples and the perpetuation of prejudice. No nation can achieve success unless education is accorded all its citizens. Lack of resources limits the ability of many nations to fulfill this necessity, imposing a certain ordering of priorities. The decision-making agencies involved would do well to consider giving first priority to the education of women and girls, since it is through educated mothers that the benefits of knowledge can be most effectively and rapidly diffused throughout society.

The Baha'i­ International Community congratulates UNICEF for its initiatives and urges the UNICEF Executive Board to continue its important emphasis on the needs of the girl child.

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Ending Violence Against Women

The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs: Ending Violence Against Women

Chapter 3 of the "The Greatness Which Might Be Theirs" Baha'i­ International Community statement presented to the 51st session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights

Beijing, China—26 August 1995
The friends of God must be adorned with the ornament of justice, equity, kindness and love. As they do not allow themselves to be the object of cruelty and transgression, in like manner they should not allow such tyranny to visit the Handmaidens of God. --Bahá'u'lláh

The Baha'i­ International Community welcomes the appointment last year of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women. By urging the inclusion of this pivotal issue within the UN human rights framework, women's organizations have made a critical contribution to the promotion of human rights generally. For seeking to understand violence against women as an issue of basic human rights will no doubt shed light on the causes of other forms of violence and will facilitate the discovery of strategies for curbing the disturbing rise of violence across all levels of our societies.

Violence against women is a yardstick by which one can measure the violation of all human rights. It can be used to gauge the degree to which a society is governed by aggressivity, dominated by competition and ruled by force. Abusive practices against women have frequently been and are still being justified in the context of cultural norms, religious beliefs and unfounded "scientific theories" and assumptions. But whatever its political or religious system, a society patterned on dominance inevitably gives rise to such distortions of power as violence against women.

It is becoming increasingly evident, however, that all forms of violence against women degrade not only the victim but the perpetrator as well. Those who inflict violence on women are themselves among the casualties of power-based systems. When unbridled competition, aggression, and tyranny destroy the fabric of society, everyone suffers. In the Baha'i­ view, "the harvest of force is turmoil and the ruin of the social order" and violence against women is a grave symptom of this larger disorder.

Our challenge is to search out new strategies and adopt fresh models that will encourage a healthier, more cooperative society at all levels. We need to move consciously away from patterns of force and aggressivity and towards methods of consultation and peace-making. Because of the rise in crime and pornography, the increase in ethnic violence and the collapse of the family, more and more individuals, organizations and governments are seeking alternatives to violence in managing conflict.

One of the essential ways to encourage more cooperation is through education. While economic disparity and legal inequality are known to contribute to incidents of violence against women, it is obvious that violence arises from ignorance - the failure to understand such fundamental realities as the oneness of the human race and the mistaken notion that force is the only honorable way to resolve conflicts. Education - moral, material and practical - is therefore not only a fundamental right but a practical necessity in today's world. Any attempt to curb societal violence that does not educate individuals to overcome gender prejudice will certainly fall short. At a time when illiteracy is increasing among women in the developing world and levels of learning are falling for both sexes in industrial societies, it is vitally important to reemphasize the role of education everywhere if violence against women is to be controlled.

Ironically enough, the place where women and girls are most subject to violence and neglect is within their own homes, at the nerve center of the family. If families educate their daughters, and if the community systematically encourages the education of girl children, both the family and the community benefit. Bahá'u'lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i­ Faith, has emphasized that mothers are the first educators of the next generation, in the broadest interpretation of those terms, and that where resources are limited priority must, therefore, be given to education of girl children.

But the problem of violence cannot truly be resolved unless men are also educated to value women as equal partners. Any effort to protect women against male aggression which does not involve the early training of boys will necessarily be short-lived. Likewise, all attempts to understand the causes and consequences of violence against women which do not involve men are bound to fail.

The Baha'i­ International Community, therefore, warmly welcomes the inclusion of a full analysis of violence against women in the mandate of the Special Rapporteur. It also welcomes the invitation by the Commission on Human Rights to "recommend measures to eliminate violence against women and its causes, and to remedy its consequences."

Since the Baha'i­ International Community has invested considerable effort at the grass roots in the education and training of both men and women in partnership, we would gladly offer to share our experience. For example, our recent collaboration with UNIFEM in three projects using traditional media as a change agent in society has drawn the attention of UNICEF because one result of the project was a decline in family violence.* In this respect, we look forward to further collaboration with the Special Rapporteur.

Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities

Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities

Oral statement to the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, addressing the Question of Minorities.

Geneva—7 August 1995

The painful events which are taking place in many parts of Africa, Asia and Europe can be best understood as a clear signal to the international community that the question of minorities must now be addressed with great urgency. The Baha'i­ International Community would like to commend the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities for having included in its agenda an item concerning a "comprehensive examination of the thematic issues relating to racism, xenophobia, minorities and migrant workers."

Mr. Asbjorn Eide's Working Paper to the last session of the Sub-Commission (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1994/36) provides a valuable starting point for this examination. He draws attention to the emergence of "two related phenomena," xenophobia and ethno-nationalism which he aptly describes as an "explosive mix."

Mr. Eide remarks that "There are dangers in many places of a violent disintegration of society, a situation comparable to that experienced in many parts of Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries as wars of everybody against everybody else, prior to the emergence of the organized State system and the introduction of human rights" (ibid. para. 14). The comparison can be taken a step further. The Baha'i­ International Community believes that an integration process -- comparable to the one that led to the organized state system -- is now also taking place at the global level. This will, in turn, lead to the unification of the world.

In our view the existing foundations of society need to be broadened in a way which does not conflict with any legitimate allegiances or undermine essential loyalties. The purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. Diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world are not to be ignored or suppressed, but a wider loyalty, a larger aspiration is called upon. The Baha'i­ Writings call for the subordination of national impulses and interests to the imperative claims of a unified world, but they also repudiate excessive centralization and disclaim all attempts at uniformity. They answer the question of minorities with a call to "unity in diversity," in Mr. Eide's words "pluralism in togetherness" (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/34, chap. II.B). To preserve and honor diversity without making differences a cause for conflict requires a new way of thinking, based on respect for the rights of every individual. This new way of thinking, characterized some years ago as a "culture of human rights," must be developed and supported by human rights education.

In his Working Paper, Mr. Eide emphasizes that within human rights' education an "appropriate balance ... must be maintained between the knowledge of one's own rights and respect and protection of the rights of others, including members of different religious or ethnic groups." (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1994/36, para. 36) A sense of responsibility for ensuring respect for the rights of all citizens must be cultivated in both individuals and governments. When all members of a community are valued, respected, and encouraged to contribute, the entire community benefits. Every organized local or national Baha'i­ community understands that its first and inescapable obligation is to nurture, encourage and safeguard every minority belonging to any faith, race, class or nation within it. And this for no other reason than to stimulate and encourage minorities, and afford them an opportunity to further the interests of the community. As the Baha'i­ Writings indicate, "when divers shades of thought, temperament and character are brought together... the beauty and glory of human perfection will be revealed and made manifest."

Xenophobia, ethno-nationalism, and a myriad of other divisive evils will not disappear without conscious effort to shift our shared social beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. Laws must be supported by a global culture of human rights. If violation of the rights of any person or group became socially unacceptable, this would strongly undermine the effects of maneuvers of "cynical but skillful political entrepreneurs wanting to make use of ... irrational sentiments for purposes of political gain." (ibid., para. 13)

Heartfelt commitment to upholding the rights of everyone is unlikely if the goal of human rights education stops at mere tolerance. Not until we truly value the divers groups that constitute the human family and learn attitudes and skills necessary for full cooperation, will a peaceful yet pluralistic society be possible.

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