Investigations shows that even from the earliest days of the Baha'i Faith we have been involved in a process of spiritual and social transformation, first amongst ourselves and then to work positively towards the betterment of the lives of those around us. For example one of the first of the early Babi's was a well known poet and thinker called Tahirih. Transforming the beliefs and norms of the Persian men in the mid nineteenth century deeply entrenched in Islamic ways was not easy. At the conference of Badasht she removed her veil, exposing her face. This sent shock waves through the conference participants that this new found faith could mean such a radical departure from Islam. Eventually, along with thousands of other early Babi's she was cruelly put to death.
Conference of Badasht - Wikipedia
Táhirih - Wikipedia
In the early 1900s Bahá'í women encouraged by `Abdu'l-Baha were able to gain positions of equality in Bahá'í administration. In Iran, education for girls was started by Bahá'ís leading to the establishment in 1910 of the Tarbiyat School for Girls which helped train the first generation of Iranian professional women. By the 1970s, while the majority of Iranian women were illiterate, most Bahá'í women could read and write.
The Bahá'í Faith's emphasis on equality resulted in actively promoting a number of programs with the aim of the advancement of women with greater access for women to health, education, child-care, and business opportunities. The Universal House of Justice has repeatedly called national Bahá'í communities to promote the equal participation of women in Bahá'í activities. In 1993, the Bahá'í International Community established the Office of the Advancement of Women in New York City at the United Nations, and various national communities have also created their own offices. Activities in these programmes include the promotion of girls' education, literacy, rural health care, and income-generating skills.
Clearly Baha'i efforts have been relatively modest to date as we have about 5 - 7 million adherents worldwide. However the Baha'is despite their small number have always been at the cutting edge of social change and promoting with courage, vigour, and wisdom the spiritual and social aspects of the new age we live in.
Christianity successfully followed Jesus' command to preach the gospels to all nations with Christianity now being the most widespread religion on the planet with well established Christian communities in most localities throughout the world. However Christianity is now in rapid decline in the West, where for centuries it had been strong as its disparate sects, with teachings rooted in the ancient world, struggle to adapt properly to these modern times. The Baha'i Faith emphasises principles such as the oneness of religion, the oneness of humanity, human rights, the equality of men and women, universal education, a world commonwealth, democracy, and a world language and economy. We are well placed to navigate the profound social and spiritual changes of the times we live in and engage positively with our communities. We are developing day by day increasing capacity for spiritual transformation of communities as the world struggles, burdened by customs and traditions that have long outlived their usefulness.
It is true that the Central figures of our Faith, The Bab, Baha'u'llah, and Abdu'l-Baha are all men. I wonder how the faith would have developed in 19th century Persia if it had been women. It is also true that women can not serve on the Universal Hose of Justice. However as with all elected Baha'i Institutions, it is the Universal House of Justice that provides guidance, not the individual members. It is noteworthy that the Chairman is rotated every 3 months so we don't have an identified leader. In fact many Baha'i such as myself would not be able to think of the names of more than one or two current members as we do not follow them as leaders.
However the Baha'i Faith is a grassroots community where most of the decision making happens at a local level by individuals, groups, and elected assemblies. There is complete equality of men and women in every sense within our communities, our national bodies, and all our other international governing bodies.
The purpose of making education of girls a priority is simply elevating motherhood and their role as first educators of children to its rightful place, namely the most important of all human endeavours.
Education holds an important place in the new order of things. The education of each child is compulsory. If there is not money enough in a family to educate both the girl and the boy the money must be dedicated to the girl’s education, for she is the potential mother. If there are no parents the community must educate the child. In addition to this widespread education each child must be taught a profession, art, or trade, so that every member of the community will be enabled to earn his own livelihood. – Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 83.
As for serving in the military, women are exempt, not barred. I think it is a slight error with the Wikipedia link I provided.
But there are certain matters, the participation in which is not worthy of women. For example, at the time when the community is taking up vigorous defensive measures against the attack of foes, the women are exempt from military engagements. It may so happen that at a given time warlike and savage tribes may furiously attack the body politic with the intention of carrying on a wholesale slaughter of its members; under such a circumstance defence is necessary, but it is the duty of men to organize and execute such defensive measures and not the women—because their hearts are tender and they cannot endure the sight of the horror of carnage, even if it is for the sake of defence. From such and similar undertakings the women are exempt.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 183)
I said less mythology, not no mythology. There has been a vital role for stories to be passed down through generations as you say that is central to culture. However the problem is when we can no longer distinguish between what is myth and fact. Take the resurrection of Christ for example. This was a useful myth to promote an understanding or belief in an afterlife. The myths of the high women you spoke of reminded us about the greatness and capacity of women, even during times when there was total male domination.
The Baha'i Faith is not really a hierarchical religion like the other Abrahamic Faiths where we have authority placed with ministers and priests. Instead the authority rests with elected institutions, the individuals having no authority. The arm of the learned with hands of the cause, counsellors, axillary board members, and their assistants are really our spiritual leaders but they have no authority with decision making for communities unlike the assemblies. However they carry moral authority. The rank of the Hands of the Cause were greater than Universal House of Justice members. They had roles with both propagation and protection of the Faith. Their work was to oversee and stimulate the work of the Faith so they were not like Christian missionaries. The Hands of the Cause as a group had the ultimate authority for the 6 years period during 1957 - 1963 after the guardian passed away and the Universal House of Justice was elected. The IBC was always going to be a temporary measure until the House of Justice was elected in accordance with Abdu'l-Baha's instructions in HIs Will and Testament. It worth noting that the arm of the learned provides checks and balances to compliment the work of the arm of the elected.
I'm impressed that you actually read the link I provided you and have been able to demonstrate some understanding of what was involved.
