A Compilation on Women | Page 9

will lag behind: they
have equal rights with men, and will enter, in the future, into all
branches of the administration of society. Such will be their elevation
that, in every area of endeavour, they will occupy the highest levels in
the human world. Rest thou assured. Look not upon their present state.
In future, the world of womankind will shine with lustrous brilliance,
for such is the will and purpose of Bahá'u'lláh. At the time of elections
the right to vote is the inalienable right of women, and the entrance of
women into all human departments is an irrefutable and
incontrovertible question. No soul can retard or prevent it.
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.
As regards the constitution of the House of Justice, Bahá'u'lláh
addresses the men. He says: "O ye men of the House of Justice!"
But when its members are to be elected, the right which belongs to
women, so far as their voting and their voice is concerned, is
indisputable. When the women attain to the ultimate degree of progress,
then, according to the exigency of the time and place and their great
capacity, they shall obtain extraordinary privileges. Be ye confident on
these accounts. His Holiness Bahá'u'lláh has greatly strengthened the

cause of women, and the rights and privileges of women is one of the
greatest principles of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Rest ye assured! Ere long the days
shall come when the men addressing the women, shall say: 'Blessed are
ye! Blessed are ye! Verily ye are worthy of every gift. Verily ye
deserve to adorn your heads with the crown of everlasting glory,
because in sciences and arts, in virtues and perfections ye shall become
equal to man, and as regards tenderness of heart and the abundance of
mercy and sympathy ye are superior'.
(From a Tablet to an individual believer - translated from the Persian,
published in "Paris Talks: Addresses given by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in Paris in
1911-1912", p. 182-84) [23]

24: The woman of the East has progressed. Formerly in India, Persia
and...
The woman of the East has progressed. Formerly in India, Persia and
throughout the Orient, she was not considered a human being. Certain
Arab tribes counted their women in with the live stock. In their
language the noun for woman also meant donkey; that is, the same
name applied to both and a man's wealth was accounted by the number
of these beasts of burden he possessed. The worst insult one could hurl
at a man was to cry out, "Thou woman!"
From the moment Bahá'u'lláh appeared, this changed. He did away with
the idea of distinction between the sexes, proclaiming them equal in
every capacity.
In former times it was considered wiser that woman should not know
how to read or write; she should occupy herself only with drudgery.
She was very ignorant. Bahá'u'lláh declares the education of woman to
be of more importance than that of man. If the mother be ignorant, even
if the father have great knowledge, the child's education will be at fault,
for education begins with the milk. A child at the breast is like a tender
branch that the gardener can train as he wills.

The East has begun to educate its women. Some there are in Persia who
have become liberated through this cause, whose cleverness and
eloquence the 'ulamá cannot refute. Many of them are poets. They are
absolutely fearless.
...
I hope for a like degree of progress among the women of Europe--that
each may shine like unto a lamp; that they may cry out the
proclamation of the kingdom; that they may truly assist the men; nay,
that they may be even superior to the men, versed in sciences and yet
detached, so that the whole world may bear witness to the fact that men
and women have absolutely the same rights. It would be a cause of
great joy for me to see such women. This is useful work; by it woman
will enter into the kingdom. Otherwise, there will be no results.
("'Abdu'l-Bahá on Divine Philosophy"