ARE MEN AND WOMEN EQUAL IN SOCIETY?

Are Men and Women Equal in Society?



Introduction

The systematic oppression of women is a remarkable and tragic fact of history. Limited to narrow areas of activity in the life of society, denied educational opportunities and human rights, victims of violence, and often treated as less than human, women have been prevented from realizing its true potential. Age patterns of age, of subordination, reflected in popular culture, literature and art, law, and even religious scriptures, continue to invade every aspect of life (Barcalow 1997). Despite the promotion of civil and political rights of women in the United States and the widespread acceptance of equality in principle, full equality has not been achieved.

The damaging effect of gender bias is a fault line beneath the foundation of our national life (Ferrante 2008). The benefits for women with concern the rest unchanged, often unexamined, inherited assumptions. Much remains to be done. The achievement of full equality requires a new understanding of who we are, what our purpose in life, and how they relate to each other an understanding that forces us to reform our lives and therefore our society.

At no time since the founding of the movement of women's rights in the United States has a need to focus on this issue been greater (Griffith 1985). We are entering a new century and new millennium. Their challenges are already upon us, influencing our families, our lifestyles, our nation, our world. In the process of human evolution, the ages of infancy and childhood are past. The turbulence of adolescence is slowly and painfully preparing us for adulthood, when prejudice and exploitation will be abolished and unity established. The elements necessary to unify peoples and nations are precisely those needed to achieve gender equality and improve relations between women and men (Gilligan 1983). The effort to overcome the history of inequality requires the full participation of every man, woman, youth and children.

More than a century ago for the first time in religious history, Bahá'u'lláh, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, in announcing God's purpose for the age, proclaimed the principle of equality between women and men saying: "Women and men have been and will always be equal in the eyes of God." (Card 1991) The establishment of equal rights and privileges for women and men, Bahá'u'lláh says, is a precondition for achieving a wider drive to ensure the welfare and security of all peoples. The Bahá'í writings state emphatically that "When all mankind shall receive the same opportunity of education and equality between men and women realized, the foundations of war will be destroyed."

Thus the Baha'i vision of equality between the sexes is based on the central spiritual principle of the oneness of humanity. The principle of unity requires that "regard humanity as a single person, and oneself as a member of that body shape" and that we foster a strong awareness that "if pain or injury affecting any member of that body, must inevitably ...