Equality
For the first time in history, the Founder of a major world religion has explicitly stated that women and men are equal. The Bahá’í writings also state:
- Girls should be given preference over boys when educational opportunities and resources are limited.
- In Bahá’í marriage, neither the husband nor the wife has a dominant voice.
- Any apparent inequality between the capacities of women and men is due solely to the lack of educational opportunities so far open to women.
In response to these principles, Bahá’í communities around the world are striving on a number of fronts to uplift and empower women, seeking to improve the education of women, establishing committees to promote equality, or simply stimulating a broad discussion about the role of women in community life. While the rate of progress in each country and region is affected by historical factors and local traditions, one significant statistic that marks the degree of progress is the high percentage of women — relative to similar institutions in their countries — who have been elected to national-level Bahá’í governing bodies.
Although both women and men are eligible to serve in elective and appointive institutions of the Bahá’í Faith at all other levels, the membership of the Universal House of Justice, the international governing body of the Bahá’í Faith, is limited to men. Bahá’u’lláh Himself outlined this stipulation and it is therefore unchangeable. Further, He gave no clarification for this feature of Bahá’í law. Accordingly, although individual Bahá’ís may speculate on the reasons, there is no official explanation. It remains, simply, a matter of faith.