Chronicle Editor
Flora Teckie A Bahá’í Perspective —
“16 days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence”, is observed globally from November 25 to December 10.
This is an opportune time to reflect on the progress we have made towards empowerment of women, while looking ahead to overcoming the challenges that still remain.
In the last few decades there has been noteworthy improvement in the status of women and girls. They have achieved higher rates of education. They have risen to prominent roles in professional and political spheres. Efforts are being made towards their improved access to food security, health care and economic opportunities.
Despite these positive developments, however, women are still frequently not treated as equals in their families or in society and the conventional beliefs that women are inferior to men make them easy targets for anger, frustration and violence. Even strong legal remedies and enforcement mechanisms have had little effect.
In search for solutions, it is essential to deal not only with the outward and legal aspects of the problem, but also with the inward dimension that concern the cultural, moral, and religious spheres of life.
According to a statement of the Baha’i International Community: “Efforts to eradicate the epidemic of violence against women and girls . . . must not be limited to legal and institutional reforms, for these address only the manifest crime and are incapable of generating the deep-rooted changes needed to create a culture where justice and equality prevail . . . Indeed the inner and outer dimensions of human life are reciprocal – one cannot be reformed without the other.”
Need for greater focus on prevention
Most policies presently adopted focus on the problem of violence rather than its prevention. However, it is important to focus simultaneously on dealing with violence with equal, if not greater attention on preventing it.
According to a Statement of the Bahá’í International Community: “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”.
The effect of the persistent denial to women of full equality with men, in the family set up or in some belief systems, sharpens further the challenge of dealing with violence.
Ending violence against women requires overcoming of gender prejudice. It is the Bahá’í view that recognition of our oneness, the oneness of human race, is the key to overcoming our prejudices – whether gender-based, racial or religious – that frequently lead to discrimination and violence.
“The principle of the oneness of humankind” in the Bahá’í view “lies at the heart of the exhortation that we should treat others as we ourselves would wish to be treated.
To establish justice, peace and order in an interdependent world, this principle must guide all interactions, including those between men and women. If the treatment of women were scrutinised in the light of this ethical standard, we would doubtless move beyond many traditional, religious and cultural practices”.
It is the requirement of justice that every one is treated equally and with dignity. A commitment to the establishment of full equality between men and women in the family, work place and in the society will, therefore, be central to the success of efforts to eradicate violence against women and girls. “Women and men,” the Bahá’í Writings state, “have been and will always be equal in the sight of God”.
The soul has no gender and the social inequities, which may have been dictated by the survival requirements of the past, cannot be justified at a time when humanity stands at the threshold of maturity.
Moral and spiritual values
Appropriate laws, and the mechanisms developed for their enforcement, although very necessary, seem to have little impact on eradicating gender-based violence.
There is clearly a need for us to follow moral and spiritual principles. These facilitate the shift in our values required to put into practice gender equality and justice towards all. A profound adjustment in humanity’s outlook is necessary, guided by the spiritual principles to eradicate violence.
“Indeed, it is in the recognition of the oneness of the human family that hearts will soften, minds will open, and the attitudes of men and women will be transformed”.
Drawing their inspiration and authority from religion, moral and ethical values serve to define our attitudes and to motivate and orient our behavior. As stated in the Bahá’í Writings: ” . . . there are two safeguards that protect man from wrongdoing.
One is the law which punishes the criminal; but the law prevents only the manifest crime and not the concealed sin; whereas the ideal safeguard, namely, the religion of God, prevents both the manifest and the concealed crime, trains man, educates morals, compels the adoption of virtues . . . But by religion is meant that which is ascertained by investigation and not that which is based on mere imitation, the foundation of Divine Religions and not human imitations”.
In the Bahá’í view “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 honourable 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”.
Responsibility for change rests on both men and women Responsibility for the change that will bring about gender equality and eradication of violence rests both with men and women.
Unless men refuse to accept laws and practices which discriminate against, and humiliate their daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers, the change of attitude necessary for prevention of violence will not be possible.
According to a statement of the Baha’i International Community: “The personal transformation required for true equality will undoubtedly be difficult for men and women alike. Both must . . . assume responsibility for their own part in transforming the societies in which they live.
Men must use their influence, particularly in the civil, political and religious institutions they control, to promote the systematic inclusion of women, not out of condescension or presumed self-sacrifice but out of the belief that the contributions of women are required for society to progress.
Women, for their part, must become educated and step forward into all arenas of human activity, contributing their particular qualities, skills and experience to the social, economic and political equation.
Women and men together will ensure the establishment of world peace and sustainable development of the planet”.
It is particularly important to start by educating children both in school and at home with values that promote equality and justice. Both individuals and institutions should ensure that younger generation is raised free from prejudice against women and girls.
According to the statement of the Bahá’í International Community violence prevention strategies must include “cultivating in them (children) a sense of dignity as well as a responsibility for the well-being of their family, community, and the world.”
The principle of the fundamental equality of men and women can transform the relations within the family and society, allowing each person to fully develop his or her unique gifts and talents and to contribute to the well-being of the family and society.
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