equality of men and women Archives

By The Bahá'í World

The equality of women and men is a spiritual reality asserted by Bahá’u’lláh and a pillar of Bahá’í belief, as evidenced by many statements in the Bahá’í writings. This spiritual reality, Bahá’ís believe, must be manifested today in its fullness in social reality.

Equality is an indispensable element for the progress of humanity, a principle which requires that women and men move forward together in dynamic partnership. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has stated that “As long as women are prevented from attaining their highest possibilities, so long will men be unable to achieve the greatness which might be theirs.”¹ Reiterating the principle in a statement to the United Nations in 2015, the Bahá’í International Community described the equality of women and men as “a facet of human reality” and asserted, “That which makes human beings human—their inherent dignity and nobility—is neither male nor female. The search for meaning, for purpose, for community; the capacity to love, to create, to persevere, has no gender,” concluding that “Such an assertion has profound implications for the organization of every aspect of human society.”²

The Bahá’í community has, as a matter of faith, pursued the application of this principle over the entire span of the Faith’s history, basing its actions on Bahá’u’lláh’s statement “Praised be God, the Pen of the Most High hath lifted distinctions from between His servants and handmaidens, and, through His consummate favours and all-encompassing mercy, hath conferred upon all a station and rank of the same plane”³—an assertion that was reinforced and elaborated upon in many statements and writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, such as the following: “… in the sight of Bahá, women are accounted the same as men, and God hath created all humankind in His own image, and after His own likeness. That is, men and women alike are the revealers of His names and attributes, and from the spiritual viewpoint there is no difference between them.”⁴ In their efforts to realize this vision, Bahá’í individuals, institutions, and communities around the world have striven to understand more deeply its implications and have engaged in discourses and actions to promote gender equality ranging from grassroots initiatives to contributions at international fora.⁵

Since the Bahá’í writings emphasize both the importance of women as equal partners in the advancement of civilization and the key role of mothers as the first educators of the next generation, it was natural that the earliest endeavors in Persia focused on encouraging families to provide for the education of their girl children and on establishing schools for girls. Throughout the past century and a half, the geographical scope and range of activities related to gender equality have both broadened, and over the past 25 years, in particular, the training and community-building endeavors in which Bahá’ís in all parts of the globe are engaged have given further momentum to, and provided additional settings for, the practical expression of this principle.

DEVELOPING WOMEN’S CAPACITIES AT THE GRASSROOTS

The Bahá’í community recognizes that, while tremendous efforts in the areas of policy have been made at the international level by organizations such as the United Nations, the advancement of women cannot be brought about or sustained merely through legislation or policy directives that give women additional power within existing, unbalanced structures and systems. And even if attempts to change those social structures are made, such changes will not be sufficient to create conditions that allow women and girls to develop fully; unhealthy values may continue to be held by men and women, as well as boys and girls, sustaining exploitative behaviors.⁶ To effect the profound changes needed, educational processes that help to develop spiritual as well as intellectual capacities, that uphold the oneness of humanity, and that promote the equality of women and men play a pivotal role in establishing patterns of relationships that meet the needs of this age.⁷

Women play a key role in community banking in Mongolia.

At the most basic level, the home is the nurturing ground of values such as truth or dishonesty, justice or injustice, kindness or violence. And from the home, behaviors rooted in these values radiate through society. For example, when boys are allowed to dominate their sisters within the family, what deters them from doing the same at their school or place of work—or even in national or international arenas? If, instead, sons and daughters are raised so that both participate in household duties and both participate in decision-making, these are the habits they will take out into the world as they grow to adulthood.⁸ Efforts to nurture values that promote gender equality at the roots of community life are clearly key to change.

The purpose of the institute process which the Bahá’í community has been developing since 1996 (see “A New Institution of Learning,” in this volume) is to develop capacities in participants—women and men, boys and girls—to contribute to the spiritual and material advancement of their societies. The first quotation in the first book of the curriculum invites them to reflect on a statement of Bahá’u’lláh regarding their role as individuals: “The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct.”⁹ The materials train participants to engage in behavior and facilitate activities that contribute directly to the advancement of the communities in which they live. Beyond the basic activities, participants acquire knowledge, skills and insights that equip them to participate in the discourses prevalent in their society and to engage in social action endeavors. Women have been at the heart of all these efforts. What is especially remarkable is that, in the aggregate, despite the vast inequalities between women and men in most societies, globally, women comprise half of those who have completed the first sequence of courses of the training institute—and in all except the first book, women outnumber men. This is also more dramatically the case in the higher sequence of courses where the ratio of women to men is around 60 percent. These remarkable statistics reflect the emphasis that the worldwide Bahá’í community places on the equality of women and men and the essential part that women play in social transformation.

Women in Lundu, Sarawak, participate in a study circle.

Professor Hoda Mahmoudi, Bahá’í Chair for World Peace at the University of Maryland

The percentage of women engaged in the educational processes of the institute reveals the central role they have played in promoting it in their own communities and in its dissemination to other parts of the world. Many of those who complete institute courses continue on to serve as tutors, teachers of children’s classes, and animators in the junior youth spiritual empowerment program. One example illustrating the level of female empowerment that has been achieved originates in the Central African Republic: In 2014, while only 20 percent of primary teachers in the national educational system were women, the percentage of primary teachers in community schools raised up through the training institute was 55 percent—rising to 60 percent in rural areas. Around the world, the level of women’s participation as animators and coordinators in the junior youth program is comparable. Such a level of engagement is a strong indicator of the effectiveness of the training institute in the enfranchisement of women and girls.

Specific attention is given to identifying, training, and accompanying women in their efforts, including practical actions related to program delivery. These include the decentralization of training seminars to allow women to participate close to home and the provision of childcare to mothers. Furthermore, the training institute materials themselves, as well as those developed for the junior youth spiritual empowerment program and other Bahá’í-inspired education programs, such as the Preparation for Social Action and community schools programs, all promote the principle of gender equality, whether explicitly or implicitly. For example, of the nine texts developed for the junior youth program by 2017, seven mention the equality of women, the advancement of women, or the education of girls, while more than half of the units in the Preparation for Social Action program make explicit reference to the theme.

In study circles around the world, as shown in London, United Kingdom, the sharing of insights by every participant is encouraged and valued.

Assisting women to develop capacities through collaborative study, action, and reflection helps change culture by breaking down prejudices of sex and gender. Experience with community schools in Africa and Asia has shown that those starting with female teachers are more sustainable over the first few years than those starting with men. Women have been better able to persevere through this unstable period with little remuneration, while pressure on men to provide for their families makes it difficult for them to sacrifice to that level. Beyond the obvious benefits of sustainable educational opportunities, village councils are now beginning to appoint women teachers to serve on community development and administrative committees—positions that were previously filled only by men.

Clearly, when women and men and boys and girls all become advocates for gender equality, everyone benefits. Sometimes the steps towards such change are dramatic, and sometimes they are incremental. For example, the holding of gatherings to join with others in prayer may seem like a simple activity, but in a village in India, these gatherings have provided rare community acceptance for women to leave their houses. As a result, the “long-standing system requiring women to seclude and isolate themselves is starting to give way” as participants realize that long-established customs are less important than educating children, consulting with each other to solve problems together—and allowing women to participate in community activities.¹⁰

An experimental agricultural plot at the University Center for Rural Well-Being in Jamundi-Robles, Colombia

The proliferation of such efforts worldwide is helping to advance the creation of social environments and structures capable of meeting the needs of this age. Challenges such as social inequities, climate change, and global health emergencies, to mention a few, show in starker and starker relief the inadequacy of current outmoded customs and systems to deal with them. Advancing the role of women will undoubtedly serve to better equip humanity to address the ordeals it faces. As the Bahá’í International Community stated in 2021:

Against the backdrop of a world undergoing profound change, there is a growing recognition of the indispensable role that women in leadership play. In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, nations in which women contributed more prominently to the leadership of society were seen to have generated a degree of stability across a variety of short-term indicators, including public health and economic security. At the community level, women continue to play an indispensable role—and often lead—in caring for the sick, educating the young, tending to the needy, and sustaining the social and economic fabric more broadly. Never has it been more clear how much humanity benefits when women’s leadership is embraced and promoted at every level of society, whether in the family or the village, the community or local government, the corporation or the nation.¹¹

With regard to the issue of climate change, while it is true that women are greatly impacted by its negative effects on the natural environments from which they earn their living in many parts of the world, they are also equipped to respond to it. Experience is proving that participation in the institute courses has provided women with skills to deal with this issue at the grassroots level. For example, when a major cyclone hit Dili, in Timor-Leste, and cut off external assistance, participants in the training institute courses used the skills and networks they had formed through their collaborative study to assist more than 7,000 people across 13 villages and neighborhoods with access to food and other essentials. And in Okcheay, Cambodia, a tree-planting project that had been devised by youth participants protected roads in the area from soil erosion when severe flooding occurred several years later.

Eight members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Belize cast their votes in the election of the Universal House of Justice.

Bani Dugal, Principal Representative of the Bahá’í International Community to the United Nations; Mary Power, former Director of the BIC Office for the Advancement of Women; and Representative Saphira Rameshfa

While difficult to live through, unstable periods provide humanity with opportunities to examine our collective values. Women, the Bahá’í writings assert, must have their rightful place as equals to men in every sphere of human endeavor, contributing at every level of decision making and bringing their capacities to bear on the fortunes of their communities, societies, and all of humankind.

DEVELOPING CAPACITIES AND ADMINISTRATIVE MEMBERSHIP

At the global level, experience has shown that increased emphasis on the education of women and girls results in a corresponding rise in the level of their participation in public life and community affairs.¹² Likewise, the Bahá’í community has witnessed, as a result of its efforts to develop the capacities of participants through its worldwide training institute process, a substantial increase in the membership of women on institutions within the Bahá’í community and their shouldering of administrative responsibilities.

The administrative order of the Bahá’í world community is composed of both elected and appointed arms. As of 20 April 2021, some 42 percent of those elected to serve on the 174 National Spiritual Assemblies around the world were women, rising from about 30 percent in 1994–95. The ratio of women serving as office-bearers rose to 35 percent, compared to 19 percent in 1983, and some 53 percent of those serving as the principal executive officer (titled “National Secretary”) were women. Membership of women on Regional Bahá’í Councils was about 46 percent. When considered in the global context of women’s representation in governing institutions, such a high percentage of membership is impressive. These figures are worldwide results, including numerous societies where equality may not yet be accepted even in principle. It indicates a growing embrace of the spiritual principle of gender equality by the men and women who elect their institutions through secret ballot as well as confidence in women’s administrative capacities.

On the appointed institutions, the percentage of women members is even higher—an indication of the attention given to identifying women of capacity and enlisting them to serve. As of April 2020, of the nine members comprising the International Teaching Centre, 56 percent were women, rising from 29 percent in 1973, when it was established. Of the 90 members of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, 47 percent were women (up from 19 percent in 1968 when the Continental Boards were created, and 52 percent of the 1,059 members of the Auxiliary Boards around the world were women.¹³

The education of girls is central to all Bahá’í initiatives, as shown in Mongolia.

While there are variations among the continents in the percentage of women members, particularly on the elected institutions, the steady move towards more gender-balanced membership indicates an increased understanding of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s statement “Not until the world of women becomes equal to the world of men in the acquisition of virtues and perfections, can success and prosperity be attained as they ought to be.”¹⁴

ON THE INTERNATIONAL FRONT: PARTICIPATION IN DISCOURSES AT THE UNITED NATIONS

At the international level, the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) has advocated for the equality of women and men since the inception of the United Nations, making its first statement on gender equality in 1947. Shortly after it became an accredited non-governmental organization (NGO) in 1970, it began to advocate for the girl child. In 1974, as an NGO member of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, the BIC made a statement to the twenty-fifth Session of the Commission that recommended greater emphasis on the importance of educating girls. With regard to this topic, the Bahá’í International Community was ahead of its time. Over the decades, as the UN gave greater attention to the issue of the girl child and many other international organizations focused on it as a strategy for development, the BIC has continued to advocate for girls’ education and has made numerous official statements about it. The BIC has also collaborated with other NGOs and entities such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and continues to serve on UNICEF’s NGO Working Group on Girls. The BIC was also one of the earliest proponents at the United Nations of the idea that men and boys play an important role in promoting gender equality, particularly that their full development depends upon the advancement of women, since a society based on gender equality serves the interests of both women and men.¹⁵

In its statements and in discourses at the United Nations, the BIC has addressed topics as diverse as gender and leadership, violence against women and girls, the climate crisis as a catalyst for nurturing a more gender-balanced culture, the role of women as well as men in establishing a flourishing world civilization, transforming the structures of society, and religion and gender equality.

On this last theme, while acknowledging that religion has often been seen as a negative force, the Bahá’í International Community has urged the open examination of religion as “a basis for social and political mobilization” and has advocated for a discourse centered around three themes: the role of religious leaders in supporting gender equality, the role of men and boys in demonstrating “new understandings of masculinity,” and religious interpretations that discriminate against women and thus serve as an impediment to peace.¹⁶

While it has always related its contributions to UN discussions on gender equality to spiritual principle, by 2008, the BIC began to draw as well on the rich experience of the Bahá’í community to contribute to the advancement of civilization. The film Glimpses into the Spirit of Gender Equality, produced on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Beijing conference, combines footage from the United Nations, tracing the BIC’s efforts to advocate for the education of girls and for gender equality, with stories from the grass- roots.¹⁷ It showcases the experiences and initiatives of individuals, families, community members, and village leaders in Colombia, India, Malaysia, the United States, and Zambia, to illustrate how even small steps can contribute to change in a culture. The film offers insights gleaned from efforts made over the past 25 years to apply Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings regarding equality in different communities and settings. It conveys how the lessons being learned at the grassroots reinforce efforts being made in international fora for the advancement of women, providing a view of what has been learned thus far about building a civilization that values and nurtures both material and spiritual qualities in all its members.

CONCLUSION

In the long process of building a global civilization, sustained and coordinated action to establish gender equality is vital. While the Bahá’í community can take stock of its progress in this regard and the insights it has gleaned over almost 200 years in a growing variety of settings, the work is far from done. Efforts to nurture strong, vibrant communities in which women and men strive in dynamic partnership to build an equitable society must be extended and deepened.18 In this work, the community derives its vision and its impetus from statements such as the following, made by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in 1912, during His travels in North America: “… until woman and man recognize and realize equality, social and political progress here or anywhere will not be possible. For the world of humanity consists of two parts or members: one is woman; the other is man. Until these two members are equal in strength, the oneness of humanity cannot be established, and the happiness and felicity of mankind will not be a reality.”¹⁸

By The Bahá'í World

By the closing decade of the twentieth century, the Bahá’í Faith was the second-most widespread religion in the world, with adherents in virtually every country and territory on the planet.

As the community developed and spread geographically, Bahá’ís, in nearly every land, promoted fundamental spiritual principles: the oneness of the human race, the equality of women and men, the eradication of all forms of prejudice, the harmony of science and religion, freedom from imitation and superstition, and the need for universal education, to name a few. To the best of their ability and available resources, they gave practical expression to these principles in vastly different societies and labored to build communities liberated from the barriers that have historically divided humanity.

As their numbers and resources increased, Bahá’ís were further able to direct their energies toward the betterment of the world. They initiated hundreds of social and economic development projects in areas ranging from health to education to the advancement of women. They championed the cause of peace on the international stage through the United Nations Offices of the Bahá’í International Community. And around the world, they were vigorous promoters of interfaith dialogue.

In 1992, some 27,000 people attended the second Bahá’í World Congress in New York City, enabling the community, by then more than five million people, to appreciate the extent to which the Faith had grown and flourished in just over a century.

What had been accomplished to that point was, in many respects, remarkable. Under the stewardship of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and, subsequently, Shoghi Effendi, a relatively small and courageous band of Bahá’ís had established communities around the planet and laid the basis of a unique network of institutions. By the second half of the century, periods of large-scale growth in certain parts of the world revealed the degree to which many people and populations found a reflection of their highest aspirations in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh.

As the new millennium approached, there was every indication that growing numbers would see in the Bahá’í Faith hope for the future of humanity and would dedicate themselves to laying the foundations of the world civilization envisioned in the Bahá’í writings. Yet, rapid growth had raised substantial questions for which there were no clear answers at the time: How could the Bahá’í world—in response to the great receptivity it was encountering virtually everywhere—learn to establish communities that would continuously grow in size and embrace people of all walks of life? At the same time, how could such communities learn to create the conditions in which more and more people would be empowered to apply Bahá’í principles and teachings to their individual development as well as for the progress of their communities?

A TURNING POINT

The year 1996 would prove to be pivotal. With the launching of a series of global plans, the Universal House of Justice set the Bahá’í community on a 25-year journey of learning in action that would enable it to address the questions before it and lead to hard-earned development and maturation.

Over that time, there were six global plans in sequence: a Four Year Plan in 1996, a One Year Plan in 2000, and four subsequent Five Year Plans, ending in 2021. Each plan built upon the achievements of the previous plan and opened new horizons in the next.

No one, at the outset, could have anticipated just how profound the global community’s transformation would be or the many insights that its experience would yield. By the close of the period, a community had emerged whose boundaries were more porous, whose understanding of the implications of oneness and justice were deeper, and whose conception of the power of religion to transform individuals and communities was more profound. Its capacity to take action and to learn in systematic ways corresponded with a rise in humility born of the recognition that it aspires to achieve something that humanity does not yet know how to build.

THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE BAHÁ’Í COMMUNITY

The series of plans began by calling on the Bahá’í world to focus on its own growth and development and on strengthening its ability to share and apply the Bahá’í teachings for the betterment of the world. This focus proved highly generative. As the community advanced and gained new insights and capacities, it was able to apply them to other areas of activity oriented toward social transformation.

The period began with the establishment of a new institution of learning—the training institute. Over time, Bahá’ís developed and progressively refined the institute’s unique system of education that has enabled millions of people to study the sacred writings in small groups and to take practical actions that help advance both the community and the wider society. The institute enabled the community to vastly multiply core activities that had proven fundamental to serving the spiritual needs of a population. In places where such activities were open and accessible to all, these, together with other activities, began to be woven into an increasingly rich pattern of community life. The Bahá’í community came to see and describe its efforts more explicitly and clearly in terms of community building.

Whereas prior to 1996, many of the largest local Bahá’í communities comprised several hundred individuals with varying degrees of participation in community life, by the close of the period, the largest communities were learning to integrate and work with tens of thousands of people connected in varying degrees to community-building processes.

Growth, it should be plainly stated, has never been an end in and of itself. Bahá’ís see in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh a path towards a global civilization unlike anything humanity has been able to achieve at earlier stages in its collective life. Their own institutions and communities are early contributions in humanity’s efforts to establish the foundations of that civilization. And the spread of the Bahá’í Faith has, in accordance with Bahá’u’lláh’s explicit admonitions, always been through peaceful means and free of any form of coercion, proselytization, or manipulation. One’s sacred duty, Bahá’u’lláh taught, is to see with one’s own eyes and to pursue truth and reality proactively.

The aim of expansion, then, has been to create a pathway for people who believe in the oneness of humankind to work together for a world which reflects that fundamental principle. How could Bahá’í communities more effectively open and widen that pathway?

In 2010, just past the midway point of the series of plans, the Universal House of Justice described the relationship between the growth of the community and its ability to contribute to social transformation:

What should be apparent is that, if the Administrative Order is to serve as a pattern for future society, then the community within which it is developing must not only acquire capacity to address increasingly complex material and spiritual requirements but also become larger and larger in size. How could it be otherwise. A small community, whose members are united by their shared beliefs, characterized by their high ideals, proficient in managing their affairs and tending to their needs, and perhaps engaged in several humanitarian projects—a community such as this, prospering but at a comfortable distance from the reality experienced by the masses of humanity, can never hope to serve as a pattern for restructuring the whole of society. That the worldwide Bahá’í community has managed to avert the dangers of complacency is a source of abiding joy to us. Indeed, the community has well in hand its expansion and consolidation. Yet, to administer the affairs of teeming numbers in villages and cities around the globe—to raise aloft the standard of Bahá’u’lláh’s World Order for all to see—is still a distant goal.¹

The progress made by the Bahá’í world after 1996 enabled it to better appreciate how, as its resources increased, it could contribute to the civilization-building process envisioned in the Bahá’í writings. It came to understand this contribution as having two dimensions: the growth and development of the community itself, and its involvement in society at large.

INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIETY AT LARGE

By the second half of the series of plans, the Universal House of Justice encouraged the Bahá’í community to draw on the many insights and capacities it had gained in community building and to apply these to its efforts to contribute to social transformation more broadly.

Already for many decades, the Bahá’í community had undertaken numerous initiatives in the arena of social and economic development. With an enhanced capacity at the grassroots and with clarity about the conceptual framework governing Bahá’í endeavors, efforts in social action multiplied around the world.

Initiatives of fixed duration—for example, to preserve and revive the physical environment, promote community health, or enhance literacy and education—became a natural outgrowth of community-building processes in neighborhoods and villages. Such initiatives became a regular feature of Bahá’í educational programs for youth and junior youth. In many dynamic, outward-looking Bahá’í communities, the active participation of hundreds and thousands of people in efforts to enhance the spiritual and intellectual life of the community was complemented by efforts to address social and material progress. Animating these efforts was a conviction that every population should have owner- ship of its own development—that development is not something one group does for another.

This conviction shaped the approaches of a growing number of Bahá’í-inspired organizations that initiated programs which were complementary to, integrated with, and mutually supportive of community-building processes at the grassroots. Programs focusing on the moral and spiritual empowerment of junior youth, on the promotion of community schools through teacher training, and on the training of young people as promoters of community well-being flourished. More broadly, the Bahá’í world experienced an efflorescence of activity in areas such as agriculture, education, arts and media, health, the local economy, and the advancement of women.

In parallel with such developments was the growing involvement of Bahá’ís in the broad conversations focused on social well-being and progress. From the workplace or school to the local community, and to the international stage, Bahá’ís sought to make a contribution in the many social spaces where thinking evolves and gives meaning and direction to action in society. Their efforts secured in many societies the trust and friendship of those who, like Bahá’ís, were striving to advance the cause of peace, justice, and social well-being.

Notably, at the international level, the Bahá’í International Community expanded its presence—opening new regional offices in Addis Ababa, Brussels, and Jakarta—and refined and intensified the involvement of its United Nations offices in New York and Geneva in prevalent discourses. Further, scores of National Spiritual Assemblies’ Offices of External Affairs emerged, many of them engaged vigorously in public discourse, making remarkable strides and helping to consolidate the Bahá’í community as a recognized contributor to social progress in their countries. All such efforts were directed at those discourses that have a significant bearing on the well-being of humanity, such as peace, religious coexistence, social cohesion, racial justice, the role of religion in society, and migration.

By seeking to foster unity and consultation; by establishing distinctive consultative spaces for respectful dialogue aimed at consensus and collective understanding; by infusing the often chaotic landscape of discourse with hope; by selflessly contributing human, material, and intellectual resources for the advancement of vital causes; by learning with others in the context of addressing the vital issues of the day—by each of these and other features of Bahá’í participation in discourse, the Bahá’í world witnessed in many societies the power of spiritual principles to effect change. In some societies, meaningful contributions to public discourse helped change the fortunes of the Bahá’í community, lifting it out of obscurity and opening the way for it to offer a greater share to the progress of society.

REFLECTIONS ON PROGRESS MADE

Today, the Bahá’í community numbers about eight million. In the progress made over the past quarter century can be found evidence of humanity’s capacity to transcend division and polarization and to give expression to unity, cooperation, and the inherent nobility and goodness of people.

Certain qualities and characteristics have become the ideals toward which this growing community strives and has made progress: a posture of learning; dedication to the long-term process of action and reflection about how to translate the ideals of the Faith into reality; a sustainable and systematic approach to social change; a consciousness of oneness that transcends any sense of “us” and “them”; a long-term effort to create a new pattern of essential social relationships among the individual, the community, and the institutions; a desire to learn with and from people of goodwill everywhere; a spirit of intergenerational cooperation, with young people in many ways at the forefront; a dedication to the spiritual and intellectual development of all children; a commitment to overcoming prejudice; a pursuit of justice in unifying ways; and a perspective that seeks to harmonize faith with reason and religious conviction with scientific truth.

To work toward the realization of such ideals, of course, does not mean that the community has achieved them. Its efforts are, and no doubt will continue to be, a work in progress. The community, explains the Universal House of Justice,

makes no claims to perfection. To uphold high ideals and to have become their embodiment are not one and the same. Myriad are the challenges that lie ahead, and much remains to be learned.… However idealistic the Bahá’í endeavour may appear to some, its deep-seated concern for the good of humankind cannot be ignored. And given that no current arrangement in the world seems capable of lifting humanity from the quagmire of conflict and contention and securing its felicity, why would any … object to the efforts of one group of people to deepen its understanding of the nature of those essential relationships inherent to the common future towards which the human race is being inexorably drawn?²

At this writing, millions inspired by the teachings of the Faith, in a wide range of settings, are participating in grassroots activities that strengthen the spiritual and social fabric of community life. Many are not formally enrolled as Bahá’ís but are increasingly identifying themselves with the Faith’s ideals and exploring its prescription for the world.

A community is emerging that does not divide the world but rather encourages growing numbers of people, of various faiths and of none, to build together the elements of a more just and peaceful society—working, for instance, through its educational system to raise a generation of children whose hearts are free from prejudice and whose spiritual qualities are cultivated together with their rational and scientific faculties.

At the administrative level, the national communities with an elected governing council (National Spiritual Assembly) currently number 174. There are 228 Regional Councils in 61 countries. Nearly 330 training institutes administer a novel system of distance education that enables people to study sacred writings in small groups and to discover practical and meaningful ways to apply spiritual principles to their individual lives and in service to their locality and society.

Of the millions who have participated in at least one of the training institute courses, the majority are women—a startling fact in light of the widespread disparities that continue to define women’s experience throughout most of the world. Women also comprise the majority of those serving in the appointed arm of Bahá’í administration, which includes members of the International Teaching Centre, the Continental Boards of Counsellors, and Auxiliary Board members and their assistants.

Among National Spiritual Assemblies, women make up 42 percent of the membership and 53 percent of their principal executive officers—another significant indicator of movement toward greater equality and a statistic that stands out dramatically when compared with society at large. Nonetheless, the community is keenly aware that the goal of a world in which women and men are regarded as equals in every sphere of society and contribute together to the advancement of civilization is still, as yet, a distant one. There is much that remains to be learned and achieved.

In the area of social and economic development, progress has also been stark. The number of social action initiatives has multiplied from around 2,000 to more than 70,000, most of which are activities of limited duration. Sustained endeavors in social and economic development have increased from around 300 to more than 1,500. The number of Bahá’í-inspired organizations has correspondingly risen to support such efforts, from around 30 to more than 160.

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

The election of the Universal House of Justice in 1963 was arguably humanity’s first global democratic election. Since that time, the House of Justice has guided the Bahá’í community and ensured its dynamic unity. The flow of its encouragement and guidance was a major feature of the period under review. Through letters, the House of Justice supported the global community, harmonized thought and action, cultivated a stronger orientation toward learning, called on Bahá’ís to adopt a posture of humility, and encouraged them to be courageous in forging new pathways of service and action.

The House of Justice emphasized that development is not something one group does for another. Humanity, it asserted, is on a path toward building a global civilization that is unlike anything known to it today. Every soul, indeed every population, must therefore have the opportunity to contribute to, and benefit from, the lessons learned throughout the planet.

The Bahá’í administrative system evolved to enable the Bahá’í institutions to support and cultivate learning and to allow for new insights and experience at the grassroots to be shared appropriately for the benefit of other communities. A dynamic flow of communication traveled from small pockets and unassuming settings to the regional, national, and international levels, and those insights and approaches that were universally helpful were distilled and shared in a manner that vastly extended the worldwide community’s capacity to learn.

The election of the Universal House of Justice in April 2018 opened a window onto the vast diversity of the Bahá’í community and the distance the global community has traversed. Members of the National Spiritual Assemblies, representing the divers peoples of the world, gathered at the Bahá’í World Centre. The delegates sat side by side as one family. Some arrived after weeks of travel—beginning in remote villages, traveling by foot, by bus, by car, by boat, by plane—to represent their respective national communities. Some came from the major cosmopolitan centers of the planet.

Delegates at the Twelfth International Bahá’í Convention, Haifa, April 2018— a remarkable demonstration of the oneness of humankind

Some represented historically ostracized or oppressed populations. Some were from among the indigenous people of their land. Some were refugees. This most diverse of groupings of the human family was united as one people with shared convictions and aspirations.

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“The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens,” wrote Bahá’u’lláh over a century and a half ago. “Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.” “So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.” With such evocative images and concepts, He set in motion a process which is releasing humanity’s spiritual potential in ever greater measure. In the series of plans from 1996 to 2021, a community of millions—a cross section of the peoples of the world—took a great leap forward in its efforts to make that vision a reality. Today, the global community stands at the start of yet another series of plans that will carry it 25 years into the future, the scope of another generation.