Advancement of Women

Working Group on Girls 2008 Annual Report.

Bahá'í delegates to the 2009 Commission on the Status of Women (click on photo to enlarge)

Overview

For sixty years, the Bahá'í International Community’s United Nations Office has worked for women’s advancement and gender equality, through its participation and contributions to the session of the Commission on the Status of Women, through strengthening the UN’s gender mechanisms and through supporting the programmes and implementation efforts of its national affiliates. Our office has played a lead role in bringing women’s voices from around the world to bear on UN issues. Along with our national affiliates, we have been involved in each of the UN world conferences on women and children and led the NGO Committee on the Status of Women during the 4th World Conference on Women (Beijing). We continue to work closely with UNICEF and UNIFEM to address issues related to women's and girls' education, their health and security, racism, and violence against women. We believe that the achievement of full equality between the sexes is one of the most important prerequisites of peace.

Recent Activities

• Participation at the 53^rd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women. Over 30 Bahá'í delegates from 18 countries participated in official meetings as observers, on panels as speakers, and as facilitators and reporters for CSW 53^rd caucuses (18 February – 13 March). Read the BIC’s statement to the Commission. BIC co-sponsored a side event titled: "Towards Partnership of Women and Men: Source of Excellence in a Global Economy," which addressed the challenges of women in positions of business leadership, techniques for achieving parity, and advantages to a gender-blind valuing of talents and skills. more...
• UN dialogue focuses on child brides.  Fulya Vekiloglu, former co-chair of UNICEF’s NGO Committee’s Working Group on Girls, and former BIC Representative, made an opening address at this panel discussion, which explored the situation of forced child marriages and human rights violations (18 February). Read full report. 

Activity Archive

Positions on Selected Issues

Equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men

The equal sharing of responsibilities between men and women is an integral component of the establishment of relationships rooted in justice—relationships, which underlie the well-being and development of individuals, families and communities. There can be no doubt that, in this day, the equality of men and women—manifested in part through a just and equal sharing of responsibilities—is attainable and urgently needed. While many of the world’s governments have committed to the promotion of an equal partnership between men and women in family, community and public life, individuals continue to struggle against entrenched patterns of dominance and violence that characterize much of human interaction. more…

Mobilizing Institutional, Legal and Cultural Resources to Achieve Gender Equality

The last several decades have produced landmark documents elaborating the rights of women, calling for an end to all forms of discrimination against women, and outlining strategies to advance gender equality. The systematic implementation of these measures will no doubt require a careful re-thinking of budget priorities and processes. Financing this effort, however, is only part of the equation. As the Bahá'í International Community noted in its statement to the 51^st Commission on the Status of Women, a massive divide still separates the legal apparatus and the culture – embodied in values and institutional norms – required to achieve gender equality.[2] A comprehensive approach to financing gender equality will need to address the constellation of cultural, institutional, and legal obstacles holding back the urgently needed progress of half of the world’s population. more…

Role of men and boys in the advancement of women

Boys must be raised with an understanding of the equality of women and men and be prepared to work together with women as equal partners in all fields of human endeavor. Failure to educate boys for equality will have devastating consequences not only for girls, but also for society as a whole. As long as the oppression of women is tolerated, men will continue to harbor harmful attitudes and habits that they carry from the family to the work place, to political life and ultimately to international relations. Because the attitude of superiority, fostered in men by erroneous beliefs, is often unconscious, programs should be instituted to sensitize males, both boys and men, to the ways in which they may unknowingly discourage girls and block their progress.[1] more...

Equality and the girl child

Not only must girl children receive adequate food, health care, and education, they must be given every opportunity to develop their capacities. As women become educated and enter all fields of human endeavor, they will make unique contributions to the creation of a just world order -- an order characterized by vigor, cooperation, harmony, and a degree of compassion never before witnessed in history. In addition, as mothers they render an invaluable service to humanity by educating the next generation. In that capacity they will be the primary agents for the transformation of society. The dual responsibility of developing the child's character and stimulating the intellect belongs not only to the mother, but to the family as a whole and to the community.[2] more...

Role of religion in the advancement of women

Every religion, particularly in its early stages, has evoked a new vision for society, articulated values consonant with that vision, and inspired both personal and institutional transformation. At the same time, it must be acknowledged that religion has also been a source of division and social fragmentation. Religious leaders and people of faith today have a special responsibility to reaffirm those spiritual and ethical principles capable of transforming human relationships in a way that allows every soul to develop and express its capacities. more...

Ending violence against women

Violence against women is a yardstick by which one can measure the violation of all human rights. It can be used to gauge the degree to which a society is governed by aggression, dominated by competition and ruled by force. Abusive practices against women have frequently been and are still being justified in the context of cultural norms, religious beliefs and unfounded "scientific theories" and assumptions. Whatever its political or religious system, a society patterned on dominance inevitably gives rise to such distortions of power as violence against women. Violence against women degrades not only the victim but the perpetrator as well; those who inflict violence on women are themselves among the casualties of power-based systems. more...

AIDS and gender equality

The denial of equality to women not only promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that affect their families, the workplace, political decisions and international relations; it also contributes substantially to the spread of HIV/AIDS and retards the progress of society. Notice how culturally accepted social inequalities conspire with economic vulnerability to leave women and girls with little or no power to reject unwanted or unsafe sex. Yet, once infected with HIV/AIDS, women are often stigmatized as the source of the disease and persecuted, sometimes violently. Meanwhile, the burden of caring for people living with HIV/AIDS and for children orphaned by the disease falls predominantly on women. Traditional gender roles that have gone unquestioned for generations must now be re-examined in the light of justice and compassion. Ultimately, nothing short of a spiritual transformation will move men--and women--to forego the behaviors that contribute to the spread of AIDS. Such a transformation is as important for men as it is for women, because "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". more...

[1] Empowering Girls. Bahá'í International Community statement to the 42nd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. 2-13 March 1998.  http://bic.org/statements-and-reports/bic-statements/98-0303.htm

[2] Equality and the Girl Child. Statement to the 36th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Priority Theme: Equality. 17 March 1992.  http://bic.org/statements-and-reports/bic-statements/92-0317.htm