Bahá’u’lláh has specified that..”Women and men have been and will always be equal in the sight of God. The Dawning Place of the Light of God sheddeth its radiance upon all with the same effulgence.” This has been confirmed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá …”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. Whosoever draweth nearer to God, that one is the most favoured, whether man or woman. Know thou that the distinction between male and female is an exigency of the physical world and hath no connection with the spirit; for the spirit and the world of the spirit are sanctified above such exigencies, and wholly beyond the reach of such changes as befall the physical body in the contingent world.”
If women and men could understand that they are of two natures – one physical and one spiritual, it would be easier to solve the enigma of gender equality. The physical nature is one of necessity for the progress of humanity and it is also one of complementarity as part of the laws of the physical world. Unfortunately, this complementarity has been dissected into duality, into otherness, which is inherently divisive. It has seeped into all aspects of human life and human society for two thousand years of known history. Awareness that this viewpoint is inaccurate is slowly creeping through societies and institutions. There has always been a perception that there was something infinitely more indefinable within humanity but was just that little bit out of reach. The challenge is to develop those parts that will heal the mis-understandings of nature. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained , “The world of humanity consists of two parts: male and female. Each is the complement of the other … It is not natural that either should remain undeveloped; and until both are perfected, the happiness of the human world will not be realized. For man (i.e.humanity), two wings are necessary. One wing is physical power and material civilization; the other is spiritual power and divine civilization. With one wing only, flight is impossible. Two wings are essential. Therefore, no matter how much material civilization advances, it cannot attain to perfection except through the uplift of spiritual civilization. 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.
Here is ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s promise; “So it will come to pass that when women participate fully and equally in the affairs of the world, when they enter confidently and capably the great arena of laws and politics, war will cease.”
The Universal House of Justice writes; “… the achievement of full equality between the sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites of peace.”