IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER, WOMEN DON'T COUNT

7/30/2019 IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER, WOMEN DON'T COUNT

1/8

This paper was published in theBaha'i Studies Review, vol. 4, no. 1 (1994), pp. 37-45

Return to Guide to Baha'i Materials on this site

Return to Index of all Baha'i Materials on this site

IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER,

WOMEN DON'T COUNT

Moojan Momen

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the Baha'i goal of achieving equality of womenand men cannot

beachievedmerely by trying to advance the position of womenin society. Rather a much more

radicalchange isneeded to produce a more"feminine" society. At present power is given the

highest socialvalue andisthus the basis for judgements about an individual's worth and status.TheBaha'i Faith teaches that wemust work towards a society with different valuesand an

ethos in which service andco-operation aremore highly valued. Thishas implications for

understanding some of the other Baha'iteachings suchasnon-involvement in partisan politics.

PAPER

This statement can be said to summarize the experience of women in almost every society

inrecordedhistory. Why is it that women have been continually pushed aside in our societies?

How canweconstruct a society in which women play a more equal role? Since Baha'is claim

to work towardsasociety in which women will play a more equal role, what are the features of

that societywhich willbring this about? The history of the past eighty years in the Westhas

shown that merely goodintentionsare not sufficient to bring about atransformation in the

position of women in society.

A useful starting point is to determine what are "the ways that matter" in our society.

Oursocialstructure is one which anthropologists call a patriarchy. This word means a societyin which menrule.But it is not just a question of the gender of those in positions of power and

7/30/2019 IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER, WOMEN DON'T COUNT

2/8

authority. There are aset ofvalues that are typical of the patriarchy. These values continue to

exist even when we had atemporarysituation, as occurred in the Britain duringthe 1980s,

when there was a female monarch and afemaleprime minister. Thesetwo women did not

transform the United Kingdom from a patriarchy intoamatriarchy. It is still a patriarchy and

has the values of a patriarchy. All that happened was thatthesetwo women were made into

"honorary males" within the structure of the patriarchy.

Patriarchy determines the values of our society. It may be said that the patriarchy constructs

ourvisionof what reality is.(1)

This construct then becomes reality for us. We take on board all

ofitsassumptionsand values without a second thought.

What then are the values of the patriarchal society in which we live?In patriarchy, the

supreme valueispower. Those who have power are important; they are taken notice of; their

deeds are recordedinnewspapers and in history books. Those who do not have power are

ignored; they do not count; theyare not even "seen" in the social structure in the sense that no

account is taken of them when decisionsaremade; they do not appear in history books.

A good example of this is Greece in the fifth and fourth millennium B.C. This was the period

inwhichGreek civilization reached its peak; when Socrates, Plato and Aristotle lived in

Athens andAlexanderthe Great conquered most of the civilised world. Thus this is recorded

in the history books asthe "greatand glorious age" of Greece. But that is only the way it looks

in relation to those in power inGreece.What about the women of Athens who were considered

intellectually and physically defective,whowere married at an early ageand confined to their

husband's house thereafter with no rightsorfreedoms?What about the numerous slaves in

Athens? Was it a "great and glorious" agefor them?Onesuspects not--but we will never know

because they were unseen.No historian bothered to recordtheirthoughts and feelings on Greek

civilisation.

The same analysis applies to all groups without power--history has ignored women, the poor,

racialandethnic minorities, slaves, peasants and the working class.

One of the reasons that the patriarchy has proved so enduring, despite numerous

revolutionaryattemptsto overthrow the prevailing order, is that power as a value is subversive.

If there are twogroups, A andB, the first of which holds power as its supreme value and the

second of which does not, then Group Bloses whatever it does. If it sticks to its values and

refuses to compete for power withGroup A, it issubjugated and has A's values imposed upon

it. If B does compete with A, then this canonly be throughstrivingfor power and thus it has

adopted power as a value and has lost its own values; thus A has stillsucceeded in assertingits values upon B.

The second reason that power is subversive as a value is that the group that holds that value

tendstosubjugate those that do not. The group in power tends to be the group that constructs

the socialrealityof the society and is then able to impose this on the rest of society, through its

control of education,information, and religion. And, of course, it tends to be groups that hold

to power as thesupreme valuethat come to power.

Many people think that equality of men and women will be achieved once women comprise

50%ofmanagers, top government officials, professionals and, in the Baha'i community, of

theNationalSpiritual Assemblies. But this would only mean that women (or some women, tobe moreaccurate) willhave climbed the power structure of society and consequently some

7/30/2019 IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER, WOMEN DON'T COUNT

3/8

other group--a racial or religiousminority, the poorer classes, or the rural population--will

have fallen down the scale into thegap in thepower structure left by the ascending women.

The structure itself will have remained intactwith all ofthe injustices that it perpetrates. Only

its composition will have been re-arranged.

Indeed we may take the argument further: to take as our goal a 50% female composition inthehighestpower structures is to lull ourselves into a false sense of achievement and a hollow

victory.Anyparticular group that unites, organises itself and is determined enough can

succeed in gainingaccess to power. If a 50% female representation at the highest levels of

power is our goal, then it is onlya matterof uniting, organising and being aggressive enough--

it can be achieved. Conceivably it couldeven bedone within a few decades.

Most revolutions begin as an attempt to overthrow the power structureand introduce a

moreegalitariansociety. The dispossessed and subjugatedelements in society seek to create a

more equalsociety. Theyargue that oncethey are in power, they will use their authority to

produce a moreegalitarianco-operative society. This was the aim of the proponents of the

French Revolutionand of theBolshevikRevolution in Russia. It has formed part of thejustification for most other revolutionarymovements.But if the revolution succeeds and the

revolutionaries come to power, what occurs? Insteadofpromoting their egalitarian principles,

the revolutionaries become corrupted by the power gamewhichthey have played and which

has helped them to seize power. Instead of ceding a measure of theirpowerin order to create a

more egalitarian society, they begin to create institutions and createpropaganda inorder to

keep power in their own hands while persuading people that the goals of therevolution

havebeen achieved. As George Orwell'sAnimal Farm depicts, instead of a

revolution,generally nothingmuch has changed in the situation of the poor or the way that

politics is operated. Oneset of people inauthorityhas been exchanged for another. This shows

the danger of this method ofproceeding. For the"revolution" is achieved but the structure of

society remains unaltered. All that hadhappened once therevolutionary dust has settled is a

power shuffle.

What are the alternatives to patriarchy? There has probably never been a true matriarchy

(rulebywomen). As indicated above, where women have ruled, it has been as honorary males.

Therehavehowever in the past been societies that were matrifocal (where the women are the

focus of thesocialgroup) and matrilineal (where descent is traced through the female line

rather thanthe male line)andthese still exist among some remote tribal peoples. Inthese

societies, it is not that women dominateorhave greater power. It ismore that power itself is

not an important value. Men and women existsidebyside in co-operation rather than

competition in such societies.

It appears that many, perhaps most, societies were matrifocal in the remote past.(2)

The reason

thatthishas ceased is probably related to the level of interactions between groups of humans.

As longashumans were sufficiently thinly spread so that there were few interactions

betweenneighbouringgroups, then these groups could remain matrifocal. The situation would

have been similarto thematrifocal societies found amongmost primate groups. But as the

pressure of population builtup,groups beganto interact more extensively with each other and,

inevitably, power relations developed,with one group subjugating another.

We may characterise the patriarchal society as giving the greatest value to power,

authority,control,victory, ownership, law, courage, strength.The main interactions are powerstruggles andcompetition.The ends justifythe means. Results are expressed in terms of victory

7/30/2019 IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER, WOMEN DON'T COUNT

4/8

or defeat. Thereareonly pointsfor the winners in such a society, none for the also-rans. Itis

epitomised by tradition,institutions,civilisation, and control over thenatural world. There is a

tendency towards centralisation ofauthoritybecausethat is one way of achieving greater and

greater power.

In the matrifocal society, the highest values are nurturing, life-giving,compassion,sensitivity,spontaneity, creativity, working with nature, giving support to others.

The principleinteractions aremutual and co-operative. The means are as important as the

ends. Victory and successand judged by the degree to which the condition of all is bettered. It

is epitomised by the natural world.The mutualityand consultative decision making that

itfavours best occurs in small autonomouscommunities.

What then does the Baha'i principle of the equality of men and women mean in connection

withthis.Many people have assumed that it means that women should be given equal power

with men inoursociety--the concept of "empowerment" has become a catch-phrase.

But `Abdu'l-Baha has called for a feminisation of society itself--fora society in which powerislessimportant:

"The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominatedwoman by reason of

hismoreforceful and aggressive qualities both of bodyand mind. But the balance is already

shifting--forceislosing its weightand mental alertness, intuition and the spiritual qualities of

love and service,inwhichwoman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will

bean age less masculine, andmorepermeated with the feminine ideals--or, tospeak more

exactly, will be an age in which themasculineand feminine elementsin civilisation will be

more evenly balanced."(3)

Indeed, `Abdu'l-Baha insists upon a redefinition of certain words that have long been

associatedwiththe masculine values of the patriarchy. Regarding the word "victory", for

example, he writes thatfor theBaha'i Cause: "its victory is to submit and yield"(4)

and quotes

Baha'u'llah as stating: "Therefore,today,`victory' neither hath been, nor will be opposition to

anyone, nor strife with any person; but ratherwhat is well-pleasing--this is, that the cities of

men's hearts, which are under the dominion of the hostsofselfishness and lust, should be

subdued by the sword of the Word of Wisdom, and of Exhortation."(5)

Similarly, `Abdu'l-

Baha subverts the concept of competition from its usual role in a masculinesociety,that of

gaining power, and instead promotes it as an approach in the arena of service: "Vie yewith

eachother in the service of God and of His Cause. This is indeed what profiteth you in this

world, and inthat which is to come."

(6)

The goalof personal ambition and the source ofgreatest glory do notbelong,in `Abdu'l-Baha's estimation, to the person who seizes power but

to the person who excels in service to"human uplift and betterment"(7)

and to "the cause of the

Most Great Peace."(8)

Therefore I would submit that what the Baha'i Faith is seeking to bring about is not so much a

societyinwhich women have more power, but rathera society in which power itself, as a

value, isgreatlydiminished in importance. In such a society women will be able to become

equal to men-- notthrough competing with men in a power structure but expressing their own

virtues. Abdu'l-Bahahascommented on some of these feminine virtues:

7/30/2019 IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER, WOMEN DON'T COUNT

5/8

If women received the same educational advantages as those of men, the result would

demonstratetheequality of capacity of both for scholarship. . . In some respects woman is

superior to man. She ismoretender-hearted, more receptive, her intuition is more intense.(9)

The woman has the greater moral courage than the man; she also has special gifts which

enable hertogovern in moments of danger and crisis . . . Taken in general, women today havea stronger senseofreligion than men. The woman's intuition is more correct; she is more

receptive and her intelligenceisquicker."(10)

The view taken in this article of the meaning of the Baha'i principleof the equality of men

andwomenthrows light on a number of other Baha'iteachings and principles.

First, we can see immediately the importance of the decentralised power structure and

thenon-personalnature of the authority in the Baha'i administration. As we noted above,

probably the mainreason forthe decline in the matrifocal society was the increasing pressure

of population that led to anincreasing ability of one group to have power over others. Greater

and greater degrees of centralisedpowercharacterises the patriarchal society. Thus in ordertoachieve a more feminine society, we musthave agreater degree of decentralisation than exists

in most of our societies. The Baha'i administrativeorderwith its insistence on the rights of the

local assembly to jurisdiction over its local area; thestatementsof Shoghi Effendi warning

against "the evils of excessive centralization"(11)

; the decision oftheUniversal House of

Justice to devolve decisions about the formulation of global plans to anationallevel; the

statement of the Universal Houseof Justice (2 January 1986) that it was thisdevolution

ofresponsibilitythat marked the progress of the Baha'i Faith and the dawn of a newepoch--

allthese serveto indicate the importance of decentralisation as a feature ofthe Baha'i

administrative order. Thepersonalised power that is characteristicof the patriarchy is also

negated in theBaha'i Faith as allpower and authorityrests with elected institutions rather than

individuals. The Baha'imethodofelections to these institutions avoids the highly competitive

electioneeringof most modernelections.The procedures of these institutions involves

deliberation with the whole community andconsultativedecision-making. The whole ethos of

this administrative machinery is radically different tomuch ofmodernadministration. Shoghi

Effendi sums up this difference in his words of cautionto thoseelectedto Baha'i administrative

office: "Let us also bear in mindthat the keynote of the Cause of God isnotdictatorial

authority but humblefellowship, not arbitrary power, but the spirit of frank

andlovingconsultation."(12)

Although there are institutions such as the Continental Boards of

Counsellorsand theAuxiliary Board where the appointment is individual, these institutions do

not have any powerorauthority but rather their roles are to advise and encourage.

Second, the Baha'i principle of non-involvement in politics can be seen in the light of this

analysisofpower. Baha'is are trying to build up a society that is more feminine in its nature

and qualities. Ifitallows itself tobe sucked into the power politics of the patriarchy, it stands in

dangerof being divertedfrom its ultimate goal. To enter into partisan politicsmeans accepting

power as the supremevalue. Thisis the subversive effectof power as a value. This would be to

follow other revolutions downa paththatcompromises the ultimate goal.

Many have criticised the Baha'i community for abstaining from partisan politics and thus

foregoingtheone apparently effective way of getting society to adopt its principles. But in the

light of theanalysisabove, we can see that to enter into politics would be the sure way of

failing in the ultimate goal.Indeed, it is difficult to see what other way there can be to theBaha'i approach. How else canthesubversive effect of power be combatted? We have already

7/30/2019 IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER, WOMEN DON'T COUNT

6/8

seen that it cannot be combatteddirectlywithout subverting its opponent to its own values.

The only path is for Baha'is to proceedquietly on,building an alternative, more feminine

society while the ravages of power politics continueto pulldown the old order.

The third area on which this analysis throws light is the long time frame which will be needed

forthechanges which Baha'is envisage. Shoghi Effendi, for example, writes of suchachievements as"theemergence of a world community, the consciousness of world

citizenship, the founding of aworldcivilization and culture"--all achievements which seem to

us to be far off at present--as synchronizingwith only "the initial stages in the unfoldment

ofthe Golden Age of the Baha'i Era".(13)

Forwhat we areconcerned with here is not a mere

intellectual assent to the equalposition of men andwomen; nor justthe movement of women

into all areas ofsociety; but rather, a far more fundamentalchange to thefoundations andvalues

of society, the evolution of a new reality.

The reason that this will take a long time lies in the subversive nature of power. Progress

along thepathtowards lessening power as a value in society is necessarily slow and tortuous.

All it takes is afewpeople who are still motivated by considerations of power to ruin theefforts of large numbers ofothers.Power does not require a critical mass of people in order to

seize control of a society. But toensuremore feminine values does require thesupport of the

masses. If just a few decide to act on thebasis ofpower,they can hold a whole society to

ransom, either subjugating the majorityor causing themajorityto forego their values in order

to bring the few toheel. It will not, therefore be sufficient for asimplemajority of the

populationto be agreeable to a more feminine, less power-based society. Thatmay bethe

"initial stages in the unfoldment" but the ultimate goal would appearto be still a long way

offevenat that stage.

The sort of society that Baha'is envisage, however, is not one that has gone over completely

toamatrifocal society. What `Abdu'l-Baha is calling for is a balance between these two value

systems.TheBaha'i system, the world order of Baha'u'llah does have structures of authority

and power. But these donot devolve upon the individual. Power and authority is resident in

society as a whole as expressedinelected institutions, which because of their constitution,

manner of election, and functioning arelesslikely to tyrannize individuals or minorities. Thus

society will continue to have the instrumentsofpower, courts, prisons, etc., but these will not

be controlled by, or become the weapons of,anyparticular individual or group.

Finally, there is the vexed issue of why there are no women on the Universal House of

Justice. This,inthe context of present-day society, is a question of the location of power. The

above analysiswouldtend to indicate that the very fact that this question of power is such aburning question is anindication of the extent to which the values of this society are distant

from thosewhich the Baha'i Faithenvisages.It is the assumption that membership ofthis body

is a powerful, high status position, thatmakes theexclusion ofwomen from membership of this

institution such a problem. And the extenttowhich thisis perceived to be a problem is thus a

benchmark of our successin transforming society. Wewill trulyhave achieved a more

feminine societywhen this question of who wields power is no longerimportantto us.

In the light of this analysis of the role of power, an altered strategy for the achievement oftheBaha'igoal of a more feminine society would be indicated. While there is no reason that

7/30/2019 IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER, WOMEN DON'T COUNT

7/8

we should nottry tomake progress in the number of women elected to Local and National

Assemblies, this sort ofemphasisis, in reality, trying to persuade women to accept the

masculine nature of our society and tocompetewith men on these patriarchal terms--it is

playing into the hands of the subversive nature ofpower.Rather we should be looking at our

Baha'i communities and seeing in what ways we canmakethem abetter arena for a genuine

"feminine" contribution, by both males andfemales. We can lookat ourcommunal activitiesand see which of them arethe more masculine in nature and which aremorefeminine. I would

suggestthat those activities that are to do which expansion, forexampleadministrationand

proclamation, as well as those goals of Baha'i communal life whichareeasilyenumerated such

as numbers of Local Spiritual Assemblies and introducingthe Baha'i Faithinto newlocalities,

are the masculine activities; whilethose activities which involve nurturing thecommunity,for

example deepeningand children's classes, as well as the less easily

enumeratedqualitativegoals ofimproving Baha'i community life, are the feminine activities.

Givingtalks ismasculine; consultativeprocesses are feminine. Of course both malesand

females should be involved inboth the masculineand feminine activities.

Up to the present, the more masculine activities have predominated inthe Baha'icommunity.Consider,for example, the number of teaching and proclamation activities and

conferences that areheldcompared with the number of programmes dedicated to developing

consultation skills, orpromotingBaha'i marriageand family life. But, fortunately, the balance

is already shifting. The SixYear Plan andthe Three Year Plans of the Universal House of

Justice givemuch more emphasis to thequalitativegoals than previously and this is

beingreflected in the Baha'i community.

In summary then, returning to the title of this article--"In all the ways that matter,

womendon'tcount"--most people and many feminists (and manyBaha'is also I suspect)

imagine that the goal oftheadvancement of womenshould be to change things so that women

do "count" in society. Whatthisanalysis points to, however, is that what we should be aiming

for is to change"the ways that matter"inour society.

Return to Guide to Baha'i Materials on this site

Return to Index of all Baha'i Materials on this site

NOTES

1. See P. Berger and T. Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality. Harmondsworth:

Penguin,1971

2. This conclusion has been reached on the basis of observations of primate

socialgrouping,anthropological research among remote tribal groups, the study of myths, and

archaeologicalevidence.For a survey of this whole question, see Marilyn French,Beyond

Power: on women, men andmorals,London: Jonathan Cape, 1985, pp. 25-122.

3. `Abdu'l-Baha quoted in Esslemont,Baha'u'llah and the New Era, p. 141.

7/30/2019 IN ALL THE WAYS THAT MATTER, WOMEN DON'T COUNT

8/8

4. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha , p. 256

5. Baha'u'llah quoted by `Abdu'l-Baha inA Traveller's Narrative (trans. E.G.

Browne),Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1891, vol. 2, p. 114

6. Quoted by Shoghi Effendi inAdvent of Divine Justice, Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust,1990,p.83

7. Promulgation of Universal Peace, Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1982, p. 353

8. Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 123

9. Paris Talks, London: Baha'i PublishingTrust, 1969, reprinted 1979, p. 161

10. `Abdu'l-Baha in London, London: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1982, pp. 104-5.

11. World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 41; see also p. 42

12.Baha'i Administration, Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1968, p. 63

13. Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah , p. 163 (italics added)

Return to Guide to Baha'i Materials on this site

Return to Index of all Baha'i Materials on this site