Take Back EqualityWhat happens in our public spaces through the lens of the Bahá’í writings on gender equality

“You can kill me

as soon as you

like...“...but you cannot stop the

emancipation of women.”

— Tahirih

Last Words of Tahirih

✤ She spoke these words in 1852 on the eve of her murder by Persian authorities.

✤ Tahirih, also known as Zarrin-Taj (Crown of Gold) and Qurrat’ul-Ayn (Solace of the Eyes), was a poet and devoted disciple of the Báb and later of Bahá’u’lláh (the Forerunner and Founder of the Bahá'í Faith, respectively), who conferred on her the name Tahirih (Pure One).

✤ She is regarded, even in the West, as one of the mothers of the women’s suffrage movement.

One-hundred sixty-two years have passed. How have we done?

✤In 1889, New Zealand became the first nation to give women the right to vote.

✤Germany and the UK granted the right in 1918.

✤In the US, people argued that the Constitution spoke of the equality of men, not men and women and that women would vote as their husbands or fathers voted, thereby affording married men or men with grown daughters more than one vote. The United States would not give women the right to vote until 1920.

✤Sweden: 1921

✤France: 1944

✤India: 1947

✤Cayman Islands: 1967

✤Kuwait: 2005

✤Saudi Arabia has never granted women the right to vote, though the king has slated 2015 to be the year that right will be extended to them.

Women are still striving to achieve equality

in the workplace, in pay, in family life.

Alongside this struggle, another insidious

dynamic is unfolding.

Let me tell you some stories...

Where are we now?

Walking the dog

“I walk my dog around lake Merrit almost every day because it is a beautiful walk in an otherwise urban area. My experience has been that I cannot make it around this three mile loop without a man making some kind of comment to me. It has ranged from “hi beautiful” to grunting noises to comments about my butt or asking me if they can join me on my walk. I had a man step into my path and stop right in front of me to pet my dog, blocking my path and giving me no choice in the interaction.

I get angry, scared and embarrassed by these encounters, but above all I feel helpless and that is by far the worst emotion for me. I feel like I have to put up with this in order to walk my dog in a park near my home. I now have to consider what I wear and what time of day I go for a walk in an effort to achieve some sort of anonymity.

Some people might think, what’s the big deal if a man wants to tell you you’re attractive or ask you out. Here’s the big deal, it’s unsolicited, unreciprocated and unwanted attention. It can be scary, embarrassingand menacing. Bottom line, I just want to walk my dog in peace and feel safe.”

Eye Contact

“I was taking an hour-long walk and enjoying the long overdue sunshine. It was a really zen and beautiful moment for me. I got close to a hawk that was on a low branch on my college campus and thought about how much I love animals because they generally don’t bother people. I’d been honked at already by three male drivers I’d mistakenly made eye contact with. It startled me and made me angry every time.

I was halfway back to my apartment when a guy started revving up his motorcycle at the sight of me. I rolled my eyes while crossing the intersection and he yelled, “Tryin’ to get raped?!” He continued yelling things at me until the light changed. Blood was rushing too loud in my ears for me or hear the rest.”

No place to be

“A man in a Lexus nearly rear-ended a BMW staring blankly over his shoulder at me. Then, he scurried into the U-turn lane and tried his luck. ... I furiously waved him off, glaring, no mistake that I wanted nothing to do with him. He passed by me, and, of course, jumped right into the next U-turn lane (148th is full of them). He passed by on the other side and yelled out his window. I held up my hands like “What!?” He got in the U-turn lane. Shouted at me again (each time, I believe all he said was “Hey!!”).

I started to cry. He got in the U-turn lane.

I wondered if these men have, I don’t know, lives? Places to be? Personalities? Suddenly I realized that the most pathetic, degraded people were these men who seemingly had no souls and no morals and no concept of the damage that this selfish, disgusting behavior causes to their personhood. “

After describing the daily barrage of harassment she experiences, one young woman wrote:

“I have never understood why men yell at women from their cars. What do they get from this obnoxious behavior? I have been honked at, yelled at, sneered at, propositioned, and gestured to by men from their cars since middle school. It happens when I’m walking on the street, waiting at the bus stop, and even once when I was driving on the freeway. Several times I’ve been harassed on public transit as well.

Sometimes when I talk about it with people they tell me I should take it as a compliment or that it must mean they found me attractive.

I DON’T CARE if you find me attractive. It does not make me feel good when I am harassed. Men, if you have ever participated in this behavior, why do you do it? I am not going to give you my number. I am not flattered or complimented when you hit on me from your car. I am not going to smile at you. I noticed men do it more often when they are with their friends. You are not impressing me. You are not more of a man because you harass women on the street. It is not cute. It is not okay. I am not going to sleep with you. (Expletive deleted), I am not going to give you the time of day.”

This is a global

phenomenon.But it’s especially virulent in the US and

Canada.

University of Ottawa, 2014

The head of the school’s Student Federation became the target of an online dialogue between five male students, four of whom also held leadership positions in the student body. From the CBC report:

The online conversation—a copy of which was obtained by The Canadian Press—included references to sexual activities some of the five individuals wrote they would like to engage in with Roy ... as well as suggestions that she suffered from sexually transmitted diseases.

“Someone punish her with their shaft,” wrote one of the individuals at one point. “I do believe that with my reputation I would destroy her,” wrote another.

After confronting a member of the conversation in person, Roy said she received an emailed apology from all five men which emphasized that their comments were never actual threats against her. (emphasis mine)

“While it doesn’t change the inadmissible nature of our comments, we wish to assure you we meant you no harm,” the apology, written in French, read.

These stories are

part of the “rape

culture” debate. Private “fun” between friends?

An innocent display of tasteless but

harmless humor?

Is this boys will be boys?

OR has the objectification of women and

violence—real or implied—become

insidiously normal?

These accounts are from

ihollaback.com. The

founders of Hollaback

describe it this way:

Hollaback is a movement to end street

harassment powered by a network of local

activists around the world. We work together

to better understand street harassment, to

ignite public conversations, and to develop

innovative strategies to ensure equal access

to public spaces.

... We envision a world where street

harassment is not tolerated and where we all

enjoy equal access to public spaces.

O Children of

Men!Know ye not why We created you all from the

same dust? That no one should exalt himself

over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts

how ye were created. Since We have created

you all from one same substance it is

incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to

walk with the same feet, eat with the same

mouth and dwell in the same land, that from

your inmost being, by your deeds and actions,

the signs of oneness and the essence of

detachment may be made manifest...

—The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Arabic no. 68

Why does street harassment happen?

What factors contribute to street harassment?

1.History of male entitlement and sense of superiority.

2.Gendered social roles.

3.Women’s attempt to forge new, independent identities.

4.Moral ambiguity and cultural chaos.

5.A loss of human identity: “And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath therefore caused to forget their own selves." (Bahá’u’lláh)

Harassment Quiz: True/False

1.Street harassment is an exercise of free speech.

2.It’s an artifact of certain cultures—doesn’t happen here.

3.It’s only a harmless compliment / flirting.

4.It’s just normal behavior for males and unrealistic to expect that to change.

5.Most women secretly enjoy catcalls, especially if the man is attractive.

6.Harassment only happens to women who are dressed invitingly.

7.It only happens to hot young women.

8.Anyone who complains about it is an ugly, man-hating, bra-burning psychofeminazi who hates freedom/needs a boyfriend/needs sex to loosen up.

9.As long as it’s not violent, it’s not harmful. (Sticks and stones argument.)

10.It only happens when a woman has placed herself at risk—at night, in alleys, etc.

All harassers are not the same.

Some motives for harassment

✤ Desire for attention; mischief

✤ Sexual attraction; sincere desire to compliment a woman

✤ Desire to intimidate, control or exert power over the target

✤ Malice and the desire to inflict mental, emotional or physical harm—bullying

✤ Disenfranchisement and powerlessness

✤ Mental disorder

Behaviors

✤ Whistling, catcalling

✤ Lip smacking, kissing noises

✤ Unsolicited “compliments”

✤ Sexual comments about body parts

✤ Sexual gestures

✤ Propositions for a date or sex for purchase

✤ Touching, grabbing, molestation, flashing, masturbating

How the target feels...

✤ A sense of being watched; of something wrong or “off”; dread

✤ Embarrassment; feeling sick; dirty

✤ Impotence; helplessness

✤ Anger; frustration

✤ Sadness; depression

✤ Fear

What the target does...

✤ Averts the eyes; head down; keeps moving

✤ Freezes—deer in the headlights

✤ Answers questions; refuses attentions BUT tries to remain polite and not offend.

✤ Goes home in tears—hides out

✤ Hollers back

✤ Avoidance: changes her habits, routes, routines

✤ Reports to some authority

How harassers respond...

✤ Puzzlement: “Why won’t you talk to me?”

✤ Continued taunting; ignoring woman’s discomfort or negative response

✤ Laughter and taunting directed at woman’s response

✤ Anger at rejection; name-calling; shouting

✤ Verbal threats, intimidating behavior, physical violence

Contributing FactorsThe issue is complicated by history, culture, and our own moral chaos and loss of identity.

Cultural Chaos

Competing messages cancel each other out.

✤ “Highly individualistic societies” in which “the maturity and responsibilities of adulthood are deferred in pursuit of a license that a socially prolonged adolescence grants”. (Quoted material from a message of the Universal House of Justice—the global guiding body of the Bahá’i world community).

✤ Men’s, women’s and pop culture magazines—Cosmo, Playboy, etc.

✤ The Women’s movement collides with male expectations

✤ Media, movies, sit-coms, dramas

✤ Mayhem in Advertising

“The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female.

So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized; humanity cannot wing its way to heights of real attainment. When the two wings or parts become equivalent in strength, enjoying the same prerogatives, the flight of man will be exceedingly lofty and extraordinary. Therefore, woman must receive the same education as man and all inequality be adjusted. Thus, imbued with the same virtues as man, rising through all the degrees of human attainment, women will become the peers of men, and until this equality is established, true progress and attainment for the human race will not be facilitated.”

— “The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912”, p. 375, emphasis mine)

But...How can we work toward

that equality?

Solutions?Hollaback — Global Outreach

Solutions?Viral video — #YesAllWomen: NYC actress walks 10 hrs to study street harassment, gets over 100 catcalls

Solutions?Turn Around: One film

maker’s response

What is the Healthy Masculinity Action Project?The Healthy Masculinity Action Project (HMAP) is a national grassroots initiative to build a newgeneration of male leaders who will model non-violent, emotionally healthy masculinity and serve aspositive change makers in society – helping to take their communities from awareness to action.Everyday men, women, and teens nationwide are all driving HMAP. Project leader: Men Can StopRape. Partners: National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, Men StoppingViolence, Coach for America, Women of Color Network, and A CALL TO MEN. Hollaback! isamong the promoters.

NOT a Solution ...“On the August 28 edition of Fox News’ Outnumbered, hosts highlighted a New York Postopinion article that suggested women “deal with” “flattering” catcalls. Co-host KimberlyGuilfoyle defended street harassment saying, “let men be men,” and, “look, men are goingto be that way. What can you do?” Guest host and Fox contributor Arthur Aidala reenactedhis personal signature “move” – aiming a slow round of applause at women on the street,which one host said she’d find flattering.” — Media Matters

What can we do?Two types of efforts—long-term and short-term.

What if you’re the target?

✤ Assess the situation; let the response fit the level of harassment

✤ Be direct; don’t apologize; say “Stop doing X”.

✤ Don’t lose your temper!

✤ If you confront: use strong body language; make eye contact; speak in a strong, clear voice;

✤ Do something unexpected—remember, it’s about control

✤ Get someplace safe or with someone safe

✤ Report to an authority or tell someone in your support network

What if you witness

harassment?Margaret has a suggestion …

From the House of Justice

“Equality between men and women does not, indeed physiologically it cannot, mean identity of functions. In some things women excel men, for others men are better fitted than women, while in very many things the difference of sex is of no effect at all. The differences of function are most apparent in family life. The capacity for motherhood has many far-reaching implications which are recognized in Bahá’í Law. For example, when it is not possible to educate all one’s children, daughters receive preference over sons, as mothers are the first educators of the next generation.”

(24 July 1975 to an individual believer)

From the House of Justice

“The primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with its entrenched pattern of conflict, can change to a world in which harmony and co-operation will prevail.

“World order can be founded only on an unshakable consciousness of the oneness of mankind, a spiritual truth which all the human sciences confirm... Recognition of this truth requires abandonment of prejudice—prejudice of every kind—race, class, colour, creed, nation, sex, degree of material civilization, everything which enables people to consider themselves superior to others.”

(October 1985 to the Peoples of the World)

From the House of Justice

“You are quite right in stating that men and women have basic and distinct qualities. The solution provided in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is not, as you correctly observe, for men to become women, and for women to become men. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave us the key to the problem when He taught that the qualities and functions of men and women “complement” each other. He further elucidated this point when He said that the “new age” will be “an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more properly balanced.”

(22 April 1981 to an individual believer, emphasis mine)

Bahá’u’lláh wrote:“It is the bounden duty of parents to rear

their children to be staunch in faith …

For every praiseworthy deed is born out

of the light of religion, and lacking this

supreme bestowal the child will not turn

away from any evil, nor will he draw nigh

unto any good.”

— published in “Bahá’í Education, a

compilation”

Thank you!