THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE of the Association of
Bahá’í Women Northern Ireland (ABW NI) took
place on June 2 in the beautiful setting of Mount Zion House, a
former convent now used as a community/conference facility at
Lurgan, Co. Armagh. Members assembled for the AGM in the morning,
where, after a devotional, we had reports from our chairperson and
from the local ABW branches. Our core group has met with both the
newly elected Bahá’í Council for Northern
Ireland and with Zarin Hainsworth-Fadaei, Director of the Office
for the Advancement of Women. It was heartening to hear of all the
activity going on around the localities, where a wide range of
events, though often small in themselves, built relationships among
women and among communities. It was inspiring to hear what other
branches had been up to: relaxation mornings, regular get-togethers
for coffee, invitations to civic events by simply registering with
local councils and a multi-cultural festival to celebrate
International Women’s Day – just some of the events we
heard about. Our Newry delegate had a great word for it all:
synergy.
The sense of purpose and energy was further confirmed by the
presentation of ABW’s vision for the next five years. We have
both a great challenge and an exciting opportunity ahead. By
Ridván 2006, for example, we hope to have educated our
Northern Ireland community on the role of women within the Faith
and within society and to have established relationship and
family-life training courses. Thus by Ridván 2003, we hope
to have offered all of the community the opportunity to study the
compilation on women and to have developed trainers and materials
on marriage and family life courses. The overall vision of ABW NI
is that Bahá’í women understand their role, and
realise and accept their “high responsibilities” in
their networking and participation in the activities of society of
which we form a part. To be a Bahá’í woman is a
lofty calling indeed.
In the discussion that followed we reflected on these challenges
and opportunities. The phenomenon of the tour of the relics of St
Therese of Lisieux was discussed as evidence of a spiritual hunger
among “ordinary” people and we asked what is our
response as Bahá’ís? Are we seen as being
“up there” talking in language that others do not
understand? It was clear that there is a need in society to
“touch the heart” of other people and to develop real
relationships with them. An opportunity to do just that is
unfolding in Belfast where Pippa Cookson is hoping to recruit a
woman to make use of a room available at her home to develop an
outreach to women in an interface area of West Belfast.
After an excellent lunch we reassembled for our public meeting and
welcomed our keynote speaker Caroline Smith whose theme was
“What now for the Women’s Movement?” Caroline is
a psychotherapist from Tralee, Co. Kerry. Married with 6 children,
she is in an ideal position to assess the successes and failures of
the women’s movement and to wonder where it goes from here.
Caroline rightly reminded us that we have come a long way from the
days when women were literally the chattels of their husbands and
when marriage spelt the end of a woman’s career, but the
failures of the women’s movement need also to be taken into
account. The “glass ceiling” is still very much a
reality as is the earnings gap and the under-representation of
women in government and public bodies. Violence against women
remains endemic, as does sexual exploitation. A renewed cause for
concern is the issue of self-worth and body image as we live in an
age where women are engaged in “self-mutilation” in the
pursuit of beauty, an age where dieting and cosmetic surgery are
multi-million pound industries.
Caroline did not lay the blame for these issues at the door of the
women’s movement as such, but felt that they illustrated its
failure to make an impact on society. The problem is that
materialist values govern our society; everything from sex to
childcare has a price put on it, with no appreciation of its true
value. Economics and politics are male strongholds which are
governed by the twin ideas of selling things and fighting people,
while the true purpose of society, to carry forward an
ever-advancing civilisation, is marginalised. In such a society
childcare has been reduced to having our kids supervised while we
do “real” work.
It is a depressing picture in many ways but there is hope.
Bahá’í women have a spiritual perspective to
offer the equality debate, a perspective all too often lacking.
Indeed, Caroline pointed out that Bahá’í women
even have a yardstick by which the achievement of equality can be
measured: when a woman can walk from one end of the earth to the
other, wearing valuable jewelry and fine clothes and remain
unmolested. This implies a complete absence of both sexual violence
and theft of property. And how do we bring such a society about?
Caroline, as the result of her work with survivors of abuse and
trauma, has come to the unavoidable conclusion that there is
nothing more important for humanity, nothing that needs our
attention more than how we bring up our children. For they will
form the basis of our future society, and if the values of
materialism, self-interest and fanaticism are to be addressed, then
future generations need to be empowered to tackle them.
Caroline’s words provided much food for thought as was
evidenced by the discussion which followed. We left the conference
with a clear picture of the challenges and the opportunities which
lie ahead for us as Bahá’í women, as well as
the privilege that is ours to be “true bondsmaids of the
Blessed Beauty”. Compilation of Compilations, p.
396.
I would like to thank the Core Group for their hard work in
organising the conference and Caroline for her inspiring address. I
hope to share the vision of this conference with the men and women
of my own community.
Michele Ainley
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