| ←146 | Messages from the Universal House of Justice, 1986-2001 Establishment of an Office for the Advancement of Women |
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| 10 DECEMBER 1992 |
To all National Spiritual Assemblies Dear Bahá’í Friends,
147.1 We take much pleasure in announcing the decision to establish an Office for the Advancement of Women, which, as an agency of the Bahá’í International Community, will promote the principles of the Faith through its interaction with international entities concerned with matters affecting the rights, status and well-being of women. It will also advise National Spiritual Assemblies regarding programs and projects in which the involvement of the community can encourage efforts towards the realization of the equality of men and women.
147.2 The establishment of this Office now is largely a consequence of two gratifying developments, namely: the great extent to which the work of our United Nations Office concerning women's issues has expanded in recent years; and the rising stature for the Bahá’í community which this work has achieved in international circles. We are delighted that, for instance, the Bahá’í International Community has been serving since 1988 as the convener of Advocates for African Food Security, a coalition of nongovernmental organizations, United Nations agencies and intergovernmental bodies formed in 1986 to raise awareness of women as producers of most of the domestic food in Africa; that our United Nations representative who specializes in women's issues is a member of the Steering Committee which is planning the Non-Governmental Organizations' Forum to be held in Beijing in 1995 at the time of the Fourth World Conference on Women; and that she chairs the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, New York, a position of great prestige in the UN/NGO community. Furthermore, the relations of the Bahá’í International Community with the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) have fostered a mutual confidence that has encouraged UNIFEM to collaborate with the Bahá’í International Community in the launching in three countries of projects aimed at promoting change in attitudes between men and women. All three projects involve the Bahá’í community at international, national and local levels.
147.3 The inauguration of the Office for the Advancement of Women, as a companion of the other offices of the Bahá’í International Community in New York, is a further significant step in the administration of the external affairs of the Faith and, of course, provides our community with a visible instrument for the practical application of one of the cardinal principles of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh.
- With loving Bahá’í greetings,
- THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
