e grievously
neglected under the old regime of male dominance--such matters as health,
temperance, peace, and regard for the value of the individual life.
Improvements in these respects will have very far-reaching and beneficent
effects. 'Abdu'l-Baha says:--

The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has
dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive
qualities both of body and mind. But the balance is already
shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental alertness,
intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in
which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age
will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine
ideals, or, to speak more exactly, will be an age in which the
masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more
evenly balanced.--Star of the West, viii, No. 3, p. 4 [from report
of remarks made aboard the S.S. Cedric on arrival in New York].

Methods of Violence Discarded

In bringing about the emancipation of women as in other matters,
Baha'u'llah counsels His followers to avoid methods of violence. An
excellent illustration of the Baha'i method of social reform has been
given by the Baha'i in Persia, Egypt and Syria. In these countries it is
customary for Muhammadan women outside their homes to wear a veil covering
the face. The Bab indicated that in the New Dispensation women would be
relieved from this irksome restraint, but Baha'u'llah counsels His
followers, where no important question of morality is involved, to defer
to established customs until people become enlightened, rather than
scandalize those amongst whom they live, and arouse needless antagonism.
The Baha'i women, therefore, although well aware that the antiquated
custom of wearing the veil is, for enlightened people, unnecessary and
inconvenient, yet quietly put up with the inconvenience, rather than rouse
a storm of fanatical hatred and rancorous opposition by uncovering their
faces in public. This conformity to custom is in no way due to fear, but
to an assured confidence in the power of education and in the transforming
and life-giving effect of true religion. Baha'is in these regions are
devoting their energies to the education of their children, especially
their girls, and to the diffusion and promotion of the Baha'i ideals, well
knowing that as the new spiritual life grows and spreads amo