a)
[28]

Extracts From Letters Written by the Universal House of Justice:

29: It is apparent from the Guardian's writings that where Baha'u'llah...

It is apparent from the Guardian's writings that where Baha'u'llah has
expressed a law as between a man and a woman it applies, mutatis mutandis,
between a woman and a man unless the context should make this impossible.
For example, the text of the "Kitab-i-Aqdas" forbids a man to marry his
father's wife (i.e. his step-mother), and the Guardian has indicated that
likewise a woman is forbidden to marry her step-father....

(28 April 1974 to an individual believer) [29]

30: Concerning your questions about the equality of men and women, this,
as...

Concerning your questions about the equality of men and women, this, as
'Abdu'l-Baha has often explained, is a fundamental principle of
Baha'u'llah; therefore the Laws of the "Aqdas" should be studied in the
light of it. 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
Baha'i 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. Again, for physiological reasons, women
are granted certain exemptions from fasting that are not applicable to
men.

(24 July 1975 to an individual believer) [30]

31: The primary question to be resolved is how the present world, with
its...

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. Anthropology, physiology, psychology, recognize only one human
species, albeit infinitely varied in the secondary aspects of life.
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