...there is a much wider sphere of relationships between men and women than in the home, and this too we should consider in the context of Bahá’í society, not in that of past or present social norms. For example, although the mother is the first educator of the child, and the most important formative influence in his development, the father also has the responsibility of educating his children, and this responsibility is so weighty that Bahá’u’lláh has stated that a father who fails to exercise it forfeits his rights of fatherhood. Similarly, although the primary responsibility for supporting the family financially is placed upon the husband, this does not by any means imply that the place of woman is confined to the home. On the contrary, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has stated: In the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh, women are advancing side by side with men. There is no area or instance where they will lag behind: they have equal rights with men, and will enter, in the future, into all branches of the administration of society. Such will be their elevation that, in every area of endeavour, they will occupy the highest levels in the human world....(4) and again: So it will come to pass that when women participate fully and equally in the affairs of the world, when they enter confidently and capably the great arena of laws and politics, war will cease;... (“The Promulgation of Universal Peace”, p. 135) In the Tablet of the World, Bahá’u’lláh Himself has envisaged that women as well as men would be breadwinners in stating: Everyone, whether man or woman, should hand over to a trusted person a portion of what he or she earneth through trade, agriculture or other occupation, for the training and education of children, to be spent for this purpose with the knowledge of the Trustees of the House of Justice. (“Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas”, p. 90) (28 December 1980 to the National Spiritual Assembly of New Zealand) [92] 93: The duty of women in being the first educators of mankind is clearly set... The duty of women in being the first educators of mankind is clearly set forth in the Writings. It is for every woman, if and when she becomes a mother, to determine how best she can discharge on the one hand her chief responsibility as a mother and on the other, to the extent possible, to participate in other aspects of the activities of the society of which she forms a part.... (22 April 1981 to an individual believer) [93] V. FOSTERING THE DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN Extracts From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh: 94: In this Day the Blessed Tree of Remembrance speaketh forth in the Kingdom...