eir families....

(24 June 1979) [70]

71: The members of a family all have duties and responsibilities towards
one...

The members of a family all have duties and responsibilities towards one
another and to the family as a whole, and these duties and
responsibilities vary from member to member because of their natural
relationships. The parents have the inescapable duty to educate their
children--but not vice versa; the children have the duty to obey their
parents--the parents do not obey the children; the mother--not the
father--bears the children, nurses them in babyhood, and is thus their
first educator; hence daughters have a prior right to education over sons
and, as the Guardian's secretary has written on his behalf, "The task of
bringing up a Baha'i child, as emphasized time and again in Baha'i
Writings, is the chief responsibility of the mother, whose unique
privilege is indeed to create in her home such conditions as would be most
conducive to both his material and spiritual welfare and advancement. The
training which a child first receives through his mother constitutes the
strongest foundation for his future development..." A corollary of this
responsibility of the mother is her right to be supported by her husband--a
husband has no explicit right to be supported by his wife....

...

In any group, however loving the consultation, there are nevertheless
points on which, from time to time, agreement cannot be reached. In a
Spiritual Assembly this dilemma is resolved by a majority vote. There can,
however, be no majority where only two parties are involved, as in the
case of a husband and wife. There are, therefore, times when a wife should
defer to her husband, and times when a husband should defer to his wife,
but neither should ever unjustly dominate the other. In short, the
relationship between husband and wife should be as held forth in the
prayer revealed by 'Abdu'l-Baha which is often read at Baha'i weddings:
"Verily, they are married in obedience to Thy command. Cause them to
become the signs of harmony and unity until the end of time."

These are all relationships within the family, but 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 Baha'i 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