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.
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, quoted by
Dr. Esslemont in ‘Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era’; The Compilation of
Compilations, vol. II, Women)
