In the past, apart from isolated exceptions, women were
regarded as an inferior breed, their nature hedged about by superstitions,
denied the opportunity to express the potentialities of the human spirit and
relegated to the role of serving the needs of men. Clearly, there are many
societies where such conditions persist and are even fanatically defended. At
the level of global discourse, however, the concept of the equality of the
sexes has, for all practical purposes, now assumed the force of universally
accepted principle. It enjoys similar authority in most of the academic
community and information media.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a
message dated April 2002 addressed to the World’s Religious Leaders)
