Document online with permission at collectionscanada.gc.ca.

Abstract: Despite the generally anti-religious stance of many feminist scholars, religions which advocate and implement gender equality may enable female believers to resist oppressive norms. This thesis describes the Bahá'í faith as one such religion. An emancipatory vision of gender is enunciated in its central scriptures and has been implemented, albeit to varying degrees, throughout the faith's history around the world. The author argues that activism for gender equality has diminished in recent years in the Canadian Bahá'í community, and describes the testing of storytelling-based consciousness-raising workshops as a means to increase Canadian Bahá'í women's promotion of the advancement of women.