In his first revealed work, the Commentary on the Surih of Joseph, the Bab describes God’s Will as the Maid of Heaven—a female figure—coming to Him. She symbolizes his highest spiritual reality as He was the Living Presence of that Divine Will.
In His Writings, the Bab sets forth teachings to improve the status and condition of women in society. He makes divorce more difficult for men by imposing a twelve-month delay, allows women greater social freedom, and orders men to treat women with love and respect—he makes the penalty double for disrespect towards women than for men.
The Bab’s Revelation helped to highlight and improve the status of women. Tahirih, one of his chief apostles, was designated by him as a leader to whom people should turn. She understood and taught that the Bab wax the bringer of a new Revelation which brought opposition and slurs to which the Bab responded by writing that she was Tahirih, “the Pure One”. She unveiled herself at the Conference at Badasht to demonstrate that this was a new age and they were living under a new Law.
During the Babi upheaval at Zanjān, Babi women struggled along with their men. Zaynab, a young Babi girl, dressed as a male and fought with great determination instilling fear in the King’s troops.
Women also fought stood with their men during the conflict at Nayriz. The women displayed great audacity and courage and “utterly demoralized their opponents and paralyzed their efforts."