How Does Buddhism Treat Its Women

Throughout most of documented history women of all cultures and civilizations have lived under patriarchal circumstances. In almost every religion and civilization women's status was not equal to that of a man's. Women in most cultures are looked at as subservient, obedient creatures that were put on this world for very few reasons, mainly to bear children and do what their husbands require of them. In fact, religions are a big part of the reason of this oppression due to the religion's reinforcement and justification of patriarchal conditions. In this week's selected readings from different aspects of Islamic, Byzantine Christian, and Western Christian cultures, it is very apparent as to how these three religions did reinforce and

Two forces which gathered strength in the last half of the twentieth century now dominate the world religions at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The first is the globalization of religions and their resulting encounter with each other, and the second is the need to redefine attitudes toward gender as women have stepped forward to insist that their full humanity be acknowledged in the religious as well as the social realm.

The advent of Buddhism has had a positive effect on women’s lives for the most part. In the Buddhism religion, women could be seen as more equal to men than in Hinduism. Buddhism gave women a choice to be wives and continue to follow Hinduism, or they could reject all of this if they followed the teachings of Buddhism (Page 150). Hinduism restricted the lives of Hindu women. Buddhism gave them a chance to break from the societal norm of women being housewives. This was overall better for the women because they would be more equal to men. Another positive for women, is that they were able to attain Nirvana (Page 150). Since women were able to attain enlightenment, this opened up the opportunity for women to become nuns or laywomen (Page 151).

When studying religion as a whole history has proven that the women have been mistreated in the beginnings of each religious belief. When looking at Buddhism early history it appears to be some different conclusion on the role of women. When the founder of Buddhism, Gautama Buddha, allowed women to be a part of the monastic community. According to Falk (1974) “ women received a great deal of respect in the home, were allowed to manage property, give it away, and probably inherit it as well.(p. 105) Women had equal rights in the early development. The change in Buddhism accrued when it began to mirror the beliefs of Hinduism. Buddhism main focus was spiritual enlightenment not spiritual positioning. Centuries after the beginning the role of

The status of women in Buddhist monasticism is varied. Patriarchal societies and gender values took their toll on women’s institutions. Though according to mainstream doctrine women can be enlightened, in the canonical versions of Buddhist monastic literature women are often cast in unflattering roles. The number of vows nuns must keep is larger than that for men, and there are specific rules that establish the subordinate status of nuns. There are some early literary collections, the Therigatha hymns, and later writings, but there were few women writers. Women most often did not have access to monastic education. In many countries, moreover, women’s ordination lineages did not survive. In modern Tibet and in parts of Southeast Asia, for example, there are no unbroken lineages of full ordination from nun to

Gross and Spretnek’s analysis of patriarchal religions in Feminism and Religion and Selections of Politics of Women’s Spirituality conclude with little confidence in the reformation of major religions to reconsider women’s experiences and provide an equal representation of women and men in the ideologies of the specific religions. With the emergence of a matrist period in many Islamic countries, woman are now holding political power and rejecting socially and sexually repressive male ideologies. Although feminist interpretations of passages from the Qur’an suggest that women and men are equally responsible for each other and themselves, the emergence of the patrist period has provided interpretations in which men are viewed as the superior

Separating religion from culture would be a large failing at understanding the cultural perspective of gender. It is impossible to clearly comprehend why gender roles exist without understanding one of societies largest influences; that being religion. Religion both shapes and is shaped by culture and has everything to do with the roles, rules and place women take in society. To illustrate this point, this paper will examine two of the most influential/largest religions in the world; that of the Islamic faith and the Christian faith, and look at how these religions shaped the status of women within the respective cultures.

On the other side Buddhism does not restrict the religious freedom of women. Buddha acknowledged that women are capable of realizing the Truth like men. However he was not in favor of the admission of women into monastic organization. He thought their admission would make problems in the sangha. Buddha allowed the admission of women into the order after the repeating request of Ananda and the Buddhist order of Nuns began with Mahaprajapati, Buddha’s aunt and step mother. He said clearly that allowing women into the sangha would cause his teachings to survive only half as long – 500 years instead of 1000.

Both Buddha Gautama and the Prophet Muhammad had some similarities regarding their attitudes towards women. Both had been married to women, though Gautama would later endorse celibacy, and both had spent significant time in the company of women. This resulted in their treatment of women being much improved when compared with that of the surrounding regions and religious systems.

The relationship of religion and women has sparked national and international debate over the years. Religion is an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods, and is very important to a specific person or group. People find comfort in religion to answer questions such as ‘where did we come from?’, ‘what is our place in the world?’, and ‘what happens to us after we die?’, as well as other internal mysteries. These questions are central to the five major religions of the world, but for the purpose of this paper, I will be focusing on the two most popular religions of Christianity and Islam. Both of these religions are geographically prevalent in their own areas of the world. Christianity is most common in North America, specifically in the United States, and Islam is most commonly practiced in the Middle East. In both Christianity and Islam, women maintain certain roles. Although these roles have been altered because of society’s changing expectations of women, one could argue that it was religion that caused those changes. This paper examines how women in the United States and Middle East have faced discrimination in society and the workplace because of their beliefs regarding the religions of Christianity and Islam.

Many religions have been historically designed by men to fit their standards and needs (Crandall 2012). The earliest and most long lasting religions originated during an era where men dominated the world. Among other things, these religions imposed strict rules onto women. Nye states that maleness, the male perspective, and men’s experiences are the central and most important point of reference of androcentricism (2008). Religion itself is laced with gender inequalities; it favours men rather than women. This element of religion contradicts with the present modernized world (Nye 2008). Historically, societies were sexist and this influenced the ideologies surround religions that originated during those eras. Throughout history woman have fought for their rights and viewpoints to equate the same value as men. In Buddhist, Judaism and Muslim temples, there have been cases of temples or religious houses forbidding women to enter, as this is seen as an unclean to the sacred area in religions (Neusner 1975)(McCue 1996) (Al-Husenini 2014). This essay will specifically focus on Islam and how the biological reproductive cycle of women interferes with the ritual practices of the faith, specifically the Five Pillars of Islam and the duties that commanded by the Qur’an through the Prophet Mohammed. Menstruation is seen as a gateway to

Throughout the history of the world, the position, rights and treatment of women has always been one of the ‘’unimportant’’ issues and has been not given the attention needed by others all over the world. Even though there has been progress made today, many women still feel oppressed even in the most developed countries. This oppression derives from the lack of education, religious affiliation and the typical stereotypes, which portray men as the ones in charge and women as the weak part of the chain of our societies.

Historically, religion has dominated individuals’ in their daily lives. Religion may define ones’ morals and virtues, culture, or explain how the universe began. Depending on ones’ interpretation of their religion, it can be realized that religion is either harmful or beneficial for a certain gender. Most common religions restrict women and make them inferior to men. In particular, Islam religion limits women in interfaith marriages, behavior and rights within the marriage, sexuality, divorce, religious life, employment, and plays a factor in gender roles.

In societies past and present, there have been a variety of ways in which the genders have valued. Although the regions of our world value different icons, gods, or elements, there is one thing in which all cultures value, and that is the people of their society. Since people are high on a culture’s priority list, they value people in different way. Some cultures decide that one sex is superior over the other. Although everyone is valued, there are certain times when some sexes are favored over the other. There have been many primary documents which show us which sex the different cultures value. This will show us that around the world people are not valued the same. This will give us an insight on who these different worldly people value.

Christianity and Buddhism represent two of the most prominent religions in the world today. Various societies in the world feature multiple differences when it comes to gender roles in society, and there have been multiple research studies that have sought to bring out a clearer comprehension of these gender patterns.. The religious perception of gender roles in society havs been seen to share various similarities as well as many differences between them. This paper provides an evaluation of the comparison between Buddhism and Christianity when it comes to the gender patterns in society. There is a way to analyze and explore these two forms of religions through providing discussions on the significant beliefs as well as practices on gender and gender roles.