Societal Interpretations of Buddhism and Gender Inequality Essay

Women and men are born equal. However, females are receiving unequal judgement and unfair treatment in the society, and thus Marilyn Frye brings up the notion of “oppression”, claiming that women are oppressed. Throughout the essay, I will first give the definition of Frye’s oppression and then list 5 critical qualifications to be considered oppressed. After that, I will explain my appreciation on Frye’s perspective on elaborating oppression using the “bird cage” analogy. I will support Frye’s “double-bind” argument for sexism followed by flaws in the argument. Furthermore, I will point out some social group are mistakenly placed inside or outside the parameters of oppression, once the theory of oppression extends over other marginal groups.

In society these days there is a noticeable difference in the treatment of men and women, the most common examples would be found in the social, business and culturally convention realms. These ways of life have double standards in many different ways. There are many ways to convey the ways of discrimination towards women by men.

Gender inequality has maintained the suppression of women worldwide and unfortunately has impacted third world countries with the greatest magnitude. Everyday in these countries there are countless occurrences of physical, emotional, and psychological abuse that must be acknowledged as a primary concern for the world to help overcome. It is however important to recognize specific cultural and religious practices of gender hierarchy that are accepted by women in these countries. While keeping this in mind it is of paramount importance to keep sight of the consequences of abusing these cultural practices at the expense of women’s liberation and development.

In many cultures, the roles of women vary reluctantly. While researching the many aspects of Buddhism, the religion is sometimes practiced differently and the roles of women differs. According to Experiencing World Religions, (Molloy, 127) Buddhism is one of the world's oldest yet most significant religions thus far. It has influenced many cultures, originating from India and making its way to migrate throughout the country of Asia, and women have been involved since the very first day. In today’s society, although men are predominantly inferior over women, women are granted the same opportunities. Just like many other societies in other countries or many other religions there are discriminations and prejucial acts against women. Although, woman are offered the second class citizenship in many Buddhist traditions, a woman's role is very important when helping maintain the religion resulting in mass population of worshipers , fulfilling the duties as caregivers and also wives to their husbands, and also providing any assistance if needed in the community. (Molloy, 127)

The Sangha, the Buddhist monastic order, comprises Bhikku (monks), Bhikkuni (nuns), laymen, and laywomen. While the Bhikku and Bhikkuni depend upon the laywomen and men for economic support, the lay community depends on them for spiritual guidance and ritualistic practices. This well-rounded mutual relationship is clearly a division not only amongst religious status, but determined by gender as well. This is quite a contradiction with the Buddhist belief that your physical self is impermanent and ultimately attachment to your illusory self will cause you suffering. The second Noble Truth states that suffering originates from our ongoing desire, a clinging to possessions, attachments, and self. Why would a religion founded in the idea of shedding attachment focus so much on gender, which is an attachment? I feel that the Buddha’s hesitation in allowing women to be initially recognized in the Sangha originates from his early childhood convictions of women, fear of the Dharma becoming further compromised, and ultimately leading to the deterioration of Buddhism altogether. The Buddha’s hesitations regarding women becoming monastics seem to be questionable because of the way women have responded to this discrimination even during the Buddha’s lifetime. These women are evidently devoted to the ideals and teachings of Buddhism because of their ability to shed attachments and embody a fully monastic lifestyle. As they are shedding their attachments they give up their gender.

According to the “Rites” [a classical text], it was a rule to begin to teach children to read at the age of eight years and by the age of fifteen years they ought then to be ready for culture training. (Strayer 2011, 245) Ban Zhao stated “Yet only to teach men and not to teach women- …” (Strayer 2011), because she felt education for women was important to maintain in a proper relationship between the men and women. In the Chinese culture, husband and wife were taught to mutually respect each other. Chinese women were controlled by their husbands. If a husband does not control his wife, then the rules of conduct manifesting his wife authority are abandoned and broken. (Strayer 2011, 245). In Chinese gender system, women were to have four qualifications, which were called Womanly Qualifications: (1) womanly virtue; (2) womanly words; (3) womanly bearing; (4) womanly work. (Strayer 2011, 246) .They were also taught to be humble. Women in the Indian culture were known for the homemakers in their society. Women were aware of the repression of women, but they were allowed to escape because of religion. Indian women became Buddhist so they could escape from households. Indian were forced to participate in rituals. Nibbana’s

Albert Einstein once said, “the religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal god, avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all natural and spiritual and a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description. If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.”# Many great minds like Albert Einstein have converted or become Buddhists. Many people from the west are turning their attention towards Buddhism because of the Buddha’s simple way to life and the lack of worship or prayer to a divine being.

Whether it is in a polytheistic or a monotheistic religion, the gender of divinity is always a topic given great attention. Although Buddhism doesn’t put much focus on gods in the teaching, it does include certain religious aspects such as praying to the higher beings. The feminine divine traits in Buddhism can be found with a closer examination on the feminine metaphors in the Buddhist scriptures. While Buddhas are predominantly in male form, divine beings like Bodhisattvas often appears to be female figures including Kwan Yin and Tara. The concept of Buddha nature is described as “tathagata garbha” at times, which means Buddha womb. The imagery of this spiritual womb nurturing the nature for all beings implies the significance of this feminine feature. Another example is how the Buddha’s wisdom is referred to as a ‘she’ in some Buddhist texts. The involvement of both feminine and masculine traits seems to underline the irrelevance of gender in Buddhahood. On the other hand, in Christianity a prevailing image of God being the ‘Father’ is developed. The teachings of Jesus powerfully delineate God as a kind and merciful father accepting and guiding his children with no discrimination. In fact, there is only one explicit example in the scriptures comparing God seeking a sinner to a housewife in search of a lost coin. In addition to the masculine image of God, it is argued that between two human sexes, Jesus as a male is

In the beginning of the war, around 1941, most American women lived as their mothers previously had. Women were supposed to have jobs just until they were married and those who did work after they were married or were mothers were regarded with a sense of pity and scorn from society. In a pre-war poll, 82 percent of Americans believed a wife should not work if her husband did. A majority of Americans believed there should have been a law to prohibit it since rural and city women, alike spent about 50 hours a week on household chores alone.

Buddhism’s teachings are paradoxical in many ways, and even the very definition of Nirvana is not clear. Nirvana is not a place like heaven for Christianity, but rather an eternal state of being. It is the state in which the law of Karma and the rebirth cycle come to an end. Achieving enlightenment also implies to be able to see things as they are. Since Buddhism emphasizes the importance of the soul more than the body, I wonder if there is gender discrimination within Buddhism, and to a larger extent I find it interesting to question how the notion of gender impacts the application of the Buddhist philosophy? Therefore, I will, throughout this

“In Tantric Buddhism, we are dealing with a misogynist, destructive, masculine philosophy and religion which is hostile to life – i.e. the precise opposite of that for which it is trustingly and magnanimously welcomed in the figure of the Dalai Lama.”[1] Within Tibetan Buddhism, there is an inherent contradiction regarding the status of women. Although in many aspects women are seen and treated as inferior to men, several of the ancient and fundamental values of Tibetan Buddhism, and more specifically Tantric Buddhism, emphasize equality of the sexes, universal compassion, and most importantly the significant and essential role of the woman. Tibetan Buddhist nuns have been trying to

Both Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism in religious context compare through origin, philosophy, and their social structures including their outlook on women. These three religious show south east Asian roots, cultural beliefs, and social conflicts and solutions.

The low status of women and girls is due to cultural beliefs and the material cost they represent to their families. Vanaja Dhruvarajan says that there is a belief regarding the nature of men and women: "Men are ritually pure, physically strong, and emotionally mature; women, on the other hand, are ritually pollutable, physically weak, and lack strong willpower" (30). Because of these

Throughout history, countless acts of gender inequality can be identified; the causes of these discriminating accounts can be traced back to different causes. The general morality of the inequity relies on a belief that men are superior to women; because of this idea, women have spent generations suffering under their counterparts. Also, a common expectation is that men tend to be more assertive and absolute because of their biological hormones or instinctive intellect. Another huge origin is sexual discrimination; even in the world today, many women are viewed by men as just sex objects rather than a real human being with

Hinduism is so entwined in Indian culture, as I have shown, that most other cultures have a difficult time assimilating Hinduism into their own society. Even when Hinduism is assimilated into a culture, such as Hindu movements in the United States, women are sure to find discrimination in not only the traditional gurus and swamis who are teaching them, but sexist commentaries deeply ingrained in religious texts. Buddhism suffers from the opposite extreme. The Buddha originally banned women from monastic practice but later reversed his decision, allowing them to practice in separate quarters. Buddhist scriptures say very little about women, treating them as equals.