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buddhistethics posted: "ISSN
1076-9005 Volume 25, 2018 Social Inequalities and the Promotion of Women in
Buddhism in Thailand Manuel Litalien Nipissing University Studies have shown
that religion can support or hinder social development (Haynes 2007; Tomalin
2013). "
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New post on Journal of Buddhist Ethics
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ISSN 1076-9005
Volume 25, 2018
Social Inequalities and
the Promotion of Women in Buddhism in Thailand
Manuel Litalien
Nipissing University
Studies have
shown that religion can support or hinder social development (Haynes
2007; Tomalin 2013). This article makes a case in favor of how, in
Thailand, the demands for greater justice and gender equality have
engaged groups of women to seek higher Buddhist ordination as a means
to better promote human and social development. Equal religious
philanthropic contribution between men and women is presented as a
component to democratic participation in the struggling political
Kingdom of Thailand. The study finds that the women’s Buddhist
movement in Thailand capitalizes on the limited welfare resources
offered by the government, along with the current institutionalized
politics of religious diversity, as defined in the Thai constitution.
To present the inequalities and challenges faced by Thai Buddhist
women, the function of the Thai Buddhist monastic community (saṅgha) will
be portrayed as an organization promoting an “inequality regime.” The
governing structural configuration of the saṅgha will be presented as
reinforcing social roles divided by oppressive gender conceptions.
The Buddhist institution’s inequality regime will be depicted in
light of its refusal to ordain bhikkhunīs.
The exclusion of Thai Buddhist nuns is situated in eight different
lenses: namely, biological, ritual, scriptural, cultural, political,
institutional, historical, and legal contexts. Finally, the vital
sustainable core to these women is introduced as both a global and a
local network of Buddhist women. This is better known as a
glocalization strategy for the promotion of gender equality in
Theravāda Buddhism.
Read article
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