Abstract: The Thai Bhikkhuni Movement and Women’s Empowerment

by Dr. Emma Tomalin

This paper discusses the recent emergence of a movement in Thailand that aims to critique and transform patriarchal values supported by the Theravada Buddhist tradition through introducing female ordination (bhikkhuni ordination). The paper argues that there is a relationship between the low status of women in Thai Buddhism and the inferior status of women in Thai society. The introduction of female leadership roles in Thai Buddhism could play a role in balancing the gender hierarchies within the tradition as well as in society more broadly.

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Biography of Dr. Emma Tomalin

Dr Emma Tomalin is a lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Leeds, UK.

Her research interests are focused upon gender and religion; religion and international development; and religion and environmentalism, particularly with respect to South and South East Asia (www.leeds.ac.uk/trs/staff/emma_tomalin.htm).

Her current research is interested in women’s ordination in Theravada Buddhist and she has recently published the following article on this topic: The Thai Bhikkhuni Movement and Women’s Empowerment. Gender and Development, 14(3), 385-397.