EMPOWERMENT, ITS CRITIQUE FROM A FEMINIST AND BUDDHIST PERSPECTIVE AND BHIKKHUN I ORDINATION

Abstract

The article discusses the conceptual understanding of the term empowerment as contributing to transforming unequal gender relations focusing on the context of the struggle for full ordination as bhikkhuni for religious women in the Thai Theravada Buddhist tradition. As bhikkhunis, religious women move to a higher moral realm and is considered as "fields-of-merit", a status previously available only to men who have access to full ordination. However, the relevance of the term empowerment is also critiqued firstly, from a feminist perspective that it is derived from a patriarchal discourse fixated with power. Secondly, the notion of empowerment is analyzed from a Buddhist perspective of non-attachment or letting go. In the process of discussing the relevance of the term empowerment the social position of mae jis (religious women who observe eight precepts, shave their heads and wear white robes) are highlighted. Broadly, the struggle for the ordination as bhikkhuni for religious women is situated in the debate on whether Buddhism supports  gender  in/ equality.