Comparative Religions Paper

Over the years, different religions have exhibited divergent views about contemporary
issues. Notably, society is often faced with numerous contentious issues, and religion has played
an essential role in providing solutions to such issues. Remarkably, women’s rights have been
one major issue that different religions have viewed differently. For example, Christianity views
women’s rights differently than other religions, such as Buddhism. During the early years,
Christianity taught spiritual unity, which played a crucial role in reducing the austerity of Roman
law that considered women as non-citizens without rights. Buddhism, on the other hand, strongly
opposes the view that women and men are equals. This paper discusses the differences in
viewpoints about women’s rights in Christianity and Buddhism and proposes potential solutions.

Christianity and Buddhism Views of Women’s Rights

A critical examination of Buddhism indicates that it did not uphold women’s rights,
especially before the beginning of activism for equal rights for both males and females in all
spheres of life. However, numerous questions have been raised about Buddhism and its sexist
nature. One instance that points out that women’s rights were neglected in Buddhism is the
behavior of Gautam Buddha, who was reluctant to take women as nuns. Gautam feared that there
would be consequences if women were enrolled as nuns (Paudel, 2017). He believed that such
consequences would hurt society. However, Gautam had to be convinced by his stepbrother to
accept women into the Sangha. Despite accepting women into the Sangha, Gautam expected
them to follow specific rules, which were biased as they only applied to them and not male
followers. The eight restrictions imposed on women followers clearly demonstrate the inferior
position assigned to women in society.

3
Besides just their participation in religious activities, Buddhism undermined women’s
rights, which still applies today. Buddhists believe that women’s bodies cannot attain
enlightenment to become reborn as a man. For instance, in the Bahudhatuka-sutta, it is well
stated that there could never be a female Buddha (Paudel, 2017). In Buddhism, women cannot
become a King, Sakra, or Buddha, pointing out the religion’s sexist nature. Over the years,
women have been made to believe that their body results from bad karma, which has
significantly affected their personalities. Today, Buddhist women are considered inferior to men,
which is evident in how nuns are treated (Collett, 2018). Nuns should only speak after the monks
have spoken, sit behind monks in rituals, and cannot be trusted with high positions in any
ceremony.
On the contrary, Christianity treats women and men equally because God created them in
His own image and likeness. Despite the challenges women face in society about equality,
Christianity often strives to uphold women’s rights. Over the years, Christianity has ensured that
women’s rights are upheld, and this is seen in the way Christians support women and girls in
need and engage them in church activities (Myers, 2017). This is also evident by the rise of
Christian women to powerful positions in church and other non-religious-related activities – a
clear sign that women’s rights are respected.
Additionally, Christians often use the Bible, which vividly outlines that women should be
accorded the same respect as men, as Jesus Christ demonstrated during His teachings and
missions. Jesus allowed both men and women to follow Him; He treated women equally and
with dignity regardless of their social status (Rhodes, 2016). Most importantly, Jesus Christ had
a close relationship with several women, including Mary and Martha. Also, in the early church,

4
women were considered a valuable asset, which only underscores the church’s position on
women (Rhodes, 2016).
Solutions Offered by Christianity and Buddhism to Solve the Issue of Women’s Rights
From the Christianity perspective, there are numerous ways through which Christians can
address women’s rights issues. One of the ways is to encourage gender-sensitive pulpit preaching
in churches. Currently, most priests, preachers, and teachers of the Word of God have learned to
be gender sensitive in their preaching, and this is because of the gender-sensitizing curriculum
taught in theology learning institutions (Eliason et al., 2017). Improved homiletics teaches that
every human being, regardless of their sex, should be equally recognized and respected as they
were created in the image and likeness of God. As such, priests must promote complementarities
among all sexes and combat cultural practices that often oppress women in church and society
(Eliason et al., 2017). Priests must also emphasize themes that stimulate mutual respect and love
for all human beings, regardless of their sex or gender.
On the other hand, Buddhism can promote an inclusive interpretation of the scripture to
understand issues relating to women’s rights. Increased literacy among Buddhist spiritual leaders
has made it easy to interpret the scriptures. A better interpretation of the scriptures can help
Buddhist spiritual leaders to understand and adjust their teachings to accommodate both males
and females. As much as the teachings suggest that women should be treated in a certain way,
there is a dire need for the clergy to respect the rights of all human beings, including women.
A comparison of the approaches used by Christianity and Buddhism to address women’s
rights issues indicates that they both encourage gender sensitivity when preaching. Christianity
and Buddhism believe that literacy is essential in improving gender equality, ensuring that males
and females are equally represented in the church and temple (Eliason et al., 2017). Notably,

5
there is a dire need to ensure that all religious teachers are equipped with knowledge and skills to
promote gender sensitivity in churches and temples to avoid violating women’s rights. The other
similarity between the approaches used by Christianity and Buddhism to curb issues with
women’s rights is that they both encourage enlightenment programs that can help spiritual
leaders to learn new techniques for promoting inclusivity in the church and temple, which is vital
for peace and harmony.

Conclusion

The issue of women’s rights has been a major issue for many religions. Notably, different
religions have different views about women’s rights. Christianity views women’s rights as a
deserving cause because all human beings should be treated equally regardless of their sex.
According to Christians, all human beings were made in the image of God, and thus should be
treated equally in the Church. From the perspective of Christianity, women should be allowed to
occupy leadership positions in the Church. The paper also explains that Buddhism gives less
weight to women’s rights, and in most cases women are not allowed to take up leadership
positions. In Buddhism, there are numerous rules that govern the way women should be treated.
Notably, there are specific solutions that can help curb the issue about women’s rights, including
encouraging gender-sensitive preaching, which acknowledges that both males and females are
equal. Also, creating enlightenment programs can help preachers to have a better understanding
of the scriptures about women and their role in the church.

6

References

Collett, A. (2018). Buddhism and women. In D. Cozort and J. M. Shields, The Oxford handbook
of Buddhist ethics (552-566). Oxford
Eliason, K. D., Hall, M., Anderson, T., & Willingham, M. (2017). Where gender and religion
meet: Differentiating gender role ideology and religious beliefs about gender. Journal of
Psychology & Christianity, 36(1).
Myers, J. (2017). Women’s rights. Advanced by a Christian worldview for 2,000 years.
https://www.summit.org/resources/articles/womens-rights-advanced-christian-
worldview-2000-years/
Paudel, A. (2017). The discrimination of women in Buddhism: An ethical analysis. Open Access
Library Journal, 4(04), 1. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1103578.
Rhodes, D. (2016). The scriptures honor the dignity of women.
https://www.thespectrum.com/story/life/features/mesquite/2016/05/05/scriptures-honor-
dignity-women/83920008/