page_title: Women in Buddhism
section_title: Theravada
hierarchical_section_title: Women in Buddhism / Influential female Buddhist figures / Theravada
caption_attribution_description: English: Ven. Bhikkhuni Dhammananda at international conference in St. Ottilien, Germany
context_page_description: Women in Buddhism is a topic that can be approached from varied perspectives including those of theology, history, anthropology, and feminism. Topical interests include the theological status of women, the treatment of women in Buddhist societies at home and in public, the history of women in Buddhism, and a comparison of the experiences of women across different forms of Buddhism. As in other religions, the experiences of Buddhist women have varied considerably.
  Scholars such as Bernard Faure and Miranda Shaw are in agreement that Buddhist studies is in its infancy in terms of addressing gender issues. Shaw gave an overview of the situation in 1994:
  In the case of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism some progress has been made in the areas of women in early Buddhism, monasticism and Mahayana Buddhism. Two articles have seriously broached the subject of women in Indian tantric Buddhism, while somewhat more attention has been paid to Tibetan nuns and lay yoginis.
  However Khandro Rinpoche, a female lama in Tibetan Buddhism, downplays the significance of growing attention to the topic:
context_section_description: Dhammananda Bhikkhuni, the first modern Thai woman to receive full ordination as a Theravada bhikkhuni and Abbess of Songdhammakalyani Monastery, the only temple in Thailand where there are bhikkhunis.
  Ayya Khema was a German American Buddhist teacher and the first Western woman to become a Theravadin Buddhist nun. She was very active in providing opportunities for women to practice Buddhism founding several Buddhist centers around the world and coordinating the first ever Sakyadhita International Association of Buddhist Women. Over two dozen books of her transcribed dhamma talks have been published in several languages, and she also published her autobiography I Give You My Life in 1997.
  Dipa Ma
  Upasika Kee Nanayon
  Chandra Khonnokyoong
  Sharon Salzberg
  Mya Thwin
  Ajahn Sundara and Ajahn Candasiri are nuns in the Thai Forest Tradition
  Sylvia Boorstein
caption: Dhammananda Bhikkhuni.
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