Huff Post: Michaela Haas

There is no hope for a female pope, but there might be one for a female Buddhist leader.

When Pope Francis washed the feet of two young women during Easter, this provoked the criticism of conservative Catholics who pointed out that the liturgies only allow men’s feet to be washed, and cheers of progressives who saw it as an omen for a change in the Church’s stance toward women. Many hope that the new pope will be a little more inclusive, especially when it comes to women’s issues and questions concerning sexuality and contraception. More than 70 percent of American Catholics want the new pope to ordain women, approve the use of contraception and let priests get married. The Bible demands that the pontiff has “clean hands and a pure heart.” Theoretically, any Catholic male can be elected pope, but women are the only group categorically excluded. I happen to have been born in a Bavarian village not far from Pope Benedict XVI’s. In my elementary school a crucified Jesus adorned every classroom, and I am intimately familiar with the reasoning why Catholic bishops think allowing women into their ordained ranks will forever remain impossible. The statements about women were, in fact, one of the reasons I left the Catholic Church as a young women when my world views clashed with the rules I learned from my local priest.

When I became a Buddhist almost 20 years ago, I was initially enthusiastic to learn that the Buddha was the first religious founder after the Jains who allowed women into the ranks of his order — a revolutionary decision at the time, more than 2.500 years ago. The historical Buddha clearly encouraged nuns and lay women along with men to be the pillars of his community. But practically speaking, over the centuries, women were not allowed to participate equally there either. For instance, throughout Asia, women rarely had equal access to education. After studying Buddhism for a decade in India and Nepal I couldn’t fail to notice that all my teachers were men. Where were all the women? If Buddhism is based on the equality of all beings and gender didn’t matter, why then was there such a huge imbalance? I started to seek out female Buddhist teachers and found myself in the middle of a sea change.

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