Religious Womens Struggles, Strategies and Achievements in Contemporary Thai Buddhism

Because they cannot enter the sangha, Theravda Buddhist women in Thailand do not have access to highreligious status and to official ritual roles, expertise and authority. This essay invites you to examine how womenwho want to live a religious life have coped with this situation. Have Thai women simply accepted the limitationsplaced upon them or have they found ways to circumvent, to challenge or, even, to surmount them? If so, whatkind of religious and ritualstrategies have they recently deployed to participate and contribute more fully to theirtradition? While developing your response, remember to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of themethods used by both mae chis who now live in convents and those who have joined Bhikkhuni Dhammanandaseffort to revive the Theravda Order of nuns in Thailand.