Dear Bankei,

You wrote:

> But the rules clearly favour men.
> There is a gurudhamma rule that a woman ordained for 100 years has to bow
> down to a monk ordained for 1 day. The determining factor is gender, so how
> can this not be gender bias? ie favouring one gender over another.

I think it is possible to explain this garudhamma rule without treating it as gender bias. But my explanation is only hypothetical and I will not claim that what I am going to say is really the Buddha's intent.

Let us look at a very different organization---the military. In almost all armed forces in the world, soldiers of a lower rank have to salute when they see an officer of a higher rank. In some armies, different ranks have different mess halls, different clubs, and usually there are many rules to limit the socializing between soldiers of different ranks. Does all this mean that lower rank soldiers are inferior soldiers?

I don't think so. We all know that there are many excellent private soldiers as well as foolish and cowardly officers; so this universal custom of discrimination cannot reflect the reality. Then why has it stood universally? Probably because it works, because it has a functional value for the overall organization. But I don't know what it is; I request those more knowledgeable to enlighten me in this regard.

In the same manner, the first garudhamma may also have a functional value, even though it may appear unfair to the eyes of an outsider. But I cannot answer yet what its value exactly is.

Just food for thought.

with metta

Ven. Pandita