Cults & Society
 Department: Group Report
__________________________________________________
Featured Group Report

Hare Krishna: women
  
 
   
 
     

8/12

Participation, Protection and Patriarchy: An International Model for the Role of Women in ISKCON

Radha Devi Dasi   

[continued]

I do not believe that this "woman as small child" model is the one Shrila Prabhupada intended.  In fact, examination of the histories told by many of his early female disciples reveals that Shrila Prabhupada himself did not treat women in this way.  Their stories reveal that Shrila Prabhupada protected them in three ways.  First, he educated his female disciples about their true identities as spirit souls.  Second, Shrila Prabhupada engaged women in devotional service, a process by which they could attain liberation from death and rebirth, the ultimate protection from worldly suffering and evil.  Finally, as Kausalya Devi Dasi detailed in her presentation at the "Vaishnavis in ISKCON" conference, when limited facilities were available for the devotees’ use, Shrila Prabhupada protected his female disciples by giving them the lion’s share of those physical resources.[xxiii] 

In examining Shrila Prabhupada’s actual behaviour toward his female disciples, it seems fair to conclude that far from comparing women to children who need protection, Shrila Prabhupada desired a model in which women would be nurtured and supported and above all encouraged to contribute as much as they could to the Krishna Conscious Movement, rather than being reviled and restricted.  Perhaps we should redirect our efforts toward a model designed to ensure that women are educated, engaged and provided with sufficient physical resources in order to perform their various services effectively within our organisation. 

This question of protection through the provision of resources raises the second category of Human Rights, that is, substantive rights.  If protection really were our goal, then as an external academic observer of the institution I would expect to see policies directed towards that goal. The Women’s Ministry and other members of ISKCON have engaged in significant discussion concerning policies that would be necessary to protect women members of ISKCON.  That list is legion, but if we examine protection from sexual exploitation specifically, I would expect to see, among many other things, education about the proper roles of men and women, ashram[xxiv] facilities for women, and a policy prohibiting sexual harassment.  In fact, we have some of these things.  We have training manuals for our new members, but they do not often include material on how to respect and protect women.  We have ashram facilities.  However, we spend more resources on men’s training and men’s ashrams than we do on comparable programmes for women.  The Women’s Ministry is drafting a policy on sexual harassment, but without effective support from ISKCON’s management, that policy is unlikely to result in meaningful social change.  Thus, in spite of our rhetoric about protecting women, an outside observer will find that we give more substantive rights to men than to women.

In ISKCON we find ourselves in the position of telling our women members that they do not need participation rights because we will protect them.  But we then fail to provide the resources by which that protection might come about.  Human rights analysts will tell you that when you decrease somebody’s participation rights without a corresponding increase in their substantive rights, that person will be worse off than they were at the beginning.[xxv]  This type of situation is the very definition of oppression and dictatorship, which is surely not what Shrila Prabhupada intended. 

1/12 < > 12/12
______________________________________________ ^
 

Cults & Society
 Department: Group Report
__________________________________________________
Featured Group Report

Hare Krishna: women
  
 
   
 
     

8/12

Participation, Protection and Patriarchy: An International Model for the Role of Women in ISKCON

Radha Devi Dasi   

[continued]

I do not believe that this "woman as small child" model is the one Shrila Prabhupada intended.  In fact, examination of the histories told by many of his early female disciples reveals that Shrila Prabhupada himself did not treat women in this way.  Their stories reveal that Shrila Prabhupada protected them in three ways.  First, he educated his female disciples about their true identities as spirit souls.  Second, Shrila Prabhupada engaged women in devotional service, a process by which they could attain liberation from death and rebirth, the ultimate protection from worldly suffering and evil.  Finally, as Kausalya Devi Dasi detailed in her presentation at the "Vaishnavis in ISKCON" conference, when limited facilities were available for the devotees’ use, Shrila Prabhupada protected his female disciples by giving them the lion’s share of those physical resources.[xxiii] 

In examining Shrila Prabhupada’s actual behaviour toward his female disciples, it seems fair to conclude that far from comparing women to children who need protection, Shrila Prabhupada desired a model in which women would be nurtured and supported and above all encouraged to contribute as much as they could to the Krishna Conscious Movement, rather than being reviled and restricted.  Perhaps we should redirect our efforts toward a model designed to ensure that women are educated, engaged and provided with sufficient physical resources in order to perform their various services effectively within our organisation. 

This question of protection through the provision of resources raises the second category of Human Rights, that is, substantive rights.  If protection really were our goal, then as an external academic observer of the institution I would expect to see policies directed towards that goal. The Women’s Ministry and other members of ISKCON have engaged in significant discussion concerning policies that would be necessary to protect women members of ISKCON.  That list is legion, but if we examine protection from sexual exploitation specifically, I would expect to see, among many other things, education about the proper roles of men and women, ashram[xxiv] facilities for women, and a policy prohibiting sexual harassment.  In fact, we have some of these things.  We have training manuals for our new members, but they do not often include material on how to respect and protect women.  We have ashram facilities.  However, we spend more resources on men’s training and men’s ashrams than we do on comparable programmes for women.  The Women’s Ministry is drafting a policy on sexual harassment, but without effective support from ISKCON’s management, that policy is unlikely to result in meaningful social change.  Thus, in spite of our rhetoric about protecting women, an outside observer will find that we give more substantive rights to men than to women.

In ISKCON we find ourselves in the position of telling our women members that they do not need participation rights because we will protect them.  But we then fail to provide the resources by which that protection might come about.  Human rights analysts will tell you that when you decrease somebody’s participation rights without a corresponding increase in their substantive rights, that person will be worse off than they were at the beginning.[xxv]  This type of situation is the very definition of oppression and dictatorship, which is surely not what Shrila Prabhupada intended. 

1/12 < > 12/12
______________________________________________ ^
 

Cults & Society
 Department: Group Report
__________________________________________________
Featured Group Report

Hare Krishna: women
  
 
   
 
     

8/12

Participation, Protection and Patriarchy: An International Model for the Role of Women in ISKCON

Radha Devi Dasi   

[continued]

I do not believe that this "woman as small child" model is the one Shrila Prabhupada intended.  In fact, examination of the histories told by many of his early female disciples reveals that Shrila Prabhupada himself did not treat women in this way.  Their stories reveal that Shrila Prabhupada protected them in three ways.  First, he educated his female disciples about their true identities as spirit souls.  Second, Shrila Prabhupada engaged women in devotional service, a process by which they could attain liberation from death and rebirth, the ultimate protection from worldly suffering and evil.  Finally, as Kausalya Devi Dasi detailed in her presentation at the "Vaishnavis in ISKCON" conference, when limited facilities were available for the devotees’ use, Shrila Prabhupada protected his female disciples by giving them the lion’s share of those physical resources.[xxiii] 

In examining Shrila Prabhupada’s actual behaviour toward his female disciples, it seems fair to conclude that far from comparing women to children who need protection, Shrila Prabhupada desired a model in which women would be nurtured and supported and above all encouraged to contribute as much as they could to the Krishna Conscious Movement, rather than being reviled and restricted.  Perhaps we should redirect our efforts toward a model designed to ensure that women are educated, engaged and provided with sufficient physical resources in order to perform their various services effectively within our organisation. 

This question of protection through the provision of resources raises the second category of Human Rights, that is, substantive rights.  If protection really were our goal, then as an external academic observer of the institution I would expect to see policies directed towards that goal. The Women’s Ministry and other members of ISKCON have engaged in significant discussion concerning policies that would be necessary to protect women members of ISKCON.  That list is legion, but if we examine protection from sexual exploitation specifically, I would expect to see, among many other things, education about the proper roles of men and women, ashram[xxiv] facilities for women, and a policy prohibiting sexual harassment.  In fact, we have some of these things.  We have training manuals for our new members, but they do not often include material on how to respect and protect women.  We have ashram facilities.  However, we spend more resources on men’s training and men’s ashrams than we do on comparable programmes for women.  The Women’s Ministry is drafting a policy on sexual harassment, but without effective support from ISKCON’s management, that policy is unlikely to result in meaningful social change.  Thus, in spite of our rhetoric about protecting women, an outside observer will find that we give more substantive rights to men than to women.

In ISKCON we find ourselves in the position of telling our women members that they do not need participation rights because we will protect them.  But we then fail to provide the resources by which that protection might come about.  Human rights analysts will tell you that when you decrease somebody’s participation rights without a corresponding increase in their substantive rights, that person will be worse off than they were at the beginning.[xxv]  This type of situation is the very definition of oppression and dictatorship, which is surely not what Shrila Prabhupada intended. 

1/12 < > 12/12
______________________________________________ ^
 

Cults & Society
 Department: Group Report
__________________________________________________
Featured Group Report

Hare Krishna: women
  
 
   
 
     

8/12

Participation, Protection and Patriarchy: An International Model for the Role of Women in ISKCON

Radha Devi Dasi   

[continued]

I do not believe that this "woman as small child" model is the one Shrila Prabhupada intended.  In fact, examination of the histories told by many of his early female disciples reveals that Shrila Prabhupada himself did not treat women in this way.  Their stories reveal that Shrila Prabhupada protected them in three ways.  First, he educated his female disciples about their true identities as spirit souls.  Second, Shrila Prabhupada engaged women in devotional service, a process by which they could attain liberation from death and rebirth, the ultimate protection from worldly suffering and evil.  Finally, as Kausalya Devi Dasi detailed in her presentation at the "Vaishnavis in ISKCON" conference, when limited facilities were available for the devotees’ use, Shrila Prabhupada protected his female disciples by giving them the lion’s share of those physical resources.[xxiii] 

In examining Shrila Prabhupada’s actual behaviour toward his female disciples, it seems fair to conclude that far from comparing women to children who need protection, Shrila Prabhupada desired a model in which women would be nurtured and supported and above all encouraged to contribute as much as they could to the Krishna Conscious Movement, rather than being reviled and restricted.  Perhaps we should redirect our efforts toward a model designed to ensure that women are educated, engaged and provided with sufficient physical resources in order to perform their various services effectively within our organisation. 

This question of protection through the provision of resources raises the second category of Human Rights, that is, substantive rights.  If protection really were our goal, then as an external academic observer of the institution I would expect to see policies directed towards that goal. The Women’s Ministry and other members of ISKCON have engaged in significant discussion concerning policies that would be necessary to protect women members of ISKCON.  That list is legion, but if we examine protection from sexual exploitation specifically, I would expect to see, among many other things, education about the proper roles of men and women, ashram[xxiv] facilities for women, and a policy prohibiting sexual harassment.  In fact, we have some of these things.  We have training manuals for our new members, but they do not often include material on how to respect and protect women.  We have ashram facilities.  However, we spend more resources on men’s training and men’s ashrams than we do on comparable programmes for women.  The Women’s Ministry is drafting a policy on sexual harassment, but without effective support from ISKCON’s management, that policy is unlikely to result in meaningful social change.  Thus, in spite of our rhetoric about protecting women, an outside observer will find that we give more substantive rights to men than to women.

In ISKCON we find ourselves in the position of telling our women members that they do not need participation rights because we will protect them.  But we then fail to provide the resources by which that protection might come about.  Human rights analysts will tell you that when you decrease somebody’s participation rights without a corresponding increase in their substantive rights, that person will be worse off than they were at the beginning.[xxv]  This type of situation is the very definition of oppression and dictatorship, which is surely not what Shrila Prabhupada intended. 

1/12 < > 12/12
______________________________________________ ^