Western Women Can Come to the Rescue of the World — Revisit the Dalai Lama’s words
January 25, 2010 —Worth Reading Again
At the Vancouver Peace Summit last September, the Dalai Lama said something that ricocheted around the globe. He said that he is a feminist. And he opined that Western women will save the world.
For me this conjured up an unsettling image of blond-haired, blue-eyed amazons riding to the rescue. Not quite what I would expect a figure of his stature to say. Not if his or her coterie of marketing and polling gurus could help it. But the Dalai Lama, true to form, does not pay attention to politically correct niceties. The blogosphere and Twitter went off scale. Some people loved it; not a few rolled their eyes.
. .The Dalai Lama, like his great friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu, does not mince words when it comes to women. He has said on numerous occasions that he inherited his prodigious compassion from his mother. He believes that women, with their nurturing instinct, are naturally more compassionate. He wants to see more female ministers of defence, and is delighted that Spain has one. If wars are a fact of life, then it would be better if women were in charge, according to him, since they are more likely to empathize with those who suffer during conflicts.