Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo presents a vision in which women stand as full participants in the entire Buddhist path, not as auxiliaries but as complete practitioners in their own right. She insists that women possess the same buddha‑nature and enlightenment potential as men, and that any suggestion of spiritual inferiority arises from cultural prejudice rather than authentic Dharma. From this perspective, the spiritual role of women is not a special category but simply the human capacity for awakening, unobstructed by gender. Her reflections repeatedly challenge the notion that a female rebirth is spiritually disadvantageous, treating such views as remnants of patriarchal conditioning rather than valid doctrinal positions.

Flowing from this understanding of equal capacity, she advocates that women receive the same depth of training, practice, and institutional support as men. This includes full access to philosophical study, advanced meditation and tantric practices, and the rigorous education traditionally reserved for monks. She has been a strong voice for restoring or establishing full bhikshuni ordination in the Tibetan tradition, seeing this as both a matter of justice and a faithful expression of the Buddha’s intention for a fourfold community of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywomen. In her view, genuine equality requires not only formal vows but also equal resources, facilities, and opportunities for long retreats and serious contemplative life.

Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo also emphasizes that women should be visible as teachers, lineage holders, and leaders within Buddhist institutions. She encourages women to assume positions of authority and responsibility, including roles such as abbesses and public Dharma instructors, and she points to the enrichment that feminine perspectives can bring to the living tradition of the Dharma. Her stance is not an attack on Buddhism itself but a call to distinguish timeless teachings from the cultural habits that have limited women’s participation. By advocating educational equality, institutional reform, and the recognition of women’s full spiritual authority, she articulates a role for women in Tibetan Buddhism that is both faithful to the heart of the Dharma and responsive to the realities of lived experience.