Women have long enjoyed a special place and played an important role in Buddhism. Buddhism does not consider women as being inferior to men, while accepting biological and physical differences between two sexes, does consider men and women to be equally useful to society.

The Buddha emphasizes fruitful role women can play and should play as in being a wife and a good mother in making family life a success.

In a family, both husband and wife are expected to share equal responsibilities and to discharge their duties with equal dedication. The husband is admonished to consider wife a friend, a companion, and a partner.

In Buddhism, women who embodied compassionate, gentle, loving kindness have often been associated with Bodhisattvas such as Chenrenzig, ( popularly known as Goddess of Mercy, or Kuan Yin or Avalokiteshvara ) and various Taras in Tibetan Buddhism.

According to sutras, Buddha Shakyamuni used to refer to Chenrenzig as a man. In history, Chenrenzig was regarded as a male before Tang Dynasty. During Tang Dynasty, it was said that Chenrenzig was a princess called Miau Shan. As Chenrenzig in a feminine form is more intimate, more and more people affirmed this Bodhisattva to be female.