Gender equality activists recently criticized Tibetan Buddhists’ spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, for suggesting that any potential female successor would have to be very, very attractive to lead her flock effectively. In an interview with BBC’s Clive Myrie, the 80-year-old Dalai Lama said that there was no reason why the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists could not be a woman, as long as she is good looking, since without that quality she would not be of much use.

While talking of succession or reincarnation, the Dalai Lama’s remarks provoked accusations of sexism that went on to plague him for the remainder of his tour in the United Kingdom, which started on September 14. The spiritual leader’s comment initially came off as a clumsy joke and both the interviewer and the interviewee laughed it off. However, when Myrie asked the Dalai Lama to clarify his statement once again, the latter’s insistence that a female successor would have to be beautiful went on to upset some gender equality activists.

The interviewer asked whether he meant a female Dalai Lama would be very attractive, to which the spiritual leader responded saying, “I mean, if female Dalai Lama come, then that female must be very attractive… Otherwise not much use.”

Myrie asked again, “Really? You’re joking,” to which the interviewee said, “No, true!”

Vivienne Hayes, CEO of Women’s Resource Center, criticized the Dalai Lama’s remarks, saying she was very disappointed in him.

“It’s disappointing that any woman’s ability to take on a leadership role should be determined by her appearance. This seems to be a common obsession across the media, given some of the comments about women in politics. We are concerned that society is in fact going backwards in terms of women’s equality, and will keep tirelessly campaigning against this,” she said.

Nicole Rowe, spokesperson for Progressive Women, said she could not get her mind around the fact that someone as wise as the Dalai Lama could say something so retrograde.

“While we’re pleased to hear the Dalai Lama is in favour of the possibility of a female Dalai Lama, we’re surprised and greatly disappointed that a man of such compassion and wisdom could express such a retrograde opinion. Perpetuating the antiquated idea that women are primarily useful as ornaments, as in the parlance ‘Women should be seen but not heard’, only adds fuel to the manifold discrimination women still face to this day. A woman’s appearance is not more important than her achievements. If a woman were to become Dalai Lama, we’re certain that her actions would be of much more weight than how she looked, and we hope the Dalai Lama will take the time to reflect on the impact of his words for women, particularly given the scale of his influence,” she said.

However, other women’s rights campaigners chose not to comment about the Dalai Lama’s remarks, which they perceived as a tongue-in-cheek reply to Myrie’s question. Caroline Criado-Perez, the journalist who campaigned for British banknotes to carry more illustrations of women figures, responded to a request for comment on the controversy on Twitter, saying, “Is ‘lol’ appropriate?”

@damiengayle is "lol" appropriate?

— Caroline CriadoPerez (@CCriadoPerez) September 24, 2015

Since 1959, the Dalai Lama has lived in exile in Dharamshala, India, from where Dalai Lamas or their regents have continued to lead the Tibetan government for approximately 300 years, even after China occupied their homeland in 1950. The current, 14th Dalai Lama, whose name was changed to Tenzin Gyatso, said that his institution would continue to function only if Tibetans wanted it to.

Photo Credits: Tibet.net