According to an ancient proverb In Thailand, women are the back legs of the elephant, faithful cohorts of their husband. This seems also true in Thai Buddhism, where white-robed nuns work quietly as assistants to the male Thai monks, and women in Thailand are barred becoming ordained in the Buddhist clergy.

But a Canadian-educated Thai feminist has sparked a revolution in Thailand. 2 years ago, religious scholar Khun Chatsumarn Kabilsingh became the first woman in Thailand to be ordained as monk in the Thai branch of Buddhism. She did it cleverly by using a Budhist ordaining ceremony in Sri Lanka and then returned to the Bangkok temple, wearing the orange colored robes of a Thai monk.

It was an act of rebellion that provoked a huge wave of outrage from conservative Thai monks in Thailand. Since then, 5 more Thai women have been ordained as monks in Thailand, a member of parliament has proposed laws to legalize the practice, and the most vociferous criticism from hard-line opponents against woman monks is slowly fading away in Thailand.

The supreme governing council of Thai Buddhism, which had maintained a frosty silence on the Woman Monk issue has now agreed to study the issue of female ordination as Thai monks more closely.

For 700 years, the men of the Thai Buddhism council have ruled the Kingdoms religion with absolute power, and this woman is causing them so much trouble, said Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, who studied religion at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

At 59 years of age, Chatsumarn goals towards Thai Buddhism are very ambitious. Within a few years she hopes to lead a temple of 20 woman monks in Thailand.

To build international solidarity, she holds an annual retreat with female monks from other Asian countries. This year, six women attended. She plans to invite 15 to attend next year's gathering. I want to show that I am not the only crazy woman, she said. We are internationally crazy.