"Man has not allowed woman the same status, the same position, the same freedom as he has allowed himself. The woman has lived down the ages as a prisoner. In the name of religion, in the name of morality, in the name of chastity – all great names but hiding a simple and ugly fact: slavery, spiritual slavery.

"Education was not allowed, social movement was not allowed. In different countries, in different ways, the woman has been reduced to a subhuman status. Because she is not educated, she has to be dependent on man financially. She cannot compete with man in the marketplace or anywhere else. She is debarred from any possible evolution of consciousness in any dimension.

"For example, there have not been any great painters or poets or musicians or sculptors from the world of women. Not that woman is incapable or intrinsically has no potential, but potential alone is not enough. It needs opportunity to become actual and man has removed all opportunities for woman′s growth. That′s why there is no sense of humor in women. They cannot in fact enjoy laughter. Their very situation is sad. They are living in chains, invisible, they are living in prisons. But they have lived in those prisons for so long that everybody has forgotten that they are prisons. They are in every way handicapped, prevented from everything creative – even prevented from being spiritual beings.

"It is a very sad story that half of humanity has been prevented from every creative dimension. And this half of humanity has far bigger a heart than man, has more capacity for sensitivity than man, can create in many dimensions in a far superior way than any man, but she has just not been given any opportunity. On the contrary, all kinds of preventive measures have been taken so that she remains enslaved. It is so ugly, so condemnable that because of this very few women could become enlightened.

"And they have more potential for it than man, for the simple reason that nature endows them in a few dimensions with greater energy and greater power – because they have to be mothers. Nature depends on them for reproduction, for life to continue. Man′s hand in life′s perpetuation is negligible. On the contrary, man has been the cause of bringing destruction and death to millions of people around the globe. As far back as you can go, you will always find man fighting. His whole effort, his whole intelligence and genius has been devoted singularly in creating more powerful weapons to destroy.

"Woman is the source of life; man seems to be in the service of death. And of course the source of life has more creative possibilities than man can ever have. It is not a coincidence that even those few men who have been great musicians or dancers or poets or painters, in some way became as graceful as women." Osho