Women Becoming Buddhas
MN 115 Bahudhatuka: The Many Kinds of Elements
Here is one of the main sources for the now controversial view that women cannot become fully enlightened, that they must be reborn as men before that could happen.
“He understands: ‘It is impossible, it cannot happen that a woman could be an Accomplished One, a Fully Enlightened One ― there is no such possibility.’ And he understands: ‘It is possible that a man might be an Accomplished One, a Fully Enlightened One ― there is such a possibility.’ He understands: ‘It is impossible, it cannot happen that a woman could be a Wheel-turning Monarch…that a woman could occupy the position of Sakka…that a woman could occupy the position of Māra…that a woman could occupy the position of Brahma ― there is no such possibility.’ And he understands: ‘It is possible that a man might be a Wheel-turning Monarch…that a man might occupy the position of Sakka…that a man might occupy the position of Mara…that a man might occupy the position of Brahma ― there is such a possibility.”