The global Jain community are broadly divided into 2 major lineages/sects (and related sub-lineages) whose differences trace back to the practices of ascetics.
One of the most fundamental distinctions between Śvetāmbara and Digambara Jains is their respective views on women as mendicants, or nuns, that originated over their debates regarding nudity.
"[1] For the Śvetāmbaras, the white robes commonly associated with them are not a source of attachment, but merely interpreted as tools that enable the religious life of restraint[2] The debate on nudity would translate into a concern about the renunciant and soteriological potential of women.
[3] Moreover, many Jain texts describe women as unsuited toward mendicant life due to their being inherently weaker, passion-filled, and because their physical bodies "generate and destroy life-forms within their sexual organs... thus repeatedly infringing nonviolence.
The Śvetāmbaras also accepted the premise that naked nuns would be inappropriate; however, because they viewed clothing as auxiliary to religious pursuits, the issue of female mendicants was resolved by having all individuals wear simple white robes.
[citation needed] The debates haunt the discussion of gender, and particularly women, in Jainism, as the mendicant tradition is seen as one of the most significant features of Jain religious practice and its embodied philosophy.
[8] As sociologist Manisha Sethi observes, "There is no single archetype but a heterogeneity of ideals that appear sometimes to buttress women's claim to independent spiritual life, and at other times, to erode this pursuit.
"[11] There are also stories about early Jain women whose chastity and righteousness eventually lead to their liberation, such as Rājīmatī, wife of the 22nd Tīrthaṅkara Neminātha.
This lack of representation of female mendicants in the textual tradition, argues Sethi, is an act of historic erasure that denies women equal opportunity in renunciate activities and leaves the Jain spiritual worldview solely within the domain of male practitioners.
[15] Ironically, while nuns are sometimes characterized as being dangerous sexual agents in Jain texts, the same women must also protect their chastity from "potential molesters and rapists as well as her own self.
Digambara Jains reject the view that Mallinātha was a woman, as this would mean that he would have developed breasts and menstruated, both of which are sources of great violence that would prevent any Jina-to-be from shedding all karmas.
[21] These annotations highlight the fact that, while there was lively discussion and debate regarding female mendicants, women have been a part of the Jain monastic tradition for a long time, which was not always the case with rival communities.