Question: In his purports Srila Prabhupada has called women less intelligent. If all of us, men or women, are basically Prakrti (feminine), then why a soul with a woman’s body considered less intelligent?
Answer by Romapada Swami: The first point that should be made here is that as soon as one is fully self-realized in Krishna consciousness, irrespective of whether one is in the body of a man or woman or child, one is most intelligent, as we see in the examples of Prahlada Maharaja, Queen Kunti etc. Similarly, Srila Prabhupada said on several occasions that these comparisons (in intelligence, for example) no longer apply once one becomes fixed in devotion to Krishna.
To directly respond to your question, Srila Prabhupada does not identify the soul of a woman to be ‘less intelligent’. The soul is full of knowledge. However, in the conditioned state, one’s innate qualities are covered by a conditioned nature, which is based on the particular body. See verse and purport to Bhagavad-gita 13.21.
