woman help: Why aren’t women allowed to become a buddha/Dalai Lama? - Help.com

To quote His (rather exiled) Holiness the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso on the issue, ‘why could it not happen’?

There is nothing against it in a codified sense, merely that the traditional values of the religion and cultures of those within it have prevented it from happening thus far.

There is of course a much wider debate as to whether the role of the Dalai Lama will continue upon the death of Tenzin. He long ago passed on the decision to the Tibetans. The PRC will very likely try to install an anti-Dalai Lama regardless, using the authority of the ‘false’ Panchen Lama Gyaicain Norbu to cement it.