In Jain Dharma, this topic is explained differently in the two main traditions:

• Shwetambar tradition: women can attain moksha in the present body, through right faith, right knowledge, and right conduct.
• Digambar tradition: women are respected equally in spiritual progress, but it is taught that moksha is not attained in the female body in the present life; liberation is attained after taking a male body.

This difference is based on traditional scriptural interpretation, not on lack of spiritual worth. In both traditions, the soul itself has no gender. The soul is eternal and pure in its nature. Gender belongs only to the physical body, not to the soul.

So, from the Jain view:

• women are not lesser souls
• spiritual capacity is equal
• the difference is only in traditional doctrine about the body and liberation

If you want, I can also explain this in very simple words or from the Digambar/Shwetambar scriptural viewpoint.