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Bhutan Role of Women
Although officially the government has encouraged
greater
participation of women in political and administrative
life, male
members of the traditional aristocracy dominate the social
system.
Economic development has increased opportunities for women
to
participate in fields such as medicine, both as physicians
and
nurses; teaching; and administration. By 1989 nearly 10
percent of
government employees were women, and the top civil service
examination graduate in 1989 was a woman. During their
government
careers, women civil servants were allowed three months
maternity
leave with full pay for three deliveries and leave without
pay for
any additional deliveries. Reflecting the dominance of
males in
society, girls were outnumbered three to two in primary
and
secondary-level schools.
Women in the 1980s played a significant role in the
agricultural work force, where they outnumbered men, who
were
leaving for the service sector and other urban industrial
and
commercial activities. In the mid-1980s, 95 percent of all
Bhutanese women from the ages of fifteen to sixty-four
years were
involved in agricultural work, compared with only 78
percent of men
in the same age range. Foreign observers have noted that
women
shared equally with men in farm labor. Overall, women were
providing more labor than men in all sectors of the
economy. Less
than 4 percent of the total female work force was
unemployed,
compared with nearly 10 percent of men who had no
occupation.
The government founded the National Women's Association
of
Bhutan in 1981 primarily to improve the socioeconomic
status of
women, particularly those in rural areas. The association,
at its
inaugural session, declared that it would not push for
equal rights
for women because the women of Bhutan had already come to
"enjoy
equal status with men politically, economically, and
socially." To
give prominence to the association, the Druk Gyalpo's
sister, Ashi
Sonam Chhoden Wangchuck, was appointed its president.
Starting in
1985, the association became a line item in the government
budget
and was funded at Nu2.4 million in fiscal year
(FY--see Glossary)
1992. The association has organized annual beauty contests
featuring traditional arts and culture, fostered training
in health
and hygiene, distributed yarn and vegetable seeds, and
introduced
smokeless stoves in villages.
Data as of September 1991
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