To encourage more women participation in the Local Government Elections in 2016, Bhutan Network for Empowering Women organised a workshop in Punakha. Some hundred participants form six Western Dzongkhag took part in the three-day workshop which ended today.
The Coordinator, Phuntshok Choden, said the workshop will provided a platform for women to become politically active.
“The main purpose of organizing this workshop is because as you know we currently have a situation of very low participation of women in local government,” she said.
She said the current statistics of women in the local government stands at 6.9 percent. “That is about 99 women out of whole lot of gups, mangmis and tshogpas in the country.”
Phuntshok Choden said since there is another local government election is in 2016 there is enough time to encourage more women to come forward.
Sherab Dema from Toeb gewog in Punakha, who did not get elected in 2011, said she is inspired to contest again after attending the workshop. Sherab said she will contest for the post of Gup in 2016 local government elections. “I am also encouraging other women to participate in such elections since men and women get equal opportunities.”
The three-day sessions included exercises on personality, understanding themselves, understanding others, logistics, gender sensitisation, understanding leadership, communication, democracy and female leadership among others.
