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Women in Bhutan enjoy equality and freedom with men compared to their counterparts in many regions of the world. The Constitution of Bhutan also does not allow gender discrimination. However, the number of women in decision making including politics is very negligible. Men have being dominating the social system for decades. There are currently only nine women in the executive levels whereas there are 163 men. And there are only two women holding Constitutional posts.
Commissioner Kinley Yangzom of Royal Civil Service Commission, RCSC, is one of the two. She began her career in personnel section of education ministry 25 years ago. A mother of three children, she said balancing between work and home was one particular challenge that she is faced with.
“Working in civil service and to rise to position of executive level is to work hard with commitment, dedication, which involves long working hours that is challenging in terms of balancing time with family. I had to sacrifice a lot to focus on my work. Fortunately I have a supportive family. My mother and husband played a critical role, supported and
encouraged me,” she said.
Like Kinley Yangzom, most women agreed that it was important to have supportive family to rise in their career. Doctor Ugyen Tshomo, a Gynecologist at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital in Thimphu, is one of the eight women specialists out of 71 men. She said it is a demanding profession. A mother of two, she said it was difficult for her to keep a balance between her career and home. However, she said that the job satisfaction she gets at the end of the day makes up for all the sacrifices.
“I had very little time for my family. My home is almost neglected. Most of the time, I am at the hospital. That was the main challenge. There is a constant problem at home because you cannot look after both. You either neglect work or family. You have to made constant sacrifice between the two,” she added.
BBS found out that many women at the higher posts always had a support from their families. They had the space to give equal priority to their career, because they did not have to worry much about the domestic obligation. However, most women are not fortunate enough to have a supportive family.
“For women who do not have support from their spouse and family, I see lots of them struggle, especially not having a domestic help makes it more difficult. How do you leave your young child at home with a stranger, when you come to work? If your mind is not at peace how can you contribute hundred percent at what you are doing? I definitely think that there are more challenges for women,” said Chime P Wangdi, Secretary General of Tarayana Foundation.
The multiple roles of women as a daughter, wife, mother and homemaker, some said, have taken priority. This, they said, is one of the reasons why there is poor women representation in every rung of the society.
Looking back in the past, most parents did not want to send their daughters to schools, either because of long walking distances to school or parents wanted them at home to look after their domestic chores.
“The reason is to do with the past history, if we look at the education system, when modern education was introduced, we had less number of girls enrolled and as a result less number of girls produced from schools and colleges. This led to less women joining civil service. Even those who have joined are in lower position,” said Kinley Yangzom.
The trend is, however, changing. The RCSC bi-annual report shows an increasing number of female civil servants, over the years. The maximum number of female civil servants is in Professional and Management level, which requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. Commissioner Kinley Yangzom said she is optimistic that few years down the line, there would be more women in executive levels.
Meanwhile, women representation in politics too is no different. The current parliament has only 10 women members against 62 men. The situation is no better in local government, with only 103 representatives out of more than 1,400.
The poor representation has been a concern for many. Why is it important to have a balanced representation of women in decision making levels? “To have an equitable and sustainable development, to make sure both men and women are taken into consideration,” answered Claire Van der Vaeren, Resident Co-ordinator, UN Systems in Bhutan.
She added that it is important to have both men and women in decision making. “We find out that while women have a say in the households, when it comes public decision making, decision in areas like how development is pursued, and decision on state policy programmes, indeed there are much fewer women making decision influencing the policies and programme.”
The Institute for Management Studies, IMS, with funds from National Commission for Women and Children carried out a survey to study the women’s participation in Local Government elections, last year.
They found out there were two issues. “Bhutanese women are too busy to engage in politics. They have to run the households, which keeps them 60 to 70 percent busy. Another reason is women somehow have low self-confidence. They feel that they cannot make through the elections or win the elections. The lack of self-confidence is holding a big chunk of women back,” said Norbu Wangchuk, a Researcher with the IMS.
Recently, a first ever women in Politics Workshop was held in Paro. It was aimed to establish a network of elected women and to empower and strengthen leadership capacities. They also discussed on the issues and challenges faced by the elected women. Some of the elected women in local government said it is difficult for them to hold public office.
“We have to take care of our household chores and at the same run for office works,” said one of the candidates.
What needs to be done to encourage women to come forward and participate not only in politics but also in decision making in bureaucracy?
The Resident Co-ordinator, Claire Van de Varen, said the environment for Bhutanese women is conducive compared to their counterparts in the region. She said the society should understand the domestic obligations of women.
“I think the measures are to strengthen leadership skills, to build confidence and also to explicitly create space for women to demonstrate their competence and contribute on par with men- accessibility, day-care centres, and maternity leave especially in private sectors.”
She added that when it comes to women in politics, formally creating quota system or other means where there is explicit encouragement for women should be there.
During a UN Conference on promotion of women’s political leadership and governance in India and South Asia in Thimphu last month, the need for gender quotas in Bhutan was also discussed.
However, the opinions remain divided among the women themselves. While some said quota reservation is important to explore their potential, others argued saying that there is no need for such allocations as they are equally capable. They said it would lead to discrimination.
For now, even the mother of all laws, the Constitution, does not allow gender discrimination. Will Bhutan see more women representation in the years to come? Only time will tell.
