The 28th Foreign Correspondent Report

Women in Governance: Empowerment from Within
Chayku (Bhutan)‘Experienced a landslide victory after beating 12
male contestants.’
A small country, which is about the sizeof Kyushu in Japan, Bhutan has been able tomaintain its uniqueness over the centuries
in the face of the world, relatively because ofits isolation.
Even though the Constitution of theKingdom of Bhutan treats men and womenequally, and they enjoy more freedom andequality in all spheres of life than in manyother developing countries, Kuensel1 of 16thDecember 2015 edition reports that ‘Bhutan
is one of the worst in South Asia in terms ofgender disparity.’
The Royal Decree in 1998 underlined theimportance of women’s participation inpolitics, but their leadership position andparticipation in decision making remained
significantly low in Bhutan.

8 percent of those elected in the second
parliamentary election were women with thefirst female minister.
Starting with the first female Gup2
elected in the first local government election,
there’s a steady rise in the women’srepresentation in the second LG election
with two Gups and 24 Mangmis3 beingelected. This is attributed to the immense
contribution
madebyNon-Formal
Education (NFE) Program because NFE
literate became the qualifying educational
criteria to stand for LG elections.
BNEW4 also contributed immensely tomotivating and building the capacity ofwomen at the grassroots level across thecountry.

During public campaigns and common forums

Women’s representation in the parliament

The first parliamentary election in 2008
saw that only 14 percent of those elected
were women, and very dismal number of justKuensel – national Newspaper

12Gup - Elected Executive of Gewog Administration Office
3BNEW – Bhutan Network for Empowering Women

4Mangmi - Elected Deputy Executive of Gewog Administration Office

The trend has been almost the same for
National Council with only six womencontestants in 2008, four in 2013, and eightin 2018. But only two were elected in therecent election. Sonam Pelzom from Mongar,
one of the six eastern districts, won alandslide win after beating 12 malecontestant.

The 28th Foreign Correspondent Report
The downward trend in women’s
participation is predominantly based on thesocietal, cultural and traditional beliefs
which are bound by stereotypical notions ofthe people. Even though discriminatory
beliefs such as ‘Ke-Rub-Gu5 diminishes withpeople’s understanding and education,
women in Bhutan are still believed to be lesscapable of assuming a leadership role orparticipating in politics.

impacted on the enhancement of women’svisibility.”
The NC member-elect said that she had
to work hard as people were initially not soforthcoming; but through the election race,
people were convinced that women can be as
capable as men. And her strategy to run herown race in the service of the King, country
and the people let them believe her.

But for Sonam Pelzom, the beliefs didn’t
deter her from fighting for the right.
“My concern over the equality of womenand men as a matter of human rights and acondition for social justice gave me enoughconfidence to come forward to represent
people,” she said.
People’s considerations are still deeply
rooted in the beliefs, and Sonam was quite
skeptical about convincing them. It was evenharder for her to undertake the journeyduring the campaign and common forumssince it demanded unimaginable physicalstrength to walk from place to place. Mongar
dzongkhag (district) consists of the largest
number of gewogs6, mostly unreached bypliable road.

During the Dhar7 ceremony

If women’s participation in the policy anddecision making as well as in the leadership
positions improves now, the credit goes totheir male counterparts, too.
Sonam’s father had been very supportivein her venture. He accompanied her during
her familiarization tour until his demise
after a couple of weeks. Tshering Dorji, herhusband said that he had always wanted her
to do something that would impact thesociety at large.
“ I didn’t feel right about keeping acapable woman with so much potential athome, so I decided to support in every way
possible in the election race,” he said.

Women participation in the public meetings“Taking along my seven-month-old infant
throughout the campaign tour was thehardest, but I took it as a strength. And even
if I had lost the election, it would have
5Ke-Rub-Gu – Men being considered nine generations superior

Today, women make up half thepopulation of the country, and Sonam
believes that bringing their perspective into
the political arena will ensure a more
representative democracy.

6Gewog - Lowest administrative unit in Bhutan’s three-tiered governance system
7Dhar – Sacred scarf consisting of five auspicious colours

The 28th Foreign Correspondent Report
Representing people in the highest
decision-making body, the NC member-electaims to give importance to the promotion
and review of agricultural policies, looking
into substance abuse, youth unemployment
issues, and women’s under-representation inpolitics, among others.

Sonam’s first visit to the constituency

Bhutan is among 73 countries in theworld with less than 15 per cent of women in
the parliament, but women in Bhutan are
relatively in a better position compared tomany other developing countries in theregion. Sonam Pelzom, who will be serving
the country for the next five years, inspires
lots of Bhutanese women, urging them tocome forward to make important decisions
and act on them.

After receiving sacred Dhar from His Majesty
the King