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 midd-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 socio-economic 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 2.4 million in fiscal year
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.
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