BHUTANESE WOMEN: LONG WAY TO GO
The Asia Pacific region has seen vibrant economic development but has made limited progress on gender equality. This was revealed in the Asia Pacific Human Development Report 2010.
The report stated that discrimination and neglect are threatening women’s survival in the Asia-Pacific region, where women suffer from some of the world’s lowest rates of political representation, employment and property ownership. Their lack of participation is also depressing economic growth.
The Report praised Bhutan on the equal rights for both men and women in inheritance laws, marital property rights in case of divorce and nationality law in respect with marriage to foreign national. However Bhutan still has a long way to go in the women’s political voice and labour force participation stated the report.
According to the report, the labour force participation of women above 15 years of age is 43.2 percent and 79.8 percent for men.
This difference is mainly because of the varying conditions of work according to an official from the Ministry of Labour and Human Resources. “It has to do with the dignity of labour and the options available,” he said.
“Our report asserts that the under-representation of women in the workforce has significant negative economic consequences. It claims that raising the proportion of women in the workforce to the rates seen in many developed countries would increase annual GDP in a number of countries,” said Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme at the launch of the report in New Delhi.
The report also states that Asia-Pacific women hold only a handful of legislative seats, fewer than anywhere else in the world except in the Arab region. Women in Asia-Pacific rarely make it to elective office. The Pacific sub-region accounts for four of the world’s six countries without any women lawmakers.
Bhutan has 13.9 percent of seats in the parliament headed by women, according to the report.
“The gaps between the political participation of men and of women in the Asia-Pacific are among the largest in the world. The Pacific sub-region alone has four of the world’s six countries with no women legislators at all,” added Helen Clark.
Quotas for women-held seats in political bodies can be effective, as evidenced by progress in local governments in India. However, to sustain this level of participation, quotas must be combined with constitutional provisions, leadership training and political party reforms to bring women into the political mainstream in their own right, the Report suggested.
The report “Power, Voice and Rights: A Turning Point for Gender Equality in Asia and the Pacific” was launched in Bhutan by Her Majesty the Queen Mother, Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuck at the Gaedu College of Business Studies.
The Report focuses on three key areas —economic power, political decision-making and legal rights to analyse what holds women back, and how policies and attitudes can be changed to foster a climb toward gender equality. Asia, the Report asserts, is standing at a cross-road and by putting the right policies in place now, countries in the region can achieve positive change.
Source: bhutantoday
Posted in: Bhutan News
