Bhutan

Gender Mainstreaming and Women's Empowerment in Bhutan

The Royal Government has always maintained a gender-neutral position in the formulation and implementation of its plans, policies and programmes. Bhutanese women therefore not do face any institutionalized form of discrimination – politically, socially, economically or legally and enjoy equality in almost all spheres of life. However, there are several areas where women are at a disadvantage due to subtle and indirect forms of gender bias that exist in the society. Gender gaps are apparent in key areas such as education, national economy and political participation. Therefore, while the country remains on track towards achieving the third MDG of promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, there are significant challenges that need to be addressed including low levels of female participation in political, high public offices and the reality of domestic violence prevalent in many households amongst others.

The overall objective of the project is to create a supportive and enabling environment for women by increasing women's representation at all levels of governance; developing adequate procedures and mechanisms to address violence against women; and mainstreaming gender into key plans, policies, programmes and legislation. The project will support the implementation of three key interventions out of seven critical areas for action identified by the National Plan of Action for Gender (NPAG) which include: good governance, violence against women, and prejudices and stereotypes.

The project will work towards reducing the barriers to women's participation in the public sphere through the conduct of research on causes of low participation of women in decision making and documentation of the existing gender prejudices and stereotypes; and organization of various gender sensitization programmes and targeted trainings for women to increase their participation in decision-making. It will also work towards strengthening the capacity of the judiciary and the law enforcement to address violence against women (VAW) through the review of existing/drafting new legislation and policies on domestic violence, establishment of help lines and the provision of counselling services, legal aid and skills training to victims of violence.

UNDAF Outcome	4: By 2012, institutional capacity and people’s participation strengthened to ensure good governance.
CT Outcome	Output 1 : Barriers to women's participation in the public sphere reduced Output 2 : Strengthened capacity to address violence against women Output 3: Gender main streamed into key plans, policies, programs and legislations
CT Output	Local governance systems and capacity strengthened with increased capacity of women
Project Location	Thimphu
Project Duration	January 2009 - June 2012
Budget Outlay	USD 170,000
Link to Workplan	Click on the icon to download