Bhutan

Investing in Women and Girls

More than 3,000 people comprising of students from schools in the valley including representatives from the business community, the local community including representatives from the Government and development partners participated in the commemoration of the International women’s Day in Bhutan on Saturday. The day has special significance in Bhutan and the commemoration each year helps focus attention on the issues, needs and concerns of women and girls and the challenges the country faces in addressing them.

In a message to mark the day, the UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador in Bhutan and President of RENEW (a local NGO dealing with violence against women), Her Majesty the Queen Ashi Sangay Choden Wangchuck has stated that “international conventions and the MDGs in particular, hav drawn increasing attention to the issues, needs and concerns of women and girls, Positive outcomes are numerous, Today, women are in key leadership positions … yet a vast majority of women still remain trapped below the poverty line”.

Addressing the event, the UN Resident Coordinator Mr. Nicholas Rosellini pointed out that although both women and men enjoy equal rights in Bhutan, yet, women are at a disadvantage in some areas and gender gaps do exist. “Women remain significantly under-represented in public decision making, especially at the local level, despite attention to increasing their participation and challenges remain in mainstreaming gender into policies and legislations in general”, he added. The draft Tenth Plan of the Government aims to address these challenges through the sectors and maintain gender disaggregated data to help identify and monitor potential gender gaps.

As part of the commemoration, an Information Centre was set up by relevant agencies such as RENEW, the Ministries of Health and Education including the UN agencies working in Bhutan disseminating information on the importance of investing in women and girls and the impact of such investments. The participating schools and educational institutions from Punakha were provided with seed money which will be used for observing the event every year on their own. A musical album on Domestic Violence produced by RENEW was also launched as part of the commemoration. The program was organised by RENEW with support from UNDP, UNFPA,UNICEF and WFP.

Related links : Speech by Mr. Nicholas Rosellini, United Nations Resident Coordinator at International Women’s Day