The silent suffering of Bhutanese women

By Deo Maya Giri
In actuality women are wonderful creatures of this world who help man from household works to nurturing a child. The existence of the world would have been impossible had there been no women. They are the goddess of tolerance, embodiment of love & passion and inevitable co-partner of man.

Despite these facts women are treated cruelly, inhumanly and immorally in most parts of the world. And, Bhutan too is not its exception. Bhutanese women have always come across ups and downs on their lives. The other remarkable thing is that the Royal Government of Bhutan has long-stood as an enemy before woman.

They are discriminated at every stage in terms of poverty and illiteracy both in eastern and southern belt of the country. Women, especially at eastern belt work at home without having known that they too can exercise different rights like that of a man. The other reason is that as they do not own paddy land they try to migrate to the urban areas for greener pastures to opt for better opportunities for their survival. Despite their innocence the ruling elite has always restrained and harassed them.

In practicality, Bhutan is male dominated country where in many ways women suffer from various kinds of discrimination. There are ample instances in highlands— a man gets married to three women officially and seven unofficially. Even the first king had two queens, followed by the second the third king with two queens. While the fourth king with four queens have proved mass suppression and domination over women in Bhutan.

In Bhutan, women comprise about 5% of the country’s social economic employment. As per the regional survey there has been distortional low percentage of women holding high authority in Bhutan: 0.30% of women are employed in the service, 0.27% in business and 0.18% in other areas of works. Women form 18% of the civil service.

In the process of implementation of 1958 citizenship act, the government of Bhutan went on arbitrarily depriving citizenship rights to tens and thousands of southern Bhutanese men, women and children.

Many Lhotshampa women, whose husbands fled the country, were kept as sex slaves in the army and police barracks. The security forces and other government officials have raped hundreds of Lhotshamps school girls in the barracks. Daughters who went to appeal for the release of their fathers from detention were raped by them. When such crimes were reported to the king the culprits were promoted and victims were expelled from the country branding them as anti-nationals. The whereabouts of some dozens of innocent women detained by security forces during1990 movement is still unknown.

There is an essence for international human rights organizations to probe into facts behind government suppression over women in Bhutan. International organizations working on behalf of suppressed women have greater role on this.