Early this month, a senior reporter – a woman – called me and asked my opinion as to why, despite the fact that women voters outnumber the men in every one of our Dzongkhags – women still lost out to males during the recent Thromde elections. I answered:
“Funny that you should ask me this - you damn well know that it is not only the Thromde elections – but even in the Parliamentary elections, women contestants have fared miserably thus far.”
“But why? What do you think is the reason?”
“Simple - because women elected Members have given no reason for voters to consider their candidature with any confidence or optimism. Actually, I believe that women do not trust women – they write them off as: Aamsu gii chikha michoebey - it is as simple as that”
“Come on, how can you say something like that”??? She sounded incredulous.
“Aamsu gii chikha michoebey” is not a fair statement – there is not an iota of truth in it. Regardless, what is true is that such a perception does prevail within the Bhutanese society – not because women are less capable than men – but because women elected Members have so far failed to demonstrate that they are capable of walking the extra mile – as opposed to their male counterparts.
We Bhutanese have traditionally been a matriarchal society – in their role as the Nungii Aum, we empowered our women with moral authority and family leadership – meaning that we treated them as more man than men. In every sphere of family life, the Nungii Aum had authority over most decisions – the male’s role was solely to gather food from outside – and plough the field - every other life’s decisions were in the domain of the Nungii Aum. We treated them with respect – we depended on their wisdom – we looked up to them for guidance.
But now, the modern Bhutanese society seems to treat our women as something less than equal to men. I cannot imagine at what point in our evolution we came to be this way. When, and what, caused the waning of our respect for women we historically held in high esteem?
I speak of this in the context of our law that provides that if a child is not fathered by a Bhutanese man, even if the child is born to a thoroughbred Bhutanese mother, the child will not be considered a natural born citizen of Bhutan. It appears to be of no consequence that the mother is a Bhutanese.
This is such a shameful law – it reeks of gender bias, it is unfair, it is uneducated, it is primitive, it is grossly incorrect, and it is an insult to our women. It blatantly promotes disparity among equals.
As good looking and healthy as they look - one cannot fail to see the sadness in the faces of these children photographed in 2009 in a rural village in Eastern Bhutan.
The fact that such a shameful law exists can only mean that as a society we are in a state of regression – whether we accept it or not. It should not be acceptable that such gender-biased law that treats our women as being something lesser than a man, is allowed to perpetuate. We pride ourselves as a mindful society, a society whose life and living are touted to be guided by the high-mined and lofty principals of GNH.
This is why I say that the women elected Members have failed their lot – they have done nothing to change things – to abolish this evil law. This is why I say that Bhutanese women voters hesitate to choose women over men. They do not believe that women have it in them to stand their ground – there is no past record of their legitimacy!
It is not as if we are unaware of the fact that it is the women who bear the unborn child for nine months inside their bodies – the unborn child’s umbilical cord is tied to the women’s womb for nine months. Therefore, there cannot be a shred of doubt that if biological purity is to be the determining factor, mothers, and not fathers, have greater legitimacy. Where the father is concerned, who is to know? We cannot deny that there is always an element of doubt – whether the father is actually the real father as claimed.
This law has the potential to create a serious long-term social disharmony. I am told that in one small pocket of Chhukha Dzongkhag alone, there are upwards of 3,000 unregistered children born to mothers who cannot name the progenitors of their children, or that the fathers are non-Bhutanese. We know that there are similar cases in other Dzongkhags across the country, leading me to believe that there may be tens of thousands of unregistered fatherless children in the country.
No doubt, these children are growing up facing whole lot of insurmountable obstacles related to their movement, education, business opportunities and, even worst, social stigma caused by their unregularized census status. They are bound to be growing up with resentment against the state - for the suffering and shame they bear – for a reason that is not of their own doing. I am told that some mothers, out of sheer desperation, have gone as far as to shamelessly name their own fathers as the father of their children. This is not a good situation and needs to be addressed at the earliest.
Women elected Members should begin to put their dainty feet forward and start to earn their keep and, in the process, gain the trust and confidence of their lot!
As early as 2010/2011, when I was asked to speak at some gathering at Kanglung College – sponsored either by the UNICEF and/or UNESCO (I can’t remember which one) – there were two lady MPs in the gathering. I spoke to them about the matter and urged them to take up this issue. But to this day I have never heard any one – whether women or men – broach the subject during the last eighteen years of Parliamentary debates. I believe that since this is an issue related to women, our women MPs should take the lead and attempt to bring fairness in our legal provisions.
For the record, it is not as if this is being brought up in the public domain for the first time. The matter was discussed earlier – please read up at the following:
I am fully aware that there is no such thing as a perfect world – but that is no reason why societies cannot try to strive for one.
I have said this before through this blog – that, to achieve greatness, it is not always necessary to accomplish monumental tasks – even being able to dismantle evil that go to bring ease and happiness in the lives of the ill-treated and the downtrodden, is greatness; that GNH is inconsequential – if you do not have GPH.
Please consider – we cannot claim to be a just society even while such a vile law exists in our country! Since the first time I traveled to the outside world in 1979, every time I mentioned that I am from Bhutan - it never failed to bring on a twinkle in the eyes of the foreigners.
Let us uphold our reputation as a country worthy of emulation!
