Report for the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus
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REPORT THE LAUNCH OF BHUTAN WOMEN PARLIAMENTARY CAUCUS A joint initiative for gender equality by BNEW & NCWC & STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION WORKSHOP 14th August 2019 Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) 1 Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & 2 the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) REPORT THE LAUNCH OF BHUTAN WOMEN PARLIAMENTARY CAUCUS A joint initiative for gender equality by BNEW & NCWC & STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION WORKSHOP 14th August 2019 Organized by: Sponsored by: Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) 3 Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & 4 the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) CONTENTS PART I: LAUNCH OF BHUTAN WOMEN PARLIAMENTARY CAUCUS 1 WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO BWPC BY BNEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 1 OPENING REMARKS BY HONORABLE LYONPO DECHEN WANGMO, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND VICE CHAIRPERSON OF NCWC AND THE CHAIR OF THE BWPC 5 SHINING THE TORCH ON BWPC: GUIDING REMARKS BY LYONPO DR. TANDI DORJI, HONORABLE CHAIRPERSON OF NCWC 7 BRIEF REFLECTIONS BY VICE CHAIRPERSON, BHUTAN WOMEN PARLIAMENTARY CAUCUS 11 WORDS OF WISDOM TO INSPIRE, ENCOURAGE & GUIDE BWPC BY SOME OF THE ESTEEMED GUESTS 13 VOTE OF THANKS BY NCWC DIRECTOR 19 PART II: MULTI-STAKEHOLDER CONSULTATION WORKSHOP 21 OPENING REMARKS BY NCWC DIRECTOR 21 INTRODUCTION TO BWPC BY BNEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 23 PRESENTATION ON BWPC BY VICE CHAIRPERSON 29 REACTIONS, COMMENTS AND DISCUSSIONS BY THE STAKEHOLDERS 33 ANNEXURE 35 Group Work: From Vision to Action 35 Appendix: Summary of Group Presentation 43 Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) 5 Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & 6 the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) PART I: LAUNCH OF BHUTAN WOMEN PARLIAMENTARY CAUCUS WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION TO BWPC BY BNEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The Executive Director of BNEW Phuntshok Chhoden welcomed the Honorable Chief Guest Lyonpo Dr. Tandi Dorji, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Chairperson of NCWC, other guests and participants to the launch of the Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC), a first-of-its-kind initiative jointly established by Bhutan Network for Empowering Women (BNEW) and National Commission for Women and Children (NCWC). She said that the BWPC was established to advance the gender agenda with greater vigor in line with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No.5 to achieve Planet 50-50 by 2030 and the National Key Results Areas (NKRA) 10 of the 12th Five Year Plan (FYP) to empower women and girls. The Executive Director stated that for Bhutan, the participants of the 2nd National Conference on Women in Politics held in March 2017 took the liberty of contextualizing the SDG goal by tapering it down to ‘Planet 40-60’ in the Thimphu Declaration. Given the low baseline of women’s participation and representation in every sphere, t 40-60 would be a more reasonable target for Bhutan. She highlighted the current situation of women in politics, leadership and governance: 15:85% in the Parliament; 12:88% in the LGs; 10:90% in the Cabinet; 0:100% at Government Secretary level; 5:95% in case of Dzongdags; 19:81% in the Judiciary; and the highest of 35:65% in Constitutional Posts, thanks to His Majesty the King’s farsighted and benevolent leadership. The Executive Director said that at the current pace, it is doubtful to achieve Planet 40:60, let alone 50:50. With a little over 10 years left to achieve the target, unless suitable Temporary Special Measures (TSM) are put in place that can expedite the process of enhancing women’s representation, it will be challenging for Bhutan to achieve the target even after 50 years. She said that political will to create enabling policy Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) 1 and legal environment continues to be expressed and committed time and again. In fact, many small steps such as setting up crèches, childcare facilities, separate toilets for women etc. have been initiated, including bigger ones like granting of six-month paid maternity leave. However, in the absence of targeted TSM to directly address the issues of women representation, all the other interventions and related investments are not delivering the outcome at a pace it is desired and needed. The Executive Director said Bhutan is highly egalitarian with no overt forms of gender discrimination, and is faring well in many social indicators like health and education. But Bhutan’s global and regional rankings are affected by the lack of progress in the sphere of political empowerment of women. She informed the participants that in South Asia, Bhutan has been at the bottom of the rung for many years. Globally too, Bhutan hasn’t been doing any better. The Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) has ranked Bhutan 136th out of 193 countries in 2019. The latest Global Gender Gap report by the World Economic Forum placed Bhutan at 138 out of 149 countries. The Executive Director said that women are deeply entangled and burdened by the triple gender roles and are traditionally socialized to believe that leadership and politics are better left to men. The public space is still a new and strange arena where women are still figuring out the rules of the game and learning to navigate and be acknowledged as equals with the men. She said that the BWPC is a special and unique Caucus, unlike many other Caucuses in the world, since it is inclusive, non-partisan, apolitical, multi-stakeholder forum, with broad representation and voices of civil society, media, academia, private/corporate sector, among others. Through the Caucus, women parliamentarians can regularly interact and be better informed about a wide range of societal concerns and issues to represent everyone adequately. Moreover, the BWPC will prioritize capacity building to enhance their knowledge, skills, confidence and performance. In return, this will influence and transform the existing patriarchal mindsets and attitude in society that hesitate (and often deny and refuse) to accept, endorse, support, acknowledge women leadership at par with the men. As the BWPC members learn the value of coming and being together, nurturing, grooming and supporting each other as women, the space will grow and expand leading to a multiplication of women leader role models, and hopefully boost and match the demand for strong women candidates by the political parties too. The Executive Director stated that associate or honorary male members would be invited from time to time to enrich the BWPC dialogues, deepen understanding, and strengthen relationships to work together for gender equality as gender issues are societal issues, and not just women’s issues. She said that BWPC is a semi-formal forum of like-minded women from all walks of life that will ensure that women representatives in the Parliament express the collective views and concerns as one voice and not just their own individual viewpoints. She said that the 11 Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & 2 the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) women parliamentarians, a mere 15% of them, carry the moral burden of representing 50% of the population. The Executive Director said that BNEW and NCWC have been working together or separately, building on the past works, mindful of international and national goals and commitments to take the agenda forward. BWPC signifies the spirit of partnership enshrined in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by NCWC and BNEW in March 2017 to work for gender equality with a focus on women’s political participation. It also provides the necessary framework for NCWC and BNEW to implement the National Plan of Action for Gender Equality in Elected Offices (NPAPGEEO) together. She said that it is one of many such means and vehicles to deliver the work in the spirit of the 12th FYP’s Triple ‘C’ concept (Coordination, Consolidation & Collaboration) that too involving a government agency and a civil society organization – aligned to achieve SDG Goal 5 and NKRA 10 in particular. In conclusion, she expressed her gratitude to the Honorable Chief Guest for taking time to launch and formally flag off Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus. She said that given the role as the Chair of NCWC, the Honorable Chief Guest’s presence at the launch reconfirms the genuine concern and willingness to understand and engage to take BWPC forward as a joint mechanism to facilitate and achieve gender equality in Bhutan. Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) 3 Stakeholder Consultation Workshop & 4 the Launch of Bhutan Women Parliamentary Caucus (BWPC) OPENING REMARKS BY HONORABLE LYONPO DECHEN WANGMO, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND VICE CHAIRPERSON OF NCWC AND THE CHAIR OF THE BWPC Her Excellency Lyonpo Dechen Wangmo, Minister for Health and Vice Chairperson of NCWC, welcomed the Chief Guest and all other guests to the launch of BWPC and expressed her delight to share a few thoughts on women in politics and leadership. Lyonpo Dechen Wangmo said that although there is a reason to rejoice for achieving the highest number of female representation in the third parliamentary election, there is still a long way to go. Lyonpo said that the voices of Bhutanese women are not adequately represented in the decision-making bodies, be it in the Parliament, in the government, in the private sector, or in every sphere of development. Lyonpo shared her thoughts on 3Es - Enable, Encourage and Empower - to strengthen good governance, which is one of the key domains of the development philosophy of Gross National Happiness.