The Shift from Good Intentions to Actual Policy for Educating Girls in Bhutan

Thinley COD 504, Assignment 2 33531753
“No Girl Left Behind”: The Shift from Good Intentions to Actual Policy for Educating Girls in
Bhutan
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

Thinley COD 504; Assignment 2 33531753
Introduction
In Bhutan recent rapid development has caused education about the outside world, and
this has led to a decrease in gender bias. This essay discusses the gender equality policies for the
empowerment of young women in Bhutan that arise through education. It is evident that
planning commission of Royal Government of Bhutan and The Gross National Happiness
Commission (GNHC) need to continue their role in initiating and managing actions based on
gender equality issues by interacting with each other, and the broader community of Bhutan
(World Bank, 2018).
Description of the policy challenge
Empowerment of young women enables them to attain maximum capacity hence
improving their political as well as social investments. It empowers the community to rip the
benefits of women's abilities. The empowerment of women has significant benefits for the rest of
the family units. Women who are engaged by the policy end up having fewer children with a
higher survival rate (Rosenzweig and Schultz, 1982; Dyson and Moore, 1983). The policy helps
to develop a group of youngsters that are better sustained and knowledgeable (Lundberg, Pollak
and Wales, 1997; Kanbur and Haddad, 1994). All the educated ladies become an asset to kids
(Thomas, 1990; Handa, 1996). Therefore, the empowerment program engages young women in
Bhutan by increasing their decision-making abilities and gives them access to credit.
Gender equality policy has helped Bhutan to enhance the women development
economically and financially. This policy is analyzed to learn how education can be used to
empower young women in Bhutan. There are challenges to the use of the Sexual Orientation
approach to establish manageable powers of young women empowerment. In Bhutan, the net
primary enrolment percentage in education is higher for girls as compared to boys. Girls record

Thinley COD 504; Assignment 2 33531753
an enrollment of 98.8 percent while boys attending 97 percent in the year 2016 (World Bank,
2018). Nonetheless, there is the lower enrollment of girls in the University and tertiary
institutions despite higher enrolment rate at the secondary level.
The other challenge is gender gaps in the labor markets with low-quality jobs left for
women. It seems the policy has failed to provide better jobs for young women since they are still
facing the issue of low-level jobs. This has to be mitigated to empower women with equal
opportunity. Despite the advanced progress around 58% Bhutanese women are jobless with close
to 60 percent of the general population below the age of 25 years (JICA, 2018). With the
majority of the population being young the empowerment of women could be a positive force
towards contributing continuous economic development. In the labor force, the challenges faced
by women are childcare and household responsibilities. The employers are using these factors as
a reason for upscale gender disparity in employment choices. In addition, Bhutanese women lack
higher levels of education which forces them to be employed in low-quality jobs. Therefore, the
National Commission for Women and Children (NCWC) was implemented with the main
purpose of empowering as well as promoting the rights of children and woman in this country
(World Bank, 2018). Through observing the consequences of this country, it can be stated that
challenges of gender equality can possess by observing the position of woman in this country.
Responses against policies
Education for Women
Women empowerment and gender equality are among the fundamental dimensions of
economic development. Therefore to increase women empowerment in Bhutan, it is imperative
to invest in the educational sector, and the health of women and girls which can be important in
the development of the families, communities and the nation. In this case, education will provide
the opportunity for better employment for women. Bhutan has ranked 110 within the gender