Fact Sheet Bhutan: Women in agriculture, environment and rural production

Some key facts about women and agriculture in Bhutan:

• The population consists to 49% of women and to 51% of men;
• 62% of the women work in agriculture l The literacy rate among rural women is around 10%;
• The division of labour by gender is not rigidly fixed, as men and women can take over each other's tasks, with few exceptions, and this may vary by ethnicity;
• 70% of the land is owned by women;
• The majority of the population follows matrilineal heritage giving women an advantage in ownership of land and livestock;
• Women considerably contribute to house-hold income through farm and non-farm activities;
• Women interact closely with the natural resource environment as users of wild plants and forest products;
• As managers of home gardens, women are both managers of bio-diversity as well as providers of variety to family meals;
• Based on the assumption of a gender-equitable socialsystem, gender-segregated data arenot readily available.