Both the National Council and the National Assembly have a set of committees related to key areas of governance. There were 15 different committees in the Assembly and seven in the Council during the first term of parliament. In the Assembly, two women served as Chairpersons of Education Development and Women and Children’s Committees. The other three women participated in other committees as members. All four women agreed that they learnt from their colleagues in small groups of different committees. In principle, women stated that equal opportunity is given to both men and women. However, one woman’s Chairperson responsibility was given to a male member in the Ethics and Credential Committee even after her nomination as the Chair by her male colleagues within that committee and her full agreement to accept the position. Pangchen, a young woman member, felt that the Speaker who approved the Chairpersons of different committees assumed that the work related to ethics dealt with corruption and
Chapter 7: Women in Parliament—Entering the Public Male Domain 141 demanded a lot of credibility and viewed her young age and junior-most position as a limitation in not being able to manage the senior members. He asked her to reconsider the role of being Chairperson. Gradually, she surrendered the Chairperson responsibility and refused to carry out the work.
Women parliamentarians in the UK have needed to work hard to prove themselves continuously and experienced “a double burden of doubt and representation” (Puwar 2004: 91). In Norway, most women politicians have experienced difficulties in influencing decisions in committees. Moreover, although both men and women preferred certain committees, men could get into committees of their choice more than women. Men were also observed to wield power and direct decisions (Bystydzienski 1995: 86-87). Similarly, in Australia, men have dominated “Legal and Constitutional Affairs, Primary Industries and Resources, the Broadcasting, economics, defence, terrorism and national security” committees (Crawford and Pini 2011: 91-92). On the other hand, women have tended to be in conventional women’s areas of interest like “health, education and welfare” committees (Crawford and Pini 2011: 90-91).
Deki, the youngest woman member in the Assembly, did not Chair any committees but was a member of Environment/ Land, Urban Development and Poverty Reduction Committees. She was apprehensive about the Chair’s role as it entailed leading the committees’ work and was worried that if she failed, the committee may suffer. Her male colleagues in the committee offered her the Chairperson’s job but she declined and felt that she needed to acquire more exposure and experience of Chairing a Committee. She added that men members encouraged and provided her equal opportunity to share her views. Dawa, a young male member in the Assembly, was a member of Ethics and Credential and Public Accounts Committee. He said that he encouraged young women members to learn and improve their managerial capacity in the Assembly. He added that he found the senior woman member of the Council, who was Chairperson of the Joint Public Accounts Committee of parliament, to be a tough but balanced person.
As opposed to the Assembly, the Chairperson of all seven committees’ responsibility is rotated among 25 members including six women in the Council and appears democratic. The main reason was to provide equal opportunity to everyone. The Chair’s main duty was to organise the meetings, identify issues and set the
142 Chapter 7: Women in Parliament—Entering the Public Male Domain agenda. It was important as the entire sessions of the Council depended on the Chair’s work. In the conduct of the meeting there was very little difference between the Chair and members as everyone was treated equally and had equal amount of voice in the discussions. Wangmo, a senior woman Councillor, opined that Chairperson was just a title. Instead, the role was result oriented in nature and the Chair had to seek all members’ support to get the work completed. She observed that a young Chairperson faced the challenge of gaining all committee members support and often worked alone. Kinga, a young member in the Council, stated that he had no reservations against women Chairing parliamentary committees. He said:
When I work with women, I work as member of the National Council and as member of the committees. I have no reservations or inhibitions about a lady leading a committee in which I am a member. I do not think anyone in the Council has any reservation about a lady leading a committee.
The youngest woman member chaired a Committee whereas the oldest and the most experienced Councillor remained a member of the Committee. Women Chaired the Good Governance, Public Accounts, Legislative and Socio-Cultural committees based on a system of rotation. The Committees were important working bodies where most of the critical debates related to parliamentary agendas were discussed in great detail before the formal presentation and discussion in the Council and in joint sittings of the Council and the Assembly. It was in these small groups that women attempted to persuade their men colleagues on highly contested issues like rape, child support in the case of divorced parents and domestic violence. Zhiwa, a young woman member, stated:
…we voice out and show our concern here which is taken care off. In the formal session whoever speaks is okay because our points are being incorporated.
Kinga and Yangden commented that the Council had a democratic spirit in the form of an open-minded work culture. The men in the Council were also noted to be well-educated, experienced, worldly and therefore open to ideas and dialogue.
The fine difference between the Council and Assembly was that the Council members were free of party affiliation and clear and confident about their stance. The Assembly members were guided by their party positions and restrained in taking individual stands and questioning cabinet policies in parliament, particularly, to
Chapter 7: Women in Parliament—Entering the Public Male Domain 143 check whether the policies were in line with the people’s aspirations. Further, all women in the Council thought that women from the Assembly lacked an open attitude of learning and were least prepared for the Joint Committee discussions. The experienced women thought that the two youngest women members in the Council exhibited an open attitude of learning and sought advice from senior and experienced men and women Councillors as and when required and built their professional capacity. Yangzom, a young Councillor, expressed her gratitude to the senior and experienced colleagues who mentored her: “ I tried to learn from them. I know where I stand. So, I go [to] any 24 of them.”
She added that four senior women and two men were her mentors and friends. In addition, according to the National Assembly (2014), currently there are ten Committees in the Assembly. The former Women and Children’s Committee was renamed as the Women, Children and Gender Issues Committee. The new name appears broader in scope as it implies inclusion of not only women and children but also emerging gender issues related to different gender orientations.