Economic development in the country of Bhutan has increased opportunities for women to participate in fields such as medicine (both as physicians and nurses), teaching, and administration.

Economic development has increased opportunities for women to participate in fields such as medicine, both as physicians and nurses; teaching; and administration.

By 1989 nearly 10 percent of government[clarification needed] employees were women, and the top civil service examination graduate in 1989 was a woman.

The functional literacy and skills test alone left many constituencies without the minimum of two candidates, leading to lengthy delay of the local government elections of 2011, originally slated for 2008.[3][relevant?]

[3][4][5][6][7] This has raised the question of whether women would benefit from quotas in public service, highlighting the need to encourage further female electoral and political participation.

[8] Women in the 1980s played a significant role in the agricultural work force, where they outnumbered men, who were leaving for the service sector and other urban industrial and commercial activities.

To give prominence to the association, the Druk Gyalpo's sister, Ashi Sonam Chhoden Wangchuck, was appointed its president.

The association has organized annual beauty contests featuring traditional arts and culture, fostered training in health and hygiene, distributed yarn and vegetable seeds, and introduced smokeless stoves in villages.

The institution of child marriage, once relatively widespread, largely declined as Bhutan modernized, and there were only remnants of the practice in the late twentieth century.

Bhutanese with foreign spouses were not allowed to obtain civil service positions and could have their government scholarships cancelled and be required to repay portions already received.

Wool was the primary material, but domestic silk and imported cotton were also used in weaving colorful cloth, often featuring elaborate geometric, floral, and animal designs.