Women in Bhutan challenge social and gender stereotypes training as village electrical technicians, working to keep the country's power network going in rural areas.
Transcript
Title: Power Line Maintenance Means Jobs for Women in Bhutan
Description: Women in Bhutan challenge social and gender stereotypes training as village electrical technicians, working to keep the country's power network going in rural areas.
VO: On the outskirts of Bhutan’s capital, Karma Dema prepares for her latest challenge. She must climb a high voltage electrical pole and swap a fuse then make it back down safely. This is only a training course but if she succeeds she’ll soon face this task in the real world with thousands of live volts running through the lines. Karma hopes securing a job as a village electrical technician will help provide much needed income to her family in remote eastern Bhutan.
SOT: Karma Dema
Village Electrical Entrepreneur and Electrical Technician Trainee
This training has been very helpful to me. Now, I don’t depend on others for support.
VO: The training is part of the Asian Development Bank’s Improving Gender Inclusive Access to Clean and Renewable Energy Project to help women particularly those in rural areas find employment opportunities in fields dominated by men. These women will spend three months in this course, then move on to six months on the job training in the countryside.
SOT: Mewang Gyeltshen
Chief Engineer, Alternate Energy Division
Bhutan Department of Renewable Energy
Our intention is to provide them the skills so that they become productive citizens. But as to how many of them actually get engaged in the economy is really up to them, on their own creativity. Our interest is to give them the skills, empower them. And what they do or how high they fly with the skills they’ve gained is all up to them.
VO: Jambay Dema along with her work partner Kelson Dema are already at work inspecting electrical lines and breakers near their village in southern Bhutan. If something goes wrong, they may be the only ones within dozens of kilometers able to fix it. Jambay’s fear is not of high voltage nor of meeting expectations in a man’s job
SOT: Jambay Dema
Electrical Technician
The most difficult task I have is the patrolling. I have to walk through a thick forest and I am afraid of wild animals.
VO: Her electrician work provides her family an extra hundred dollars of income a month. About 25X what they could earn simply living off of the farm. She says gender bias should not stand in her way.
SOT: Jambay Dema
Electrical Technician
I don’t think there is gender discrimination in our work. As long as training opportunities are available, both men and women can do their job equally well. Moreover, the more experience we get, the better we become at our job.
VO: The project will expand its focus from grid maintenance to include off grid solar home systems increasing the skills and employability of village technicians. Efforts to boost women’s empowerment in small villages across Bhutan are yielding benefits on a national scale. Offering more hope to women in Bhutan that they would have the power to decide their own future.