More than 90 percent of the people live on subsistence farming, scattered in sparsely populated villages across the rugged terrain of the Himalayas. Bhutanese communities settled in isolated valleys of Himalayas with limited communication from outside in the past. This explains the strong sense of individuality and independence in people of Bhutan. This also accounts for the varied languages and dialects of Bhutan. The Bhutanese are by nature physically strong and have an open sense of humor. Hospitality is an inbuilt social value here.
All Bhutanese citizens are required to observe the national dress code, known as Driglam Namzha, while in public during daylight hours. Men are required to wear a heavy knee-length robe tied with a belt, called a gho, folded in such a way to form a pocket in front of the stomach. Women wear colorful blouses over which they fold and clasp a large rectangular cloth called a kira, thereby creating an ankle-length dress. A short silk jacket, or toego may be worn over the kira. Everyday gho and kira are cotton or wool, according to the season, patterned in simple checks and stripes in earth tones. For special occasions and festivals, colorfully patterned silk kira and, more rarely, gho may be worn. The rule is enforced more rigorously in some districts (dzongkhag) than others.
Additional rules of protocol apply when visiting a dzong or a temple, or when appearing before a high level official. Male commoners wear a white sash (kabney) from left shoulder to opposite hip. Local and regional elected officials, government ministers, cabinet members, and the King himself each wear their own colored kabney. Women wear a narrow embroidered cloth draped over the left shoulder, a rachu.
In Bhutan, it is the women who reap the fruits of inheritance. The property of each extended Bhutanese family is controlled by an "anchor mother" who is assisted by the other women of the family in running affairs. As she becomes unable to manage the property, the position of anchor mother passes on to a sister, daughter or niece. This pattern of inheritance is known by anthropologists as matrilinearity. Men and women work together in the fields, and both may own shops or businesses. Men take a full part in household management, often cook and are traditionally the makers and repairers of clothing (but do not weave the fabric). In the late 1980s the women outnumbered the men in agricultural workforce.Overall, women were providing more labor than men in all sectors of the economy. Less than 4 percent of the total female work force was unemployed, compared with nearly 10 percent of men who had no occupation.
The people and their style is unique and intriguing to say the least.
