Rwanda: have you heard of Rwandan women?
When you hear the word “Rwanda”, you probably think about the 1994 genocide; its beautiful hills as the country famously known as le pays des mille collines, or you may just think about a poor country in South Africa, landlocked and relatively small.
At the very least, you might’ve watched Hotel Rwanda or heard about Sonia Rolland. But, did you know that Rwanda is the world’s leading country in female representation and the top country for women in politics?
It’s a devastating fact that some women are still not granted equal rights as men have. Some women are still far from the access to education, vote, and equal wages. Many are still strange to the enjoyment of having a choice and a voice. A great news is, this is not a common situation in Rwanda.
To explain why women’s participation is significant in Rwanda, we need to fall back in 1994 during the bloody genocide in Rwanda.
On April 6, 1994, a jet plane coming from Tanzania was shot down as it approached the Kigali airport, capital of Rwanda. The plane carried Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundian President Cyprien Ntaryamira, both killed along with other passengers in the plane attack. It only took hours for the presidential guards to set up road-blocks around Kigali in response to the plane attack. Assassinations were inevitable, mostly targeted to the Tutsi (minority ethnic in Rwanda who were accused of being parts of the Rwandese Patriotic Front “RPF”, an opposition to the Habyarimana’s government), and other government’s opposition, among which are Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana and the president of the constitutional court Joseph Kavaruganda. To make things worse, 10 Belgian peacekeepers were also killed in this genocide. Agathe Uwilingiyimana, then Prime Minister of Rwanda (she is now regarded as a national hero for her promotion of the rights of women and the girl-child and her fight against ethnic and sexual discrimination) was also sexually assaulted and killed by the presidential guards.
The death of Rwandan president resulted in political vacuum and a fight for seat of power among the rest of the governments and military officials while the Rwandese Patriotic Front’s soldiers started to counterattack. Massacres, civil war, and a couple millions of people fleeing the country all happened in a mere 100 days period.
Most of the people who were killed, imprisoned or fled Rwanda were men. It resulted in the unprecedented numbers of widows and single women who had to survive and feed the remaining family members. Such scenes were strange in Rwanda which had a patriarchal social structure.
It was prudent for the government of Rwanda to allow women more access to the government and working field in general after the genocide of 1994. The Rwandan government under President Paul Kagame adopted the new Constitution of Republic of Rwanda through referendum of 26 May 2003. In its preamble, the Constitution is committed to ensure equal rights between men and women. Further, in its article 9, it sets a quota of 30% (per cent) of women posts in decision making organs. Its national laws are also designed to accommodate women’s equal rights, for instance, women are allowed to own and inherit property, such as land, as regulated under the Rwandan Law Number 22/1999; the equal wage for equal work as regulated under the Rwandan Labour Law Number 10/2009; and the support for gender equality as regulated under the Rwandan Gender Based Violence Law Number 59/2008.
As a matter of fact, in the 2013 elections, women made up 64% (per cent) of the Rwandan Parliament, making it the world’s highest women representative in the parliament. Rwanda still maintains its position after the 2018 elections, securing 61.3% (per cent) women seats in the lower house and 38.5% (per cent) women seats in the upper house, followed by Cuba and Bolivia.
This progressive status quo is only one part of the reality, as the saying goes nothing is perfect, so is Rwanda’s endeavor to ensure gender equality. The 2013 Ministry of Education statistics shows that young women are more likely to go to less prestigious higher education institutions and the catastrophic past of Rwanda also left women with fear of rape and sexual torture as about 250,000 of them were raped during 1994 conflict.
The remaining gender inequality in Rwanda may result from the dominance of patriarchal values reserved in the traditional society of Rwanda; the drastic shift of Rwandan men and women population pre- and post-1994 conflict; and the fact that it is still one of the world’s poorest countries.
However, its progressive women-friendly policies is a step every country should’ve taken.
