What most of us know about Rwanda – other than the fact that it is a small country in central Africa – is that in 1994 there was an horrific genocide where hundreds of thousands of people were murdered in 100 days.
Few of us know that since then Rwanda has more women in its parliament – 56% – than any other country in world. Or that Rwanda is a leading force in peacemaking, agriculture, healthcare, education and communications. Or even that nowadays, Rwanda has a fibre-optic network connecting its cities to its remote areas.
After the genocide, 70% of the population of Rwanda was female and many laws that discriminated against women had to be changed. Laws were passed to address the discrimination against women and jobs previously the preserve of men became open to women. Women also began to take a role in the judicial system and this had very profound effects. Very important changes have been made in laws governing sexual violence, marital rape, labour, property, inheritance and education.
There are still problems in Rwanda. There are many scars from the “War,” as it is known, many lives altered forever. Most of the population is rural and life for rural women is not as significantly altered as for their urban sisters – but it is changing even there. Interestingly, Rwanda is not only a better place for women since the society has become more equal, it is a better place for everyone as it is also benefitting from steady economic development.
In the aftermath of the genocide, many women who had been imprisoned in rape camps were not only traumatised they were stigmatised because they had HIV and babies as a result of their rapes. But they overcame even these obstacles because, as one woman describes it, “Since all of us had suffered from this, we were able to support each other. That is what saved us.” . . .(1)
For the most part, men have not had too much to say about the changes in the law but according to Evarist Kalish MP, a member of the Liberal party and the chair of parliament’s human rights committee, many men recognise that women may provide the best leadership.
“More than men, women are the victims of the war. They have different priorities to those of men. They have more concern about issues related to violence in general, and gender-based violence in particular. Women have faced discrimination so they want to put a stop to discrimination. All of this will contribute to preventing another genocide.” (2)
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(1) Rwanda: Defying History, by Anne-Christine d’Adesky, June, 14, 2011. http://worldpulse.com/magazine/articles/rwanda-defying-history
(2) Chris McGreal – The Guardian, 17/12/2008, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/17/rwanda-women-politics-human-rights
Related articles
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- Rwanda: The Only Government in the World Dominated by Women (ibtimes.com)
- Rwandan genocide survivors advocate forgiveness to USF students (jou2100.wordpress.com)
- Man accused of inciting Rwandan genocide to be deported (thestar.com)
- Rwanda tribunal sentences 2 to life over genocide (cnn.com)
- Immaculee, Rwandan genocide survivor, speaks on forgiveness (examiner.com)
Your articles are always informative as I was not aware that Rwanda has 56% more women in its parliament than around the world. That’s an impressive number.
I think they had a quota of a third of the seats being reserved for women but then in the last election more than half the seats went to women – which is significant as well.
This is inspiring…I would like to meet the woman of Rwanda.
They do seem like great women.
This was inspiering, but also extremly informative – it somehow reminds me of what my grandmother said about the change of the role of women in Germany after WW II and how it changed from the respect of a woman as a mother to a woman as a person.
On the other side, I seem to recall that their are still a lot difficulties going on in Rwanda, b/c of the blood diamonds, but maybe I’m mistaken
Thanks for sharing
I don’t know about the diamond trade but I imagine you are right in general and that there are still lots of problems in Rwanda – women are not less corrupt than men necessarily and it should be interesting to see what happens now. One of the things that I found very interesting was the inclusion of ostracized women – I find it so hard to understand why women are ostracized when they have been victimized and find it particularly hard to understand how women can be party to the social exclusion of other women who have been raped. But there does seem to be a bit of progress with that in Rwanda.
Wonderful changes after so many challenges! Thanks!
Really interesting. Thank you for sharing.
excellent – I believe in equal empowerment!!!
thanks for sharing!!!
🙂
janet
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Praise be for Rwandan women! The photo at the top so beautifully proves the power of women united for peace and justice. Let us get U.S. women away from negative-self-image slavery to join this way of thinking and acting in the world.
Reblogged this on granbee and commented:
All female followers of my blog will LOVE this post. All who care about peace and justice will LOVE this post.
They are definitely making a lot of progress in the region… even with the limitations. Thank God for that! 🙂
Well done the women of Rwanda! Show your African sisters the good example and lead the way for women emancipation in Africa and indeed in the world. Bravo!