Rwanda Sets the Bar for Women's Rights

When it comes to women's rights, Rwanda presents a stark contrast to its neighbors. It is the first country in the entire world -- that's right, the West included -- where women hold a majority in parliament. Women have overturned laws that prohibited them from inheriting land, passed new measures against domestic and child abuse, and made rape one of the most serious offenses to be judged in genocide trials.

The 1994 Rwandan genocide decimated the male population, leaving in its wake a 70 to 30 ratio of women to men. Obviously part of women's increased representation in government and the workforce over the past decade and a half can be attributed to this fact. But this isn't the only reason, despite what The Guardian insists with its simplistic a = b formula (women "found themselves" in positions of power -- as if they just sat there, stupefied, suddenly plunked down in the middle of big ol' scary parliament with the big boys!).

Much more importantly, Rwandan women have proved themselves strong, capable, and persistent. Aloisea Inyumba, a former Tutsi rebel fighter and leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), and now a senator in Rwanda's upper house, attributes much of the country's successes to the struggles fought by women. Inyumba has been on the front lines of the major legislative reforms that have set Rwanda leaps and bounds ahead of its neighbors. She was one of the major forces behind a new 2003 constitution, which mandated that 30% of parliament and cabinet seats be reserved for women.

This fact is strangely glossed over in an otherwise solid article by The Washington Post. Instead of highlighting the efforts of Inyumba and other Rwandan women, the Post chooses to attribute women's success almost entirely to "the heavy hand of one man," Rwandan President Paul Kagame. The Post offers us a God-like image of Kagame, whose picture "hovered over the swiveling leather chair of parliament speaker Rose Mukantabana" and hung on walls around town -- where he is, we suppose, worshiped by the adoring women who "found themselves" in parliament thanks to his saving grace? While Kagame was certainly instrumental in orchestrating the transition to greater female representation in government, you'd think in an article about women running the show in Rwanda there wouldn't be such a sweeping attribution of credit to one guy.

Change.org's Michelle called the women of Rwanda "the bright spot of the post-genocide era."  Rwandan men seem to agree, even if some remain wary of the changes.  One man, quoted in The Washington Post, put it this way: "[Women] 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."  Word.  Couldn't have said it better myself.

Photo Credit: The Dilly Lama's Photostream