Rwanda has made significant progress toward gender equality but there are lingering challenges that need to be confronted, Rose Rwabuhihi, the Chief Gender Monitor has said. 

She said this Thursday while addressing parliamentarians on the occasion of the silver jubilee celebrations of the Rwanda Women's Parliamentary Forum (FFRP).

The forum is composed of 57 women from the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, as well as 29 of their male colleagues (HeForShe Champions), who are only associate members. 

The anniversary was marked at a gathering at the Parliamentary Buildings in Kimihurura, Kigali during which participants reflected on the achievements the forum has contributed to since its founding.

They also shared ideas on what needs to be done to help make further inroads into gender equality and gender parity. 

"We need further improvement in mindset change among women and society in general,” Rwabuhihi said, before citing some of the progress made. "Everyone today understands that women are capable and women themselves understand their worth. In the area of governance, young girls, for instance, know that they have a place in politics.”  

However, there is still an imbalance, especially as a result of misconceptions, such as believing that women's empowerment means less influence for men, Rwabuhihi noted. 

She called on members of parliament and FFRP to contribute toward addressing the remaining barriers to gender equality.

"We need to pay attention to the management of our achievements,” she said. "For instance, what we teach our children vis-à-vis the empowerment of girls, and what we teach young boys, they must not see this as a matter of comparing girls and boys.” 

Founded in 1996, the Rwanda Women Parliamentary Forum is a cross-party women’s caucus aimed at uniting women in parliament towards striving for common goals and championing gender equality, especially in legislation.

Violence against women and girls is one of the main issues that were cited as a major challenge to gender equality. 

Gender equality ‘is a human rights issue’

Tito Rutaremara, the Chairperson of Rwanda Elders' Advisory Forum, said that FFRP was founded with the aim of helping end the injustices that women were facing, and called for a rethink around the values that uphold gender equality. 

"Gender equality is primarily a human rights issue and that is what the Rwandan Patriotic Front had in mind when we decided to actively promote gender equality,” said Rutaremara, himself a former parliamentarian. 

The former Ombudsman added: "Women have the right to be part of politics and to be heard; there is a need to rethink our values and understand them better to be able to teach them to society effectively.”

MP Musa Fazil Harerimana, the deputy speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (Administration and Finance), called for greater efforts toward ensuring that gender equality is observed in all fields.  

"Being gender-sensitive is looking at those unique things women need and advocating for them, those things that are considered to be for women only,” he said. 

He added, "Gender equality is present but there is also a need for gender sensitivity which can’t be shown in numbers, but will be shown in the change of mindsets and culture.”

Jacqueline Muhongayire, one of the founding members of FFRP, said that the forum was formed with the main goal of advocating for gender equality in politics, policy-making, and citizen representation.

"At the time, she recalled, "there was a big issue with people’s mindset on the place of women and men in society, we had to work hard in lobbying and devising strategies to change that," she said.

‘Focus mainly on young people’ 

She noted that, while some of the challenges remain today, there has been significant progress across the board. 

Chantal Mbakeshimana, the head of FFRP and member of the Chamber of Deputies, called for a change in mindset among both men and women and for greater efforts in resolving family conflicts. 

"There is a need to build on the previous achievements by continuously engaging family at the grassroots level and particularly stepping up awareness among young people and children around matters of gender equality,” she told The New Times later. "That way we will be able to raise a generation that will build harmonious families in the future.”

Rwanda became the first country in the world with a female majority parliament, with women representation currently at 61.3% in the Lower House and 38.5% in the Upper House.