President Paul Kagame has urged African nations to redefine gender equality as a societal responsibility and not simply women’s issues. 

The President made the remarks at the weekend while addressing a thematic session on "Driving African Development through Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment” at the fifth Tokyo International Conference for African Development (Ticad). 

"The question that we must address now is how to make more progress in removing the barriers to equal opportunity and promote greater empowerment. That will be done when we all recognise that the question of equality should be part of our values as a society and therefore an obligation to raise everyone to a level where they can play their rightful role in development,” Kagame said. 

The Rwanda style

With one of the world’s highest number of women leaders in the public sector and a growing number in the private sector, Rwanda continues to lead in realising gender equality. 

To-date, the country has institutionalised women political and economic empowerment through legislations as well as several initiatives aimed at increasing access to economic opportunity. 

"In Rwanda today, the debate is not about women’s role or whether they should be empowered or not. That is a given. For us, ensuring gender equality is not just a moral issue, it is a rights issue and it is a shared responsibility that concerns every member of our society. We have always regarded the equal participation of women in all aspects of national life, including the liberation struggle, as an indispensable contribution to the socio-economic transformation of our country,” said the President. 

He added that, "That is how we have been able to mobilise our people to make the modest strides that we have done, and we believe that what we can do with our limited resources, others can do. All of us involved in breaking down barriers of inequality know that one effective solution is to provide access to equal opportunities in education, employment, credit and property ownership, and the legal and institutional framework to support it.”  

There are more women owning industry and processing businesses than men in Rwanda, according to the latest Gender Statistics report, 2013.  

According to the report, 3,652 women in Rwanda own manufacturing businesses as compared to 355 men owning manufacturing businesses. 

In decision-making and governance, women constitute 57.5 per cent of parliamentarians in the lower House and 38.5 per cent in the Senate. 

The President, who was speaking alongside his Malawian counterpart Joyce Banda, pointed out that it is now possible to foresee a time soon when women in top leadership positions across Africa will no longer be a rare exception. 

Sharing Rwanda’s experience with participants, Kagame cited the small loan from savings and credit cooperative society (Sacco) that particularly target women, the one cow per family programme, and the Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs established by the Private Sector Federation Chamber of Women as key in empowering women. 

"What is happening in Rwanda is taking place in some other parts of the developing world. The World Bank reports that there are about 8 million to 10 million formal, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries each with at least one female owner or in top management,” said the President.  

Meanwhile, Kagame also addressed a session of African leaders on inclusive and resilient society, where he emphasised the interconnection and shared economic destiny of African nations.

Progress in Africa

"Scaling today’s good progress in Africa and sustaining it against the risk of reversal shall require a strong commitment and drive towards deepening regional economic integration.” he said. 

"Africa’s people particularly the young are our primary resource towards achieving long-term resilience. We should continue to invest in their good health, and equip them with vital skills and proper mind-set for them to realise their individual potential, and collective aspirations as Africans.” 

Resilience economic growth, according to President Kagame, requires responsive public leaders to the needs of the citizens, and provision of social protection services even for the most vulnerable to participate in development. 

"Our experience in Rwanda has shown that this approach mobilises citizens to own the transformation agenda and become agents of change themselves. This has helped for example, to adopt and implement crucial policies like Crop Intensification programme in agriculture, turning around previous subsistent farmers into commercial farmers, as well transforming staple food crops into cash crops for internal and regional markets,” he said.

President Kagame later ended his day touring the African Fair, where Chantal Mukabagire and Peruth Mukamusoni shared their story of empowerment through women cooperatives.