Rwanda’s record women legislators symbolic

Rwanda holds a record 56% women lawmakers in Parliament. Women hold 44 seats in the 80 seat assembly. This record is symbolic even in day to day livelihoods in the country. The point isn’t whether women rule better or even differently than men but the point is that no government can claim legitimacy when there is discrimination against half the population which is the women. Importantly, women are an important symbol of moderation in Rwanda today. Women world over have always suffered many social evils. In Rwanda, it’s obvious now that they deserve a significant and official role in the nation’s recovery from the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi due to the gendered nature of the Rwandan conflict and the perceptions that women are better at reconciliation. The critical role that women play in community security and the experience of the Rwandan women, particularly at the grassroots level, shows that women are less corrupt than men. First, Rwandans believe that most of the consequences of war and violence fall on women and that they are therefore highly motivated to prevent conflicts. Circumstances of their lives and burdens they carry cause women to recognize their dependence; such pragmatism allows them to work across ethnic lines more easily than men. And so the Rwanda government has made women visible with high- level appointments. The genocide in part resulted in hundreds of thousands of new woman-headed households. In the immediate aftermath, the population was 70 percent female (women and girls). Given this Demographic imbalance, women immediately assumed multiple roles as heads of households, community leaders, and financial providers, meeting the needs of devastated families and communities. They were the ones who picked up the pieces of a literally decimated society and began to rebuild: They buried the dead, found homes for nearly 500,000 orphans, and built shelters. Today, women remain a demographic majority in Rwanda, representing 54 percent of the population and contributing significantly to the productive capacity of the nation. This increase in women lawmakers makes perfect sense, as women have taken on roles that are traditionally associated with men and are now using that knowledge and the desire to improve the quality of their families’ lives to try more entrepreneurial ventures. Subsistence farmers are becoming farmers of sought after commodity crops, such as coffee and pomegranates. Their experience is leading many women to branch out into building up other types of businesses, ranging from small manufacturing concerns to the establishment of tourist destinations and other fields of endeavor thus developing and providing to the society. So the gender equality evident at the top of the government is evident through out the society here. This is because the government has attempted to address women’s concerns and gender implications in their policy planning and the spirit of Rwanda’s women is helping to create a general improvement in lives of thousands because women are considered to be in a better position to know their communities well and to warn us of any potential conflict. So what is happening today is that this society has changed in one generation, moving away from the traditional model common elsewhere in Africa to a new, much more equal system. Where one finds even the strongest and sensitive posts such as the ministry of foreign affairs, presidential protocol, mayors, and senators are filled by women elites. Much of what is happening is a result of genocide and it can’t be denied, but then neither can the emerging result of that action be denied. Women are majority of the adult working population, head 35 percent of households, and are responsible for rising the next generation, and in this largely rural nation, they produce the majority of all agricultural output. They are the majority constituency and the most productive segment of the population. Rwandan women play a vital role not only in the physical reconstruction, but also in the crucial task of social healing, reconciliation, and increasingly, governance. So we see that the immediate post-genocide reconstruction was gendered thus acknowledging the presence, needs, and potential role of this majority population. The government is determined that women must be central to the process of governing, reconciling, and rebuilding the country. A number of women hold critical positions within the ranks of the RPF and in the government. Such women have been appointed to strategic posts in government; more significantly, their presence has contributed to progressive gender policies within the administration take for example Mrs. Rose Kabuye who is the chief of protocol. A variety of government and civil society sources, both male and female, point to women in northern and northwestern Rwanda (Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, and Kibuye provinces), who have been instrumental in stabilizing border communities. These women are credited with convincing their husbands and sons living across the border in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to leave rebel groups and return to Rwanda to reintegrate. This often-cited example of women in Ruhengeri, Gisenyi, and Kibuye demonstrates their critical role in maintaining the nation’s security and the women’s determination in securing a better future for Rwanda. Even ordinary civilian women at the grassroots level, as well as those serving in the Rwandan army and police force, are thus able to promote security at the level of national political leadership. Rwanda is a signatory to various international instruments that uphold women’s rights and interests and also builds a brighter future for the girl child. And so as result, women are gaining ground and facing the obstacles that hinder them from greater opportunities nationally and internationally. umurungiritah@yahoo.com