I seem to always miss the proper news. In the parliamentary elections held earlier this week–only the second election in the country since the genocide–52 percent of the newly elected were women, making Rwanda the first country in the world to have a majority female parliament.
In his speech at MIT on Thursday, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame said the success of women was due largely to an active effort to engage them. They are, he pointed out, more than 50 percent of Rwandan society, so they should participate at least in so equal a proportion in politics. More interesting even than the point was the president’s tone, which seemed to say, Isn’t it obvious? How could you possibly make any other argument?
Worth nothing, before we return to women, is that Rwanda also reserves two seats in the parliament for youth (one of which may have gone to a woman, as well). Details here.
Meanwhile, everyone wants to talk about women, and not in that nasty catty way: Maria Hinojosa, a familiar voice for NPR listeners, is doing a segment for PBS’s “Now” called “Women, Politics and Power” which includes a spot from Rwanda (details here), and the Guardian Weekly published a piece on women’s role in development recently (anyone have the link? I lost it!). It’s unfair to call it a rip off of the Washington Post’s earlier piece, but it’s also true that the Post came first…
Interesting to see the role women, especially genocide survivors, are playing in society. No doubt the promotion of women Kagame talked about is having influence, as is help, from the Rwandan government and from outside, aimed at helping survivors rebuild.
“Interesting to see the role women, especially genocide survivors, are playing in society. ”
it will be interesting to see how they work to change the government, laws… all from their intense perspective.