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Thursday 8 March 2018

Rwanda marks International Women’s Day



Thursday March 8 is International Women’s Day. In Rwanda, it even used to be a public holiday with workers given the day off across the country. This year’s theme is ‘Press for Progress’ and provides a valuable opportunity to empower our beneficiaries through LUTI’s development projects.

Much of our work is centred around developing women’s entrepreneurial skills, understanding of nutrition and hygiene as well as their awareness of human rights. We are also attempting to generate income for groups of single mothers, proposing new business ideas and product designs. Team member Lucy said: “We deliver [these] sessions to ensure a better future for the women and their children.
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Volunteer Chris sketching new designs of clothes and bags to show the beneficiary group of female tailors.

Rwanda is widely regarded as one of the best places in the world to be a woman, as measured by the Global Gender Rank Index and indicators of political representation.

It placed 4th in the 2017 edition of the Global Gender Ranking, which is compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and was the only African country in the top ten. The East African nation measures the gaps between men and women in the areas of educational attainment, economic participation and opportunity, political empowerment as well health outcomes. According to the WEF, Rwanda has now closed 82% of its overall gender gap. It was commended for its income parity, equality in healthcare and the number of women in ministerial positions.


Volunteer Solange said “women have a lot of rights in Rwanda. We have many programs to empower women. In every institution, women must take 30% of roles. Women can join the army or run for President.”


Introductory session of the Human Rights Club at Regina Pacis School: everybody is entitled to the same human rights, regardless of gender.

In the political arena, the constitution reserves 30% of seats in parliament for women. The result, in 2008 Rwanda became the first country in world in which over 50% of representatives in parliament were female. Currently, 61% of MPs are female, which is also the highest proportion

 in the world, and 11 out of 20 cabinet ministers are women.

Other notable features of the female experience in Rwanda include 86% labour force participation, three months paid maternity leave and equal land rights in law for men and women. Rwanda’s march towards gender equality has often been associated with President Paul Kagame, who has emphasised women’s rights in both speeches and legislation. Previous to the 1994 genocide, women’s parliamentary participation was estimated to be around 18%.

Team leader Felicity said: “While Rwanda is one of the best countries to live in as a woman, many girls still do not complete their secondary education here. Women’s rights are particularly important to me, I believe every girl should have the right to finish her education and should be empowered to take on any career she chooses.”

To participate in International Women’s Day and further integrate into the community, as a team we attended the sector of Mukuras event. We modelled kitenge, traditional printed fabric, purchased from Huye market.

Team LUTI all dressed up outside the sector office
Dinnah Mutamba, Programme Manager of International Service in Rwanda, said “Men and women are equal in ability and dignity; they should be equal in terms of opportunities.”


Gender equality is considered a human right by the United Nations as well as “a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.” Globally, issues faced by girls and women include child marriage, domestic violence, unpaid household tasks and care work as well as lack of representation in managerial positions and parliament.


Yasemin Craggs Mersinoglu
Photos by Rabeya Ullah 


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