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WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION IN RWANDA
NATIONAL CONTEXT
Rwanda was a former German colony which was lost to Belgium after the end of First World War in 1919 (Government of Rwanda, 2008). The country became administered by Belgium through direct rule marred by discrimination and favoritism that led to Tutsi aristocracy domination making it volatile for political violence (Government of Rwanda, 2008; Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2012).
However, political violence broke in 1959 with the “Hutu Revolution’ indicating an end to Tutsi domination and heighten ethnic tensions that lasted until 1961 (Mamdani, 2003; Government of Rwanda, 2008; Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2012). Following Rwanda’s independence in 1962, the Hutu majority started to dominate the political landscape and violence continued to develop as the Tutsi population were targeted and over 100,000 Tutsis were exiled to neighboring countries including Uganda (Mamdani 2003; Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2012). The Hutu elites were in power after independence through a one party state led by President Gregoire Kayibanda until 1973 when he was ousted in a coup d’état that brought Major General Juvenal Habyarimana to power and continued tensions in Rwanda (Government of Rwanda, 2008). The Rwandan exiled population whose majority was Tutsis formed a resistance guerilla movement in Uganda dubbed the Rwandan Patriotic Front and attacked the country in 1990 leading to a civil war (Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2012). The civil war continued up to 1993 when an Arusha Peace Agreement was signed in Tanzania for a ceasefire (Mamdani, 2003; Government of Rwanda, 2008; Bertelsmann Stiftung 2012).
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The Arusha Peace Agreement brought a government based on power sharing and members of the RPF were integrated in the government including the army. However, growing internal violence stalled the Arusha agreement and the shooting of President Habyarimana’s airplane on 6 April 1994 culminated into genocide that lasted for 100 days from April to July, 1994 as Tutsi population and moderate Hutus were targeted and massacred resulting to about 800,000 deaths (Mamdani, 2003; Government of Rwanda, 2008; Bertelsmann Stiftung, 2012). As the genocide ended, a ‘transitional government’ was formed in July 1994 called “Government of National Unity” led by the Rwandan Patriotic Front until 2003.
A new constitution was adopted in May 2003, followed by presidential and parliamentary elections, held in August and September respectively (Burnet 2008; Government of Rwanda, 2008; Burnet, 2011). In the immediate aftermath of the genocide, women constitute 70% of the population and made up 35% of household heads in Rwanda (Powley, 2006). Currently, the Population Reference Bureau and World Bank data set shows that Rwanda has about 11 million people (Population Reference Bureau, 2014; World Bank, 2015). The country’s 2012 census report indicates that women comprise 51.8% of the population (National Institute of Statistic of Rwanda, 2012).
According to the UNDP human development report and World Bank data, Rwanda is a low-income country with $7.521 billion gross domestic product. The country has 44.9% poverty level and it ranks 151 out of 187 countries in the UNDP Human Development Report 2014 (UNDP, 2014; World Bank, 2015). However, with the aftermath of the genocide girls’ access to education increased as World Bank development indicators show that female population in secondary education as of 2012 is 7.4 of 8.0 male population in secondary education. This progress has been attributed to the high number of female representation in politics as reflected
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in the views of interviewees of Burnet (2011) who claimed that girls attend school now in Rwanda than in the past. Women’s share of the tertiary enrollment as of 2012 is 43.0% and literacy among women age fifteen years and above is 76.9% (National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, 2013). In addition, female participation in labour force surpased that of male, at 86.5%
female to 85.5% male participation (UNDP, 2014).
However, in the UNDP 2013 global inequality index Rwanda ranks 79th position in the World.
Notwithstanding its UNDP 2013 ranking,in the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap report, Rwanda is the only Sub-Saharan African country that made the top ten list with 7th position in terms of best countries that have ability of closing their gender gap (World Economic Forum 2014). Undoubtedly, the high increase in female representation in the country’s parliament with 63.8% women in the Chamber of Deputies and 38.5% women appointed in the Senate contributed to its progress of gender inequality ranking in the World Economic Forum.
Political System
Rwanda has a multi-party system and the post genocide 2003 constitution provided for a democratic state governed by the consent of the people and all powers are derive from the people.10 The country has twelve (12) political parties and the ruling party - Rwandan Patriotic Front has been in power since 2003 under the leadership of President Paul Kagame who has been re-elected in 2010 for another seven-year term (Central Intelligence Agency, 2014). The RPF holds majority seats in both the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, cabinet and at local governance levels. The opposition parties are Centralist Democratic Party (PDC), Democratic Popular Union of Rwanda (UDPR), Islamic Democratic Party (DPI), Liberal Party (PL), Party for Progress and Concord (PPC), Rwandan Socialist Party (PSR), Social Democratic Party
10 See article 1, 2 & 52, Constitution of Rwanda, 2003
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(PSD), Socialist Party (PS), and Solidarity and Prosperity Party (PSP). Democratic Republican Movement (MDR) and Party for Democratic Renewal (PDR) are officially banned by the government from operating as political parties (CIA, 2014).
The Rwandan constitution provides for the three arms of government -the executive, legislature and judiciary who should be separated and independent from one another but complementary to each other.11 The bi-cameral legislature comprises of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies. The Chamber of Deputies consists of 80 seats (53 members elected by popular vote, 24 women elected by local bodies, 3 selected by youth and disabilit y organizations) who are elected every fi ve years.12 On the other hand, the Senate has 26 seats (12 members elected by local councils, 8 appointed by the president, 4 appointed by the Political Organizations Forum, 2 represent institutions of higher learning) elected every eight years.13
The constitution further provides for decentralization and the country to be divided into Provinces, Districts, Cities, Municipalities, Towns, Sectors and Cells to carry out decentralization at local administrative levels.14 In addition, the constitution provides for the establishment of an independent National Electoral Commission which is responsible for the preparation and the organization of elections including local, legislative, presidential and referendum.15
Although Rwanda has a multi-party system and conducts regular elections, the RPF-led government is considered to be intolerant to dissent and suppresses human rights including
11 See article 60, Constitution of Rwanda, 2003
12 Article 76 & 77
13 Article 82
14 Article 3 & 167
15 Article 180
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freedom of speech (Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, 2009; Reyntjens, 2010). According to the 2014 Freedom House global rankings of ‘Freedom in the World’, Rwanda ranks ‘not free’
(Freedom House 2014). Rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have over the years reported on rights violations and the authoritarian nature of the Kagame government. However, the political system of Rwanda has incorporated the voices of women since the post-genocide era, hence their high representation in decision-making bodies.
STATUS OF WOMEN’S POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND REPRESENTATION