Consisting of more than 50 percent women, Rwanda has the most gender-equal parliament in the world. Yet, this is not mainly a result of some highly successful gender-equality strategies. Instead, the genocide in 1994 led to a shortage of males in the country, and this has opened up for women in politics. This is one conclusion reached in a new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Women make up 56 percent of the Rwandan parliament. This means that Rwanda has a higher proportion of women in its parliament than any other country in the world. In 2003, Rwanda caught up with and surpassed previously top-ranked Sweden, and in 2008, the margin had grown even wider. The author of the new thesis, Christopher Kayumba, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has analysed how women have managed to attain such great success in a country that suffers from poverty, lacks a tradition of gender equality and is still recovering from severe ethnic conflicts and the 1994 genocide.
To read the complete news story please visit EurekAlert.
Consisting of more than 50 percent women, Rwanda has the most gender-equal parliament in the world. Yet, this is not mainly a result of some highly successful gender-equality strategies. Instead, the genocide in 1994 led to a shortage of males in the country, and this has opened up for women in politics. This is one conclusion reached in a new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Women make up 56 percent of the Rwandan parliament. This means that Rwanda has a higher proportion of women in its parliament than any other country in the world. In 2003, Rwanda caught up with and surpassed previously top-ranked Sweden, and in 2008, the margin had grown even wider. The author of the new thesis, Christopher Kayumba, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, has analysed how women have managed to attain such great success in a country that suffers from poverty, lacks a tradition of gender equality and is still recovering from severe ethnic conflicts and the 1994 genocide.
To read the complete news story please visit EurekAlert.
