Abu Dhabi, 8 March 2022: Rwanda joined the United Arab Emirates and the rest of the world in spotlighting the remarkable progress in gender equality as the global community marked the International Women’s Day on Tuesday.

The celebration comes in a time when gender equality has gained momentum in the two friendly countries, H.E Emmanuel Hategeka, Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the UAE said, underscoring that women are trailblazing in politics, business, science and technology, agriculture, education, among many more critical fields of sustainable development.

“Rwanda and UAE are gender champions. Our two countries were ranked in top three for women representation in parliament globally, according to the 2021 Women in Parliament report by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Gender equality is enshrined in the longstanding vision of our two countries and is backed by good leadership. We learn from each other and we have something in common to share to the rest of the world.” Ambassador Hategeka said.

Rwanda and the UAE have unleashed women potentials through strong policies and regulatory frameworks.  With Rwanda’s constitutional requirement of a minimum quota of at least 30% of women in decision making institutions, women exceptional leadership in public and private sectors has contributed to Rwanda’s development and global positioning. Constituting 51.8% of Rwandan population, women representation in decision making institutions grew considerably.  Currently, Rwanda is ranked the first country globally to have the highest women representation in Parliament at 61.3% while 55% of cabinet members are women.

On the other side, the directive by H.H Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE providing that Emirati women must occupy 50 % of the Federal National Council’s (Parliament) seats is one of testaments to UAE commendable commitment to gender equality.

Rwanda’s journey of women empowerment

 For close to three decades after the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, Rwanda positioned gender equality at the forefront of sustainable development. The country looks at gender equality more as a strategy for inclusive development, good governance and respect of human rights. For this cause, gender equality is embedded in different legal frameworks right from the Constitution, which highly positions respect of gender equality among its foundational principles.

The Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda of 2003 revised in 2015 provides for equal rights between women and men; the Law governing matrimonial regimes, donations and succession provides equal inheritance rights between boys and girls as well as equal property management among married couples and the Law governing Land in Rwanda guarantees equal rights on land access, ownership and utilization to both men and women.

The Government has championed equal access to education, healthcare, labor market and all opportunities. The initiatives have paid off resulting in Rwanda ranking the best place to be a woman in Africa and 6th globally as per the Global Competitiveness Report 2015. The country ranked 7th globally and the second country in Africa (after Namibia) in bridging the gender gap according to World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2021. On security, Rwandan women contribution has gone beyond borders through peacekeeping missions. Rwanda is the second highest top contributing country of Policewomen peacekeepers in UN missions.

“Despite all the achievements towards gender equality, we still have common stereotypes and gender biases at the workplace, jobs and gender based career orientation biases, behavioral biases that need to be eliminated right from the family level, at the national and global levels” said Amb. Emmanuel Hategeka

Even though a lot has been achieved, more needs to be done. “Equality is a right not a favour. We must challenge ourselves to do even more and better to ensure that the next generations of our daughters and granddaughters inherit a nation where their aspirations have no limits,” H.E Paul Kagame, President of the Republic said on Twitter as he wished a happy International Women’s Day to women in Rwanda and beyond.