Impact of gender policy on post-conflict reconstruction and security in Rwanda

ABSTRACT

The article analyses the relation between security and enhanced women’s participation in political, legal, and social matters in Rwanda after the genocide. Rwanda serves as a unique example of the fast empowerment of women in a developing state and hence as a model sui generis for investigating connections between greater female participation in post-conflict reconstruction and an improving security situation. The analysis consists of three research questions which examine the results achieved by women in legislation, civil society, and the judiciary, and their impact on the improvement of security in Rwanda.

KEYWORDS:

• Rwanda
• gender
• security
• post-conflict reconstruction

Acknowledgements

I would like to dedicate this article to the Institute of Political Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague. I would especially like to thank my supervisor – Dr Tomáš Karásek, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences – for his expert advice and kind tutoring. I would also like to thank Professor Miroslav Mareš (Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University) for his review of this article.

Notes on contributor

Karolina Svobodová is a Ph.D. student at the Charles University in Prague specializing in conflict resolution, gender, and terrorism, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.

ORCID

Karolina Svobodová http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3058-4070

Notes

1 Inclusive Security, ‘25 Years after the Genocide’.

2 Ibid.

3 Koster, Fragmented Lives, 48.

4 CIA, ‘World Factbook: Africa: Rwanda’.

5 Koster, Fragmented Lives, 29; Reyntiens, Rwanda: Genocide and Beyond.

6 Pearson, Demonstrating Legislative Leadership, 19.

7 Buzan, Barry, Hansen, Lene, The Evolution of International Security Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, 13.

8 Gupta, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women’.

9 Zuckerman and Greenberg, ‘Gender Dimensions of Post-Conflict Reconstruction’, 1.

10 Gizelis, ‘Gender Empowerment’, 509.

11 Boyer and Caprioli, ‘Gender, Violence, and International Crisis’, 514.

12 Zuckerman and Greenberg, ‘Gender Dimensions of Post-Conflict Reconstruction’, 11.

13 Ibid., 4.

14 Burnet, ‘Gender Balance’, 372.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid., 382.

17 Jefremova, ‘Loose Women, Virtuous Wives, and Timid Virgins’, 390.

18 Koster, Fragmented Lives, 24.

19 Jefremova, ‘Loose Women, Virtuous Wives, and Timid Virgins’, 381.

20 Powley, Rwanda: Impact of Women Legislators.

21 Burnet, ‘Gender Balance’, 361.

22 Pearson, Demonstrating Legislative Leadership, 12.

23 CIA, ‘World Factbook: Africa: Rwanda’.

24 Pearson, Demonstrating Legislative Leadership, 19.

25 World Bank, ‘Proportion of Seats’.

26 CIA, ‘World Factbook: Africa: Rwanda’.

27 UNDP, ‘Background Paper – “Walking the Talk”’.

28 Pearson, Demonstrating Legislative Leadership, 6.

29 Ibid., 16.

30 UNDP, ‘Background Paper – “Walking the Talk”’.

31 Pearson, Demonstrating Legislative Leadership, 6.

32 Ibid., 38.

33 UNDP, ‘Gender-Based Violence Awareness Program’.

34 ‘Defilement Tops Rwanda's Gender-Based Crimes List’.

35 NISR, Statistical YearBook 2018.

36 Republic of Rwanda Ministry of Health, Annual Health Statistics Booklet 2016.

37 NISR, Statistical YearBook 2011.

38 NISR, Statistical YearBook 2014.

39 NISR, Statistical YearBook 2016.

40 NISR, Statistical YearBook 2018.

41 Palermo et al., ‘Tip of the Iceberg’.

42 National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda, Ministry of Health of Rwanda, ICF International, Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2014–15. 2015, on-line https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR316/FR316.pdf, 298.

43 Ibid., 605.

44 NISR, Statistical YearBook 2011.

45 Burnet, ‘Gender Balance’, 376.

46 In Rwanda, the heritage is usually passed down to children around the time of their marriage, while their parents are still alive.

47 Ali et al., Impact of the 1999 Inheritance and Succession Law, 6.

48 Van Leeuwen, ‘Imagining the Great Lakes Region’, 402.

49 Crook, ‘Promoting Peace and Economic Security’.

50 Koster, Fragmented Lives, 52.

51 Crook, ‘Promoting Peace and Economic Security’, 1488.

52 Jefremova, ‘Loose Women, Virtuous Wives, and Timid Virgins’, 382.

53 Matumba and Izabiliza, Role of Women in Reconciliation and Peacebuilding, 8.

54 Burnet, ‘Gender Balance’, 369.

55 Gupta, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women’, 190.

56 Gizelis, ‘Gender Empowerment’, 508.

57 Bastick, Integrating Gender, 160.

58 Spees, ‘Women's Advocacy in the Creation of the International Criminal Court’, 1249.

59 Burnet, ‘Gender Balance’, 372.

60 Ibid., 374.

61 Pearson, Demonstrating Legislative Leadership, 41.

62 Inclusive Security, ‘25 Years after the Genocide’.

63 Ibid., 42.

64 Burnet, ‘Gender Balance’, 375.

65 UNDP, ‘Rwanda: Women Helping Lead Country's Transformation’.

66 Mageza-Barthel, Mobilizing Transnational Gender Politics, 26.

67 Izabiliza, Role of Women in Reconstruction, 7.

68 Ibid., 156.

69 Burnet, Genocide Lives with Us, 167.

70 Isike and Uzodike, ‘Towards an Indigenous Model’, 33.

71 UNDP, ‘Background Paper – “Walking the Talk”’.

72 CIA, ‘World Factbook: Africa: Rwanda’.

73 Izabiliza, Role of Women in Reconstruction, 7.

74 Rettig, ‘Gacaca’, 36.

75 Ibid., 31.

76 Ibid., 35.

77 Longman, ‘Justice at the Grassroots?’, 208.

78 Rettig, ‘Gacaca’, 35.

79 Brehm et al., ‘Genocide, Justice, and Rwanda’s Gacaca Courts’, 340.

80 Burnet, Genocide Lives with Us, 197.

81 Ibid.

82 Pearson, Demonstrating Legislative Leadership, 19.