Rwandan and Malawi lawmakers discussed the importance of women in the development of the society in Kigali.
Rwanda Parliament Speaker Honourable Donatille Mukabalisa and the Malawi head of delegation Cecilia Emely Chazama, exchanged views on the aspect.
Rwanda has seen better yields from women’s contribution to development hence prioritised in most position of the country due to the special role they played in reshaping the country.
Various projects to support women have been part of the government’s development agenda including the set up of Rwanda Women Leadership Institute (RWLI) which started in April 2013 as a RWN project with the aim to build the leadership capacity of women in the country, as well as bolster their roles as leaders in the public and private sectors.
Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame also helped found the Rwanda Women Leaders Network in December 2011 and has always been at the forefront in campaign for women rights in the country and Africa at large among others.
Strong people like the United States of America First Lady, Michelle Obama has highly commended the government of Rwanda for its efforts in supporting women in society.
So far, Rwanda has greatly evolved particularly on gender equality recording high in female African Leaders compared to other countries in which their position in leadership count at 30% whereas it is above 50% in Rwanda.
Mukabalisa told the delegation that women in Rwanda have been empowered and involved in all organs of administration, now they actively participate in the development of the country and she said that these are fruits of good governance initiated by President Paul Kagame.
Chazama, member of parliament of Malawi and Member of Panafrican Parliament, said that it’s their first time as parliamentarians to come to visit Rwanda, and she appreciated the political will and the good initiative of Kagame.
“In Malawi, we have more women than men, but the challenge is that a big number of women are not educated at the sufficient level. We know that Rwanda has a good experience in empowering women in all sectors of development. We are still learning your example in empowering women, and how they overcame the challenges and become capable of doing as many things as men, even more”, she argued.
According to the World Economic Forum, 80 percent of countries have improved conditions for women over the past six to seven years, according to the World Economic Forum, but in economic and political terms there is still a long way to go; a reason why Rwanda emerges top among the rest. The country has touched all sectors and women are ahead.
In 2013, during the last parliamentary elections Rwandan, women had overwhelming majority in the national Assembly; with 51 out 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies 64 percent occupied by women.
Rwanda already led the world with the highest number of women in Parliament at 56 percent in the parliamentary term 2008-2013. With an increase of 8 percent, Rwanda is at the peak of the World Political record and the highest level of gender equality and democracy.