Jeannette Kagame : Study finds Rwanda is “BEST PLACE” for women politicians

First Lady Jeannette Kagame helped found the Rwanda Women Leaders Network in December 2011. She has also been at the forefront in campaign for women rights in Rwanda

Are you a woman and thinking of a career in politics anywhere on earth? Rwanda is that single country where you have much chance of rising through the corridors of power, says a new study released ahead of International Women’s Day.

The findings have been published by the Independent newspaper from a study done in collaboration with several charities. It shows that Rwanda is the second best place for women to succeed.

Rwanda is rated as the ‘Best place to be a politician’.

“Rwanda is the only nation in which females make up the majority of parliamentarians. Women hold 45 out of 80 seats,” reads the statement of the findings.

“The UK comes in at 45th place, behind Pakistan and United Arab Emirates. The worst countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Qatar, Oman and Belize, have no women in parliament.”

The British newspaper says when more than half of the world’s population wakes up on Thursday – the 101st International Women’s Day – it will be hard to know whether to celebrate or give in to despair.

Rwanda’s constitution stipulates that women must hold at least 30 percent of leadership position in all instances of government. In addition, women politicians have formed many other organs through which they campaign for women rights.

Some of are the Rwanda Women Leaders Network, formed in December last year under the patronage of First Lady Jeannette Kagama. The other is the Rwanda Women Network, which is more of a national platform for women, with representation down to sector level.

President Paul Kagame for his part has received several global awards for his role in women emancipation. In his cabinet, there are more women than many other regional neighbours.

A British woman will face the prospect of at least 14 more general elections before women equal men in the Commons, says the writer. But a woman in Qatar will be six times more likely to go to university than the man next door.

The global gender gap defies simple solutions. Eighty-five per cent of countries have improved conditions for women over the past six years, according to the World Economic Forum, but in economic and political terms there is still a long way to go.

“From London to Lahore,” says Oxfam in the statement, “inequality between men and women persists.” Here The Independent on Sunday explores the best places to be a woman today.

Jeannette Kagame

Jeannette Kagame