Rwanda: Gendering Post-conflictTensions

Prof Shirley Randell AO, PhD and Melissa Vogt MA

Kigali Institute of EducationCentre for Gender, Culture and

Development Occasional Research Paper 8, June 2011

Centre for Gender, Culture and DevelopmentThe Centre for Gender, Culture and Development (CGCD) wasestablished by the Kigali Institute of Education (KIE) in Rwanda inJune 2009.

The vision of CGCD is to become a centre of gender, culture anddevelopment studies that is an internationally known centre ofexcellence producing professionally qualified academicians, publicservants, civil society and private sector leaders, in a high-quality research environment that engages in policy development,short term trainings, certificate programs, community outreach andmulticultural exchange.

CGCD’s mission is to promote gender equality and women’sempowerment, cultural exchange and development in Rwanda and theGreat Lakes Region (GLR).

CGCD offers a Master of Social Science (Gender and Development)degree and will commence a Bachelor of Social Science (GD) degreeand Certificate in Continuing Professional Development (GD) from2012. A PhD program and a Postgraduate Diploma of Gender andEducation are expected in 2013.

The objectives of CGCD are: To develop practice and curriculum on gender, culture and

development (GCD) issues that support Rwanda’s position as aworld leader in participation in governance

To align policy and practice

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To ensure that every teacher who graduates from KIE hasundertaken an introduction to gender studies course

To train high-caliber academicians, public servants, civilsociety and private sector leaders to meet local and GreatLakes Region needs

To employ a human rights based approach to development To provide professional higher education in GCD studies to

support the development of Rwanda and GLR To develop the potential of CGCD staff to provide a

stimulating intellectual environment, carry out research, datacollection and consultancies to meet Rwanda and GLR needs forresearch-informed GCD policy, practice and internationalscholarship

To secure long-term viability, and increase visibility andinfluence of CGCD

To contribute to the community within which CGCD is locatedand to increase the community’s awareness of GCD issues

To increase the social integration of vulnerable groups inRwandan society.

A key feature of CGCD is to improve research into issues related togender in Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region. This series ofoccasional papers is a contribution to making this research morewidely available.

Please address comments and/or queries for information to: ProfessorShirley Randell, Director of the CGCD, shirley.randell@kie.ac.rw

Contents

Acronyms 5Introduction 7A Unique Genocide 7International Response Post-conflict 9Reconceptualisation of Women’s Roles Post-genocide 13Gendered Post-conflict Tensions 17 Approach to Victims of Rape 11

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Gendered Dynamics of Poverty 18 Health Care 19 Employment 20 Gender-based Violence 21 HIV/AIDS 22 Education 22Conclusion 25References 27About the Authors 31

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Acronyms

DRC The Democratic Republic of CongoGDP Gross Domestic ProductGBV Gender-Based ViolenceCGCD Centre for Gender, Culture and Development EDPRS Economic Development and Poverty ReductionStrategyHIV/AIDS Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired ImmuneDeficiency SyndromeICISS International Commission on Intervention andState SovereigntyICRtoP International Coalition for theResponsibility to ProtectICTR International Criminal Tribunal of RwandaKIE Kigali Institute of EducationMHI Mutual Health InsurancePRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy PaperPSI Population Services InternationalRNIS Rwanda National Institute of StatisticsRPF Rwanda Patriotic FrontRtoP Responsibility to ProtectUN United Nations

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Rwanda: Gendering Post-conflictTensions1

This Occasional Research Paper will discuss gendered post-conflict tensions in Rwanda. The Rwandan genocide against theTutsi is considered unique in its scale, duration and level ofcruelty, and holds a prominent place in the consciousness of allRwandans, as do the desire and motivation to move forward. Thegenocide was a gendered sequence of events, which eventuallyresulted in a reconceptualisation of women’s roles in thehousehold, community, at work and in leadership positions, aswomen were left making up 75 percent of the populationimmediately after the conflict. Highlighting women’s pre-colonialroles as behind-the-scenes advisors was an effective strategy forwomen parliamentarians to advocate gender equality in the presentday. Not only have women in Parliament taken leadership inpromoting laws that protect women, but civil societyorganisations have also participated in rebuilding and unifyingthe country in ways that advocate for women. Given that apolitics of division was part of the failure of the previousgovernment, Rwandan women leaders are committed to socialtransformation in full partnership with men, using a gender-mainstreaming approach. Although women have demonstrated not onlypolitical will but also economic success, poverty remains achallenge, as do gender-based violence, ignorance of legalrights, limited access to legal services and continuing disparityin higher education. As in most of the world, women’s visibilityin national government has not immediately translated intoempowerment in the home, in agriculture, in the office, in theacademic world or in social life; patriarchal ideology stilldetermines the household division of labour and the allocation ofresources. Rwandan women’s achievements in shaping a gendersensitive political environment, however, should not bediminished.

1 A version of this paper was first presented by Professor ShirleyRandell at the Second Biennial War Crimes Conference on War Crimes: Justice?Whose Justice? Punishment, Mediation or Reconciliation at the University of Londonin March 2011.

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Keywords Post-conflict, gendered tensions, re-conceptualising women’sroles, Rwanda, women’s visibility

Introductionever again’ is not only a common saying inRwanda, it is a strongly held principle. The1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi to this

day holds a prominent place in the consciousness of allRwandans as do the desire and motivation to move forward.This Occasional Research Paper begins by highlighting theuniqueness of the Rwandan genocide based on research byAloys Mahwa, a Rwandan scholar who specializes ininterdisciplinary genocide studies. Mahwa (2010) provides adescription of the newly introduced internationalconventions and laws emerging specifically as a result ofthe Rwandan experience. The experience of women in post-conflict Rwanda is discussed, and theoretical interventionsthat have argued for a link between the prominence of womenin parliament and the experience of mass violence areexplored. Finally, the current and gendered post-conflicttensions playing out in Rwanda are examined. Despite thesetensions, Rwanda has significantly progressed with gendersensitive policies and practices, which are highly regardedat an international level.

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A Unique GenocideMahwa (2010) discusses and outlines the distinguishingfeatures of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, features that placethe Rwandan genocide as unique when compared to others.Bernard Bruneteau (2004, p. 204) identified four reasons forthis uniqueness. The first two are the massive scale, andthe short duration of the genocide: 75 percent of the total

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Tutsi population in the country, 800, 000 people, werekilled within 3 months. The third reason was the genocide’scruelty - 17 distinct methods were used to kill, and rapewas used as a strategic and systematic tool of war(Nowrojee, 1996). The final reason was the decentralizationof the organization of the genocide, where ‘micro-managementby the mayor or chief of the hill mobiliz[ed] local teams ofkillers’ (Mahwa, 2010). Discussing how such a cruel andunique event, in which neighbour attacked neighbour, andfamily members were compelled to kill their nearest anddearest, could have occurred, Mahwa draws on the people’slow education levels, the economic, anthropological,historical/political context of the country, and Bruneteau’sconsideration of three major paradigms to explain thegenocide that occurred in Rwanda in 1994: ‘the economictheory of scarcity of resources, the cultural predispositionof the socio-psychological, the political manipulation ofthe last elites’ (Bruneteau, 2004, p. 204).

A high population density and insufficient access toland to support the population prevented inheritance ofparents’ land and caused land scarcity. In a country where80 percent of people practice agriculture as their majoroccupation, this economic context facilitated socialconflict and chronic violence. In the anthropologicalcontext, Mahwa considered that the strength of a conformistculture, a culture of obedience combined with a hierarchicalpower structure, prevented the questioning of authority.Motivation to maintain the power held by the Hutus since the1959 genocide, the first open ethnic rivalry in whichhundreds of Tutsi were killed and thousands displaced,further contributed, along with a general lack of education.Approximately 65 percent of people were illiterate, mostonly reading and writing at a primary school level ofeducation and were, therefore, easily manipulated (Mahwa

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2010). This combination of socio-economic, anthropologicaland political/historical factors was responsible for thegenocide of 1994 reaching such an immense and intense scale.Its effects were especially devastating on the women whosurvived. Additional to these was the existence of theRwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) as an expression of the millionTutsis in exile who were denied the right to return to theircountry. A further contributing factor was the intransigenceof extremist elements in the ruling Hutu regime that wereunwilling to accede to the power-sharing arrangement made bytheir government with the RPF.

International Response Post-conflictConsideration of the context of the genocide in Rwanda isessential when seeking to provide an overview of currentgendered post-conflict tensions. The United Nations (UN)refused intervention and reduced the number of peacekeepersin the country. It was considered that this reluctance wasconnected to the killing of peacekeepers in Somalia a fewmonths prior as well as the killing of Belgian peacekeepersin Rwanda at the beginning of the genocide. This alsoprompted the withdrawal by the United States of America(USA) and Belgium.

On the other hand, France supported the Hutu regime, hadclose relations and influence on the Habyarimana government,and is accused of being aware of the genocidal activitiesunfolding. These included the Hutu policies of targetingmale Tutsis for killing, leaving the women withoutprotectors or providers, followed by deliberate rape2,involving purposeful infection with the humanimmunodeficiency virus (HIV) (Elbe, 2002; Ward 2002). Otherstrategically executed acts had the purpose of ensuring2 ’Deliberate rape’ is a concept first argued in 2003 in a US Court ofAppeals case, Boyer v. Bellequehttp://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2011/10/28/10-35574.pdf

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maximum suffering of the Tutsi victims, as discussed byvarious academics and authors (Kroslak, 2009; Prunier, 2005;Des Forges, 1999; Melvern, 2000 and Dallaire, 2004).

The reaction of the international community and the UN,both during and after 1994, is lodged in the political andsocietal memory of the country, where failure to respond bythe UN forces, led by USA and Belgium, and the perceivedcomplicity with the genocidal forces by the French,especially during Opération Turquoise, will not easily beforgotten. In 1995, the international community began torespond to lessons learned and to reflect on the reaction ofthe UN and other international bodies to the development ofthe genocide. A formal apology delivered to the RwandaGovernment in 1998 by the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annanwas one of many apologies forthcoming from the internationalcommunity.

The Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi has been used tojustify the inclusion of rape as a crime against humanity inthe Code for Crimes against Mankind, the creation of theResponsibility to Protect and the specific international commitmentmade by the UN General Assembly, Resolution 60/225: Assistance tosurvivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, particularly orphans, widows andvictims of sexual violence.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)was established in 1994, with the task of trying themasterminds of the genocide against the Tutsi. The issue ofactual justice served by the ICTR specifically related tocases of rape has been discussed and questioned (Nowrojee,2005). However, the precedent of newly-establishedinternational resolutions and codes as a result of theRwandan genocide is indicative of reflection and motivationto prevent a repetition of such action.

The detailing of rape as a crime against humanity hadpreviously been explicitly considered and included in an

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Article 5 subsection of the Yugoslav Statute (Bethlehem &Weller, 1997, p. 277). However, it was the specificreference to rape as a crime against humanity under Article3 of the UN Secretary-General’s draft statute of the RwandaTribunal that indicated the acceptance of the internationalcommunity that this was a customary law binding all states(Pocar, 2008, p. 1). The International Law Commission, thebody that penned the Nuremberg Principles, was tasked withdrawing up a Draft Code of Crimes against the Peace andSecurity of Mankind in 1996 (Mettraux, 2002, pp. 271 -283).The list of crimes against humanity in the draft codeincluded rape, overriding its omission in the NurembergPrinciples, which set out the coded offenses to be listed inthe Nuremberg Charter.

ICTR’s Prosecutor v. Jean Paul Akayesu in 1998 was the firstcase in the history of international law in which rape wasrecognised as genocide and a crime against humanity(Sellers, 2006, p. 5). Rape has been a historic, systematictool of war, and was used extensively throughout thegenocide against the Tutsi (Nowrojee, 1996). The extent andbrutality of sexual violence experienced by women in Rwandaduring the genocide is widely acknowledged and has beenanalysed and detailed by Herndon and Randell (2010). Rapewas not only a crime of men; women’s complicity in thegenocide is considered and demonstrated by the Nyiramasuhukocase (The Prosecutor v. Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, 1998), in which theformer minister for family and women’s empowerment wasconvicted of genocide and incitement to rape committed inRwanda’s southern Butare region during 1994. This was thelongest running case in the ICTR’s history, and showed thatmen were not the only perpetrators of rape in the genocide.

There have been serious repercussions for the victimsof rape who entered the court as witnesses. The ICTRapproach to hearings of rape cases has been criticised for

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the minimal preparation of victims before making statements,and the reaction of the court to personal accounts, which attimes has been derogatory and humiliating. As a result ofwomen’s and human rights activism, the ICTR prosecutorformed a special investigative team, the majority of membersbeing women, to follow up on cases of rape (personalcommunication, March, 2011). The current status of this teamis unknown but the team is believed to have been dissolved.Additionally the ICTR has established a clinic to assistwitnesses who have been victims of rape and other forms ofsexual violence. These actions have been part of an effortto ensure effective implementation of international lawsrelated to cases of rape.

When discussing the causes of the genocide against theTutsi, one of the greatest has been the lack of support fromthe international community. In response to this, a newinternational norm, The Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) wasestablished in 2001. This evolved from the previouslyaccepted norm of Right to Humanitarian Intervention and followedinternational discussions and debate among lawyers regardinghow to react effectively when citizens’ human rights aregrossly and systematically violated. In an effort to reachglobal political consensus on an adequate and appropriateresponse to emerging crises leading to the development ofcrimes against humanity, the responsibility of the sovereignstate within the international community is expanded. It nowincludes intervention for the purposes of protection of apopulation ‘suffering serious harm, as a result of internalwar, insurgency, repression or state failure, and the statein question is unwilling or unable to halt or avert it’(RtoP, p. XI).

The International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty(ICISS) was formed in September 2000 with the sponsorship ofthe government of Canada. The key issue for consideration

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was how to balance the traditional international structure,where states hold unconditional sovereignty over theirterritorial affairs, with the international communities’right to intervene militarily in another country’s affairsfor humanitarian purposes. There are three sections to thenorm:

• Responsibility to prevent• Responsibility to react• Responsibility to rebuild

In 2001, the International Coalition for theResponsibility to Protect (ICRtoP) was established, bringingNGOs around the world together to

strengthen normative consensus for RtoP, further the understandingof the norm, push for strengthened capacities to prevent and haltgenocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity,and mobilize NGOs to push for action to save lives in RtoP country-specific situations (ICRtoP, 2011).

The adoption of Resolution 60/225 by the UN General Assemblywas another post-conflict reaction from the internationalcommunity. This provided assistance to survivors of the 1994genocide in Rwanda, particularly orphans, widows and victimsof sexual violence, in an effort to commit to the re-building of the country. This resolution was used toestablish post-conflict activities within the country.

Reconceptualisation of Women’s Roles Post-genocideParallel to the efforts of the international community tomake sure that if such an event occurs again there will beintervention to ensure that horrors such as those of thegenocide in Rwanda are never repeated, Rwanda itself hassought to reconstruct its society and economy to eliminatethe internal conditions that led to the disastrous socialbreakdown. One of the central components of a revived Rwandais close attention to improvements in all aspects of women’ssituations, ranging from legal rights and education to

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employment and entrepreneurship opportunities and leadershipdevelopment. This commitment is present among Rwandan womenthemselves, and is shared by the top levels of nationalleadership. President Paul Kagame’s and the cabinet’scommitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment,supported by the government and the community, has been thebasis for Rwanda’s demonstrated strong gender policies. Ithas led to the remarkable 56 percent representation of womenin parliament and to the movement towards equity in legalrights, education, employment, and leadership developmentopportunities for women.

Berry (2010), pondering the common trend across Africawhereby mass violence seeds an increase in women’sparticipation in governance, more specifically inparliament, noted that there is an observable distinctionbetween women who currently hold seats in parliament inRwanda compared to other countries. Rwandan parliamentarianshave, in the main, come from poor and agriculturalbackgrounds. The majority of these women parliamentarianshave also come to their positions through their communityleadership in seats in local government (Berry, 2010).Berry’s focus is the restructuring of gendered societalroles, where women’s roles have been reconceived under theresulting demographic make-up of the population post-1994.Her analysis shows that ‘political empowerment of womenwould most likely not have occurred without the genocide’(2010, p. 14). Identifying two mechanisms that allowed thisdramatic presence of women when compared to other countries,Berry explains two ‘causal pathways’: the resulting vacuumof men after the genocide and the identification of women aspeaceful agents of change.

Although there is still a low female participation in theformal labour market, and in scholarly work, Rwanda holdsthe highest percentage of women in parliament in the world,

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facilitated by the 2003 revision of the National Constitution(Herndon & Randell, 2010, p. 13) which requires a 30 percentgender quota for decision makers in government. This isenhanced by the support of political parties that putforward election tickets with alternative women and men,ensuring that equal numbers of men and women are elected.

Paxton and Hughes refer to the World Values Survey,which attributes the reconceptualisation of women’s roles tomajor cultural shifts towards such aspects as violence, aknowledge-based economy, and/or increased political rightsand civil liberties (as cited in Berry, 2010, p. 6). Rwandais a case where violence alone appears to have triggered thechange, so it is a not a typical case study. Rwanda stillhas a uniquely high number of women parliamentarians,‘despite low GDP…the small number of political parties,restrictions on civil and political liberties, a lack ofdemocracy, and low levels of female participation in theformal labour market (Berry, 2010, p. 7).

The reasoning behind this shift in the genderedpolitical make-up in countries that have experienced massviolence, is discussed by other researchers, using examplesfrom Uganda, Sierra Leone (Bellows & Miguel, 2008) and ElSalvador (Wood, 2003). These studies demonstrate thatviolence has increased enthusiasm and interest in politicsand political activism at both local and national levels.This renewed interest is linked to a strong desire toparticipate in political debate and correlates with theemotional immediacy of the experience; for example violenceagainst a family member, or violence against themselves.

The gendered perspective of this observed trend comesfrom social psychology literature on post-traumatic growth.According to these texts, individuals experience positivechanges in their self-perception, interpersonalrelationships, and philosophy of life in the aftermath of

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traumatic events (Tedeschi and Calhoun, 1996, p. 456).Tedeschi and Calhoun found that women are more likely thanmen to perceive positive changes along these lines, and thatseverely traumatized women scored twice as high as severelytraumatized men on a Posttraumatic Growth Index (1996, p.468).

The resulting societal trends emerging in the aftermathof the genocide against the Tutsi are linked to thisobservation of response to trauma. Men’s absence left alarge number of single female-headed households, whichimpacted heavily on women’s experience post-genocide. Themarked prominence of women-headed households was the resultof widows who had lost their husbands in the war, and womenwhose husbands were in prison or in exile in the DemocraticRepublic of Congo (DRC). Across all these experiences, womenwere forced to change their daily activities and to increasetheir responsibilities. Their roles from a genderperspective were reconceptualised to include earningfinancially and taking up increased responsibilities infamily and community leadership.

Having incarcerated husbands also affected women’sresponsibilities. The prisons did not provide adequate foodfor prisoners, leaving the wives to travel regularly to theprisons to provide food. These prisons are not located closeto villages and transportation is usually by foot. For thosewhose husbands were in DRC, emotional stress has to be takeninto consideration because no communication was possible andsuspicions of their husband’s involvement in the genocideand continuing role in war in DRC were constant.

The vacuum of men was not only a result of men’sabsence. The gendered response to trauma as observed byTedeschi and Calhoun (1996, p. 468), left many men abusingalcohol, wives and children, adding to the weight ofresponsibility held by women. Women were commonly holding

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financial, household and community responsibilities and inmany cases moved into community leadership roles to addresstrauma and other issues faced by themselves and others.

In the immediate aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, 75percent of the remaining population were women; hundreds ofthousands of men had been killed, 90,000 men were in prison,and hundreds of thousands of others were in exile. Whilethis indicates that both Tutsi and Hutu men were themajority of those involved in the conflict and the victimsof aggression carried out as part of the genocide, womenwere also perpetrators and victims. In a more strategic andlong-term way, the category of victim was gendered: men wereto be killed and women were to be raped. Therefore most ofthe remaining population of women were not only indirectlylinked to each other through their surviving family andfriends, but also through their personal experience of theaggression released through the conflict.

As Berry (2010, p. 18) has highlighted: ‘The remarkablenumber of women in Rwanda’s government today reveals apuzzle: the Rwandan genocide seems to have precipitatedgreater political power for women in general, despite thecatastrophic effects of violence.’ While the actual power ofdecision making of women in the legislature is questioned bysome researchers (Hogg, 2009), the symbolic power of theirpresence in parliament, which is leading in the world,cannot be denied or ignored.

Gendered Post-conflict TensionsGiven that a politics of division was one of the causes ofthe failure of the previous government, the RwandanPresident, government and women leaders are committed tosocial transformation, to women being in full partnershipwith men, using a gender-mainstreaming approach. Rwandaholds a strong, comprehensive and wide-reaching gender

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policy with an objective of holistic gender sensitizationthroughout the country (MIGEPROF, 2010). Nevertheless,despite a female majority in Parliament and much legislationand policy that seek to give women a more equal place inRwandan society, the country still faces challenges withimplementation. Gender-sensitive policies present challengesto the traditional Rwandan culture and result in genderedtensions as the culture adapts to these necessary changes.The resulting gender dynamic and tensions in the country aremultifaceted, inviting international, policy and communitylevels of analysis.

According to the Rwanda National Institute ofStatistics (RNIS), 52 percent of the population in Rwanda in2008 was female, a significant drop from immediate post-genocide years (RNIS, 2009). This could be considered topresent a gendered tension within itself, as the re-balancing of gender roles takes place. How far the scaleswill fall could be the next question. This paper discussessome specific areas of gendered tension in current dayRwanda, the first being the approach to victims of rape inICTR cases. Further tensions relate to gendered inequalitieswithin poverty, access to healthcare, future employmentprospects, gender-based violence (GBV), HIV/AIDS (acquiredimmune deficiency syndrome) and education, which arepresented below.

Gendered Dynamics of Poverty. Inequality and poverty aregendered issues, where access to employment, education,health care, finance and social safety nets are all sourcesof inequality between men and women. As Finnoff (2010, p. 5)has argued

the disintegration of human capital during the genocide occurreddifferently for men and women, necessitating different responses inthe aftermath. Female participation in the economy will be curtailed

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if these needs are not addressed, adversely impacting economicrecovery itself.

While Rwanda is seen as a gender-progressive state,patriarchal ideology still determines the household divisionof labour and the allocation of resources. For women to holdformal positions in the labour market is a relatively newexperience in Rwanda, particularly as national effortincreases to shift the country from an agricultural toservice-based economy. As Rwanda moves further with effortsin poverty reduction and toward long-term planning indevelopment, the societal dynamics of the post-genocide erahave their influence on current societal trends and genderedtensions.

Koster (2008) reported separate results for widowed andnon-widowed female heads of household in an analysis ofhousehold poverty. She found that non-widows were at a muchgreater disadvantage in access to land and remittances thanwidows, and that extreme poverty was more likely in non-widowed headed households in rural areas. This poverty isrelated to issues of access to education and assets.

Health Care. Finnoff (2010) provided a gender analysis ofthe mutual health insurance (MHI) system in Rwanda, mutuellede santé, which was established to provide equity in healthcare. Finnoff’s study indicated that while in other Africancountries, female-headed households dominate those who takeup community health initiatives, in Rwanda, they represent alower percentage of memberships. These initiatives are takenin collaboration with church groups who specificallysubsidize enrollment in MHI for vulnerable groups, such aswidows, and HIV infected populations; Finnoff (2010, 69)considered it likely that the resources and institutionalstructures for targeting vulnerable households wereinsufficient. While female-headed households still access

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health care, this requires the use of household financialresources to do so. The study demonstrated the lower healthstatus of the poorer female-headed households compared totheir male counterparts.

Employment. Eighty-one per cent of the Rwandan populationresides in rural areas (World Bank data, 2009). As internalmigration from rural to urban areas continues to besignificant, the shift from a largely agricultural basedeconomy to a service-based economy is still in progress,with the majority of the population relying on agricultureas their primary source of income. As more women enter theservice industry through entrepreneurship or generalemployment, gendered tensions result from the change. Withininternational supply chains, Mugisha (2011) found that womenare benefiting the least financially. Here men are pooledhigher in the value chain, while women normally located infarming or importing activities, occupy positions of lowerfinancial benefit.

in 2011, the issue of maternity leave is being addressedby the Rwandan government, as the realities of working womenare not comprehensively considered by policy. A push towardwomen and entrepreneurship is prominent in government policyand community activity; however the household response tothese projects has not been observed as entirely positive.They can contribute to gendered post-conflict tensions, withan observed correlation between women’s involvement inbusiness entrepreneurship and GBV (Finnoff, 2010). Womengoing to work may experience an increased propensity of GBVas men feel threatened by their wives’ new-foundindependence, and perhaps experience disempowerment and asense of losing control.

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Gender-based Violence. The incidence of GBV in Rwanda issignificant and continues. Research carried out in mid-2010by the Rwandan Men’s Resource Centre (Barker, 2010)presented the following statistics:

80 percent of men and women witnessed/experienced violence of some kind during genocide

66 percent of men and 53.5 percent of women experiencedviolence growing up; 44 percent and 40 percent respectively witnessed GBV in the home

39 percent of men say they have used GBV against their partner; 57.2 percent of women say they have experienced violence

37 percent of women say they have experienced marital rape; 3.7 percent of men say they have perpetrated marital rape

• In 2009, 9.3 percent of women experienced violence. The cyclical nature of the impact of the genocide against

the Tutsi at home and at the community level related to GBV,contextualizes the statistics presented, where GBV, maritalrape and the witnessing of violence in the home impacts onfuture generations. All of these factors contribute to thenormalisation of violence. Violence as a result of traumafrom the genocide experience, and as seen in the homeenvironment witnessed by children, coupled with thehesitancy of women to speak out or to leave violentrelationships, can then be perceived consciously orsubconsciously as normalised behaviour. The violenceexperienced in the home is also compounded by the prominenceof alcoholism, observed as a repercussion of genocideexperiences (Berry, 2010). Berry’s research also found thatmen who had experienced violence during the genocide aremore likely to consume alcohol and use violence againstwomen.

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HIV/AIDS. An Amnesty International report (2004), estimatesthat 250,000 to 500,000 women were raped during the three-month duration of the genocide against the Tutsi, and 67percent of these women were infected with HIV and contractedAIDS. The incidence of HIV/AIDS due to these rape crimes andits continuing prominence as a result of a lack of use ofcontraceptives, tied to gender relations within thehousehold and in the community, present their own genderedtensions. Population Services International (PSI) presentedthe key driver of HIV infection to be older men, who are inthe majority infected with HIV/AIDS, sleeping with youngerwomen from 15-24 years of age (PSI, 2011). PSI statisticsshow that girls aged 20-24 are five times more likely to beinfected with HIV than boys of the same age, and that one inten girls have their first sexual experience with a man whois ten years older. This trend couples with issues ofcontraception, including the social and cultural perceptionsof the use of contraception, particularly prominent in theolder generation. The power dynamic between an older man andyounger woman ensures that the spread of HIV/AIDS willcontinue through the generations. Family planning policiesand sex education inclusive of contraception are all beingplanned and put into action by the Rwandan government,including integration into school curriculums; however,gender disparity in access to education at secondary andtertiary levels provides its own challenges to such plans.

Education. Huggins and Randell (2007), outline thesituation for girls and education in Rwanda, including thepolicy efforts of the government, where gender sensitisationcampaigns and support for the presence of female role modelsin schools, particularly in science and technologicalstudies are highlighted. However inequality in access tosenior secondary and tertiary education, and retention,

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achievement and transition of girls at all levels remain anissue of gender in Rwanda (Fish and Randell, 2011). Genderdisparity has sometimes been attributed to a lack of femaleinterest rather than a result of conscious or subconsciousdecisions. For the purposes of this paper the disparity isconsidered linked to and compounded by two prominent post-conflict trends in Rwanda; female and child headedhouseholds.

As a cultural norm, the education of boys in Rwanda hasbeen prioritized over that of girls and with an additionalpressure of single mothers and children supportinghouseholds, the resulting domestic and financialresponsibilities influence existing gendered educationnorms. Further, greater household responsibilities of girlsas opposed to boys, making attention to homework moredifficult, exacerbate existing barriers to girls accessingand attending, more specifically, secondary school andhigher education. The issue of child labour is ‘one of themajor concerns of Rwandan Leaders’ and also affects schoolattendance (NISR, 2008, p. 61). Child labour is an issuerelated not only to a historic culture of work and necessitybut also to the demands related to the post-conflict headsof household structure. Drop-out rates are stillconsiderable as a result of cultural norms and poverty, andthe percentage of girls who drop out is higher than that ofboys, especially at secondary and tertiary levels (Fish andRandell, 2011). Many educational institutions at theselevels fail to provide gender sensitive environments, withreports of sexual harassment by teachers and students.Enrolment rates in higher education demonstrate genderinequality, which can be linked to primary school enrolmentand attendance. A lack of female role models present withineducation institutions has been attributed to thepsychological barriers to women progressing in the academic

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realm. In academia, female versus male enrolment in tertiaryinstitutions and involvement in sciences, technology andscholarly pursuits are all influenced by social norms andexpectations of women’s position, financial ability toattend, and workplace barriers.

A gender audit and analysis of the National Universityof Rwanda (NUR), gender policy and implementation carriedout by Kigali Institute of Education’s Centre for Gender,Culture and Development (CGCD) has revealed that whilegender equality is mentioned in key policies, measures andincentives for implementation and practices were lacking(Randell, 2011). The lack of full commitment to governmentpolicy on gender equality was evident across theinstitution, from some top officials to the rest of the NURcommunity. Paradoxically, at times practices were in placewhere policy was not. However, there was not found to be auniform or holistic approach to gender mainstreaming in thiskey learning institution in Rwanda.

It is evident that Rwanda’s first Poverty Reduction StrategyPaper (PRSP) of 2003 underpinned by Vision 2020 (Republic ofRwanda, 2000) and the second PRSP, the Education DevelopmentPoverty Reduction Strategy 2008-2012 (Republic of Rwanda, 2008)have seen improvements in girls’ access and performance ineducation from primary to secondary school and through touniversity enrolment and performance, Policy efforts are inline with the Millennium Development Goals’ ‘universalprimary education’ and ‘gender equality and women’sempowerment’ but gaps in the implementation still remain(Huggins & Randell, 2007). The findings of the NUR studyhighlight this gap at university level (Randell, 2011).Issues of toilets and financial access to sanitary pads aresome basic gaps and indicators of a lack of gendersensitisation in schools, which contributes to the schoolenvironment not always being conducive or welcoming for

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girls. Post-genocidal effects may well be at play in othermajor challenge related to education, including sexualharassment of girls by both teachers and classmates.

ConclusionThe scale and duration of the genocide against the Tutsi, inwhich 75 percent of the total Tutsi population in thecountry was killed within three months, and the cruelty ofthe genocide in terms of the weapons used were two keyfactors that made this genocide unique (Brunetau, 2004). Theother two identified were the cruelty and thedecentralization of its organization. The Rwandan genocideagainst the Tutsi has been used to justify the recognitionof rape as genocide and a crime against humanity in the DraftCode for Crimes against the Peace and Security of Mankind, the creationof the Responsibility to Protect and the specific internationalcommitment made by the UN General Assembly, Resolution 60/225:Assistance to survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, particularly orphans,widows and victims of sexual violence.

The post-conflict situation also prompted areconceptualisation of gender roles, which has to this dayinfluenced gendered dynamics and tensions in the country.These gendered tensions are most identified within theworkforce, household, and to issues linked to HIV/AIDScontraction. They also affect community relations, access tohealthcare, and enrollment, attendance, and achievement atall levels of education. As a point of difference from thepreceding government and a policy of division, the RwandanPresident, cabinet, government and women leaders arecommitted to social transformation in full partnership withmen, using a gender-mainstreaming approach. Women havedemonstrated not only political will but also economicsuccess, though poverty remains a challenge, as does GBV,

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ignorance of legal rights, limited access to legal servicesand lack of equal access to higher education.

As in most of the world, women’s visibility in nationalgovernment has not immediately translated into empowermentin the home, in agriculture, in the office, in the academicworld or in social life. Patriarchal ideology stilldetermines the household division of labour and theallocation of resources. However, Rwandan women’sachievements in shaping a more equal world should not bediminished. The gendered post-conflict tensions present inRwanda should not override the dedication and progress madein the country thus far. The role of the internationalcommunity in supporting these developments is welcomed andshould increase.

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About the Authors

Professor Shirley Kaye Randell AO, PhD, FACE, FAIM, FAICD isDirector of the Centre for Gender, Culture and Developmentat the Kigali Institute of Education. Following adistinguished career in education and in commonwealth, stateand local governments in Australia, she has providedadvisory services in education, governance for empowerment,gender mainstreaming and public sector reform forgovernments in the Pacific, Asia and Africa since 1997.Professor Randell recently completed a three-year term asWorld Vice President of the International Federation ofUniversity Women and was Founder and first Secretary Generalof the Rwandan Association of University Women where she isnow Convener for International Relations. shirley.randell@kie.ac.rw mail@shirleyrandell.com.au

Melissa Vogt completed her MA (Arts) InternationalDevelopment with First Class Honours from FlindersUniversity, Adelaide Australia with a focus on politicaleconomy and agriculture in Costa Rica, and on sustainabledevelopment and poverty reduction through CSR programs inthe coffee industry. She has tutored and lectured at theUniversity of Adelaide and Flinders University and workedwith migrant women communities in Sydney for two years inareas of GBV, Labour rights and Occupational Health andSafety in international and domestic supply chains. At thetime of publication Melissa was working as theCommunications Officer at the Centre for Gender, Culture andDevelopment at the Kigali Institute of Education.

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