When Germany first colonized what today is called Rwanda, they needed allies on the ground, so they courted the Tutsi ethnic group and ruled the colony through them, lording over the Hutu majority. When Belgium took over the colony after WW2, they maintained the distinction. In 1994, Hutu leaders won election in a fledgling Rwandan democracy, and quickly began to take revenge on the Tutsis, who they percieved as part of the oppresive colonial regime. Movie director Terry George immortalized the genocide of revenge in the 2004 film, Hotel Rwanda.
For 91 days during that genocide, Immaculée Ilibagiza and seven other women squeezed into a bathroom in a friendly pastor’s house, hiding in a space built for only one. Meanwhile outside, roughly 11,000 of their fellow Rwandans died for each of those 91 days.
Immaculé’s story offers a foreshadow of the determined Rwandan women, both Hutu and Tutsi, who have taken it upon themselves to ensure such tragedy never happens again. This Monday’s Washington Post features a story on what they’ve done since then:
Women hold a third of all cabinet positions, including foreign minister, education minister, Supreme Court chief and police commissioner general. And Rwanda’s parliament last month became the first in the world where women claim the majority — 56 percent, including the speaker’s chair.
One result is that Rwanda has banished archaic patriarchal laws that are still enforced in many African societies, such as those that prevent women from inheriting land. The legislature has passed bills aimed at ending domestic violence and child abuse, while a committee is now combing through the legal code to purge it of discriminatory laws.
One lawmaker said the committee has compiled “a stack” of laws to modify or toss out altogether — including one that requires a woman to get her husband’s signature on a bank loan.
Women are advocating against laws like these across Africa and around the world, laws denying property rights and corporate ownership in addition to credit and financing access. Beyond voting, more and more women are working daily to reform institutions and bring them in line with simple, sound economics.
Fairly or unfairly, economic theory is notoriously perceived as hopelessly distant from reality. Perhaps that’s partly because economic theory treats genders equally, while the institutional reality worldwide does not. Here’s to hoping further reform needs not genocide to spur it on.
Published Date: October 28, 2008