Rural Girls and Women in Rwanda
Introduction
Gender and Rural Poverty
Gender Disparities
Lessons Learned
INTRODUCTION
In its post-genocide era, Rwandan society has sought to grant women equal rights and opportunities with, notably, the adoption of many gender responsive laws, an increased access of girls to education, and the formation of women’s associations that empower women socially and economically. In addition, associations promoting women’s rights have, through concerted efforts with government, raised the level of women’s participation within the political field. Women in Rwanda now top world rankings regarding female representation in a national parliament, with 56 per cent of the seats in Rwanda’s national parliament currently being held by women, as compared to a world average of 15 per cent. Moreover, in 2002, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion set up Women’s committees in every village to provide women with a platform to gain visibility and put forward their views in order to solve their own problems.
However, these attempts to diminish gender inequities have often failed to impact the wellbeing of girls and women in rural zones. Indeed, this segment of the population hasn’t been able to fully benefit from the new gender friendly policies. In this environment, the barriers encountered by rural of women and girls represent a unique, dual marginalization resulting from the intersection of both rural and gender-based inequalities. Proof of this is the fact that the number of rural girls and women living under the threshold of poverty in Rwanda has increased disproportionately to that of men.
GENDER & RURAL POVERTY
Rural poverty is deeply rooted in the imbalance between the amount of work women perform and the amount of possessions they actually have. In the aftermath of the genocide, the female population accounted for more than two-thirds of the total population. Although the country’s demographic profile is becoming more balanced, the consequences of theses changes are still evident today in the high percentage of households being headed by women (25%). In fact, in some rural areas, the proportion of families for which the person in charge is a girl or a woman can reach up to 38%. This issue is significant as households headed by either girls or women are at a greater risk of being poor: 60% of female-headed households lie below the poverty line as compared to 54% in the male-headed-households. The 2001 and 2006 Household Living Conditions Surveys have also shown that female headed households have access to 30 percent less land than male-headed households and own 50 percent less livestock.
The poverty of Rwanda’s rural families (who constitute 80% of the country’s poor), combined with a recently decreasing national agricultural productivity, have resulted in chronic and acute periods of food insecurity. Again, absence of adequate nutrition is most pronounced among rural women, with female-headed households and widows suffering the greatest setbacks in times of food insecurity.
The impoverishment of rural women in Rwanda stems from the social inequalities and lack of opportunities they routinely face because of their sex. For instance, the agricultural base of the economy means that many parents keep children, especially girls, out of school to work in the fields or on domestic tasks such as carrying water. According to the Ministry of Education, 94% of children start primary school, but only half finish; the children yet to enrol or who drop out are mostly girls. Socio-cultural factors hinder the education of girls, especially in rural areas: parental attitudes, shaped by different expectations of the achievement potential of girls and boys, tend to favor the boys, especially in the context of poverty. Sexual violence and exploitation are also contributing factors as to why girls are dropping out of school. Of the more than 3000 rapes recorded by the Rwandan police in 2005 and 2006, 78 % were committed on minors. Rural girls and women spend up to three hours per day walking to water points, affecting not only their productivity and their access to education, but also exposing them to gender-based violence along isolated routes.
GENDER DISPARITIES:
UNEQUAL ACCESS TO RESOURCES & LACK OF OPPORTUNITIES
Women predominantly work in the agricultural sector: they constitute 40 to 60% of the membership of the 15 000 associations or cooperatives active in this sector. The gender-based division of labor in agricultural activities or rural enterprises has changed dramatically in Rwanda post-genocide: women, as opposed to only men, are now allowed to grow cash crops and not just food for personal consumption. However, due to customary practices, the access of women to productive assets, including land, and to complementary factors of production such as credit, fertilizer and training is less than that of men.
In small scale agriculture, family members provide most of the labor required. It is well known that women play an exceptionally important role in agricultural production, carrying out most of the work and ensuring food security. Yet, women rarely have any decision-making power over resources or production. In fact, they seldom have access to agricultural information. (In Africa, this type of information is available to only 13% of all farmers, most of these being men.) Additionally, rural girls and women benefit from fewer economic opportunities with regards to innovative technology, technical support, and extension services. In spite of the major contribution women make to agricultural production, agriculture continues to be perceived as a male dominated sector in Rwanda: men preside over agricultural institutions (e.g., extension services, research). The low level of literacy of women also represents a significant barrier to their participating in training sessions or their being elected to decision-making positions in mixed agricultural associations (only 42 % of all women above the age of 25 are able to read and write in contrast to 69 % among men). Illiteracy in women results in poor development of their managerial skills, impeding them also from accessing microfinance credit and rural innovations. Moreover, young girls, as head of families, very often are out of school and thus lack the skills to be viable in the labor market.
Women’s low level of decision-making regarding their sexual/reproductive health along with the small proportion of births assisted by skilled attendants are among the many factors affecting the health and well-being of girls and women. In addition, the trend is for mothers to be very young: in 2008, 4% of mothers were aged between 15 and 19. Even though Rwanda has legislation in place to ensure that the minimal age of marriage be 21, early marriages still occur in rural communities. The extent to which these early marriages (often forced marriages) take place, however, is not known. To avoid problems with the law, these marriages are not registered. As in most countries in Africa, HIV and AIDS have also had a disproportionate impact on girls and women. This group is 1.5 times more likely to be HIV positive than men (3.6 percent versus 2.3 percent), and this gap is even more critical for young women. Young women aged 15-24 have a prevalence rate that is three times higher than that of young men of the same age group. Furthermore, the burden of caring for those with HIV-related illnesses and for children orphaned by AIDS very often falls on young girls, who as a consequence are unable to attend school and must work in the fields.
The ability of rural girls and women to surmount the gender barriers that stand in their way is complicated by the fact that they are frequently the sole providers of food, clothes and school tuition for the children. Overall, poverty results in an inadequate allocation of resources between sexes for education, the HIV and AIDS pandemics, and for sustaining agricultural livelihoods.
LESSONS LEARNED
The current obstacles facing Rwandan rural girls and women prevent them from benefiting from national poverty reduction strategies that seek to empower girls and women in the country, and additionally, stifle their voices from being taken into account in the development of solutions to their own problems. Support is thus sought to pursue research-action where the unit of study is not a 'technical' solution but rather the girls and women themselves. With their valuable input, sustainable solutions to fight poverty can be catalyzed and better understood.
