Empowering Rwanda’s Parliamentarians: Training on Gender Equality for Stronger Leadership

Rwanda continues to make remarkable strides in advancing gender equality and women's leadership. With a group of newly inducted parliamentarians, coinciding with the adoption of the Government’s second National Strategy for Transformation (NST2), the ‘30+ years of the Beijing Platform for Action’ country report, and national and global gender frameworks, it was crucial for Rwanda’s 80 parliamentarians (51 women and 29 men) to enhance their understanding of gender-responsive and transformative governance, leadership, and development.

To address this need, UN Women, in collaboration with the Rwanda Women Parliamentary Forum (FFRP), organized a two-day induction training on gender equality and women’s transformational leadership at the Parliament of Rwanda. The training aimed to equip parliamentarians with essential knowledge and skills to integrate gender equality into parliamentary work and processes. and provide insights into national and global gender equality commitments including CEDAW, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Maputo Protocol, and the National Gender Policy. The training also emphasized the importance of gender responsive planning and budgeting to enhance accountability for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Rwanda has increased women's representation in the Chamber of Deputies from 61.3% in 2018 to 63.75% in 2024, complemented by women holding 55% of cabinet positions. These figures underscore the Government of Rwanda’s commitment to not only sustaining its gender equality achievements, but further advancing them as a global benchmark.

In her welcoming remarks, the chairperson of the Rwanda Women Parliamentary Forum (FFRP), Ms. Uwizeyimana Marie Therese, expressed her appreciation of the partnership between the Parliament of Rwanda and UN Women, highlighting that the training would ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment remains a central priority across all leadership sectors.

Ms. Uwizeyimana reaffirmed the forum’s commitment to advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE), aligned with the NST2 and Vision 2050. She acknowledged the unwavering dedication of the Government of Rwanda, under the leadership of H.E. Paul Kagame, in championing GEWE. “His Excellency’s steadfast commitment has been instrumental in accelerating progress toward closing gender gaps, fostering sustainable development, and ensuring a more inclusive and equitable future for all Rwandans,” she added.

Addressing the parliamentarians, Ms. Tikikel Tadele Alemu, UN Women Programme Management Specialist speaking on behalf of the UN Women Country Representative, Ms. Jennet Kem, commended Rwanda’s leadership, acknowledging the progress made in transforming the lives of women and girls. She urged parliamentarians to remain steadfast in tackling persistent challenges.

“I would thus like to call upon our honorable parliamentarians to remain steadfast in challenging negative social attitudes and pushbacks that continue to undermine the progress we have made on GEWE. Your continued leadership is essential in safeguarding the gains achieved and ensuring a future of equality and empowerment for all.” stated Ms. Alemu.

Several key priorities for future action emerged from the discussions, including consistent public awareness and education on gender equality to dismantle discriminatory gender stereotypes and cultural norms, strengthening the capacity of national stakeholders on gender analysis to prevent misleading perceptions of gender as solely a women’s issue, enhancing women’s financial capacity through economic empowerment initiatives, strengthening women’s leadership in local governance, and strengthening institutional capacities to effectively interpret and utilize gender statistics.

Delivering remarks, the Rt.Hon. Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Kazarwa Gertrude emphasized the importance of collective action among parliamentarians in embedding GEWE within all policy frameworks and interventions.

“We all know that we still have some pitfalls and setbacks hindering gender equality. However, we can overcome these challenges and make significant progress with our collective efforts. Therefore, we have to put more effort into assessing the government program, the expected results, and the remaining challenges, ensuring that the current budget and programs are meeting the key objective of ensuring gender equality and women empowerment are both embedded in our policies.” emphasized Kazarwa Gertrude.

Closing the training, the Rt. Hon. President of the Senate, Kalinda François-Xavier underscored the Parliament's unwavering commitment to championing gender equality and women's empowerment. He assured all attendees that the outcomes identified during the training would be considered with urgency.

UN Women remains dedicated to its partnership with the Government of Rwanda to achieve and sustain GEWE targets, ensuring the country continues to set a global standard for gender equality and women’s empowerment.