INTRODUCTION The post-genocide period in Rwanda was filled with trauma, instability and wreckage that manifested in physical, emotional, and psychological form. Although, this tragedy offered Rwanda an opportunity to transition and reform, one Rwandan women benefited from. After the genocide, there was a stark and astounding increase in the number of women in Rwanda’s new government. Currently, Rwanda is the number one country in the world with the largest percentage of female politicians in its parliament. How did Rwanda go from political instability to being the number one country in regarding to gender representation? To explore this idea, I will review Rwanda’s history leading up to the genocide. After, I will focus in on the political
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The RPF invaded Rwanda to which Habyarimana called on foreign aid from France to help stop the RPF invasion. The raid led to the exile of hundreds of thousands of Hutus and forced this ethnic group in internal settlement camps, another event that fueled the ethnic conflict and brought the country one step closer to genocide (Caplan 22). With a large sense of terror and fear in the country, politics transformed into on the foundations of ethnic allegiance and unity, resulting in radicalism and extremism that led to the salient beginning of the genocide: Habyarimana 's plane crash. On April 6, 1994 Habyarimana was assassinated in a plane crash. This day was the beginning of the genocide. Just like Habyarimana’s assassination, this genocide was planned.
When it was finally unleashed only three months later, hours after Habyarimana went down with his plane, the violence was organized and coordinated. Its goal was explicit: genocide. A clique of Rwandan Hutu planned to …show more content…
Prowley touches on how the genocide impacted women and how this impact factored into the shift in gender perceptions. The author writes that women were victims of sexual assault and survivors witnessed the loss in their families and communities. They lost their homes and property. During the aftermath, women made up about 70 percent of Rwanda’s population, which left them in positions as leaders of households and the community in order to survive. The author notes that this shift in gender roles coincided with a shift in societal mentality and suggests holding these leadership positions allowed gave women confidence for they saw themselves differently, which ultimately surged women politically and in the women’s movement. This reality worked in tangent with the fact that immediately after the genocide, women were the majority by a significant margin during a crucial period of political transition and demonstrated their ability to lead effectively. Therefore, there was an increased effort to include more women in
The RPF invaded Rwanda to which Habyarimana called on foreign aid from France to help stop the RPF invasion. The raid led to the exile of hundreds of thousands of Hutus and forced this ethnic group in internal settlement camps, another event that fueled the ethnic conflict and brought the country one step closer to genocide (Caplan 22). With a large sense of terror and fear in the country, politics transformed into on the foundations of ethnic allegiance and unity, resulting in radicalism and extremism that led to the salient beginning of the genocide: Habyarimana 's plane crash. On April 6, 1994 Habyarimana was assassinated in a plane crash. This day was the beginning of the genocide. Just like Habyarimana’s assassination, this genocide was planned.
When it was finally unleashed only three months later, hours after Habyarimana went down with his plane, the violence was organized and coordinated. Its goal was explicit: genocide. A clique of Rwandan Hutu planned to …show more content…
Prowley touches on how the genocide impacted women and how this impact factored into the shift in gender perceptions. The author writes that women were victims of sexual assault and survivors witnessed the loss in their families and communities. They lost their homes and property. During the aftermath, women made up about 70 percent of Rwanda’s population, which left them in positions as leaders of households and the community in order to survive. The author notes that this shift in gender roles coincided with a shift in societal mentality and suggests holding these leadership positions allowed gave women confidence for they saw themselves differently, which ultimately surged women politically and in the women’s movement. This reality worked in tangent with the fact that immediately after the genocide, women were the majority by a significant margin during a crucial period of political transition and demonstrated their ability to lead effectively. Therefore, there was an increased effort to include more women in