{"id":2000104675,"date":"2026-03-08T13:34:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T11:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000104675"},"modified":"2026-03-08T18:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T16:01:37","slug":"first-lady-jeannette-kagame-urges-women-to-prioritise-self-care-and-advocacy-on-iwd-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/first-lady-jeannette-kagame-urges-women-to-prioritise-self-care-and-advocacy-on-iwd-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"First Lady Jeannette Kagame urges women to prioritise self-care and advocacy on IWD"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a post on X, the First Lady called on women to prioritise self-care and their health, set boundaries, and advocate for themselves and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI urge you to carve your character carefully, define your boundaries, advocate for yourselves and other women and girls, and protect your physical and mental health. And please, love yourself with the same gentleness you give others \u2013 the same gentleness you wish and deserve to experience from the world,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Women\u2019s Day, celebrated annually on March 8, recognises the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women worldwide. It also serves as a call to action to accelerate gender parity and address ongoing challenges such as the gender pay gap, violence against women, and underrepresentation in leadership positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Rwanda, IWD is marked by celebrations acknowledging women\u2019s contributions to family and national development, empowerment activities, and the promotion of gender equality. The country has made significant strides in political representation: women now occupy 63.75% of parliamentary seats, up from just 12% in 1996, making Rwanda the nation with the highest proportion of women in Parliament globally in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The origins of International Women\u2019s Day trace back to the early 20th-century labour and socialist movements in North America and Europe. In 1908, 15,000 women marched in New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay, and voting rights, leading to the first National Woman\u2019s Day in 1909.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1910, German activist Clara Zetkin proposed an annual International Women\u2019s Day, which was celebrated for the first time in 1911 in several European countries. The day gained further prominence after women in Russia staged the \u201cBread and Peace\u201d strike in 1917, a pivotal moment that contributed to women gaining voting rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United Nations officially recognised March 8 as International Women\u2019s Day in 1977, establishing it as a global observance for women\u2019s rights and world peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
First Lady Jeannette Kagame\u00a0called on women to prioritise self-care and their health, set boundaries, and advocate for themselves and others.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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International Women\u2019s Day, celebrated annually on March 8, recognises the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women worldwide. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First Lady Jeannette Kagame on Sunday joined the world in wishing women a happy International Women\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000104678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[151,69],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000104675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-editors-choice","tag-homehighlights","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000104678,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MixCollage-08-Mar-2026-01-32-PM-3643.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":600,"height":400,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MixCollage-08-Mar-2026-01-32-PM-3643.jpg","width":150,"height":100},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MixCollage-08-Mar-2026-01-32-PM-3643.jpg","width":300,"height":200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MixCollage-08-Mar-2026-01-32-PM-3643.jpg","width":600,"height":400},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MixCollage-08-Mar-2026-01-32-PM-3643.jpg","width":600,"height":400},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MixCollage-08-Mar-2026-01-32-PM-3643.jpg","width":600,"height":400}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000104675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000104675"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000104675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000104680,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000104675\/revisions\/2000104680"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000104678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000104675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000104675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000104675"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000104675"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000104675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}