Mukabalisa was speaking yesterday while delivering a key note address on Gender Equality and Women Empowerment during a seminar for Heads of Parliament at the Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs leaders at the high level and people of influence, let\u2019s continue finding new and innovative ways to sustain and accelerate progress towards gender equality and women\u2019s empowerment in our respective countries, as well as at continental and global levels,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s then join our hands and efforts to empower women for the well-being of our families\u2019 and nation\u2019s development,” she added.<\/p>\n
She said in many cultures around the world, societies have been characterized by gender inequalities and women were deprived of many rights over the years. She said women\u2019s political participation and role in decision-making should be more significant.<\/p>\n
{{Rwanda\u2019s experience}}<\/p>\n
Mukabalisa said that Rwanda decided on the adoption of Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting (GRB) which was institutionalized by the Organic Law on Budget and Government Property, with specific provisions and clear principles making it mandatory.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpportunities for access to affordable financing have been provided to link women and girls to potential finances. Most importantly, women have full legal rights to inherit, own and transfer productive resources like land,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said the organic law governing political parties and politicians ensures that political party lists include at least 30% of women candidates for parliamentary elections.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s representation in all decision making organs especially in Parliament, she said has greatly influenced Policy advocacy, passing of non-discriminatory laws, and thus made the implementation of Gender Equality Programs smooth.<\/p>\n
Rwanda leads the World in terms of Women representation in Parliament with 64% in chamber of Deputies,39 %in the Senate,41% in Cabinet Ministers, 40% in Judiciary and 43% in Districts Advisory Councils. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe strong commitment from the highest level of our leadership, created confidence in Rwandan women as their dignity and rights have been restored,\u201d she said<\/p>\n
She said, today, women and girls are very active in sectors that were previously male dominated such as pilots, soldiers, police officers, mechanics and engineers.<\/p>\n
She said Rwanda has a significant number of women in Army and Police serving in UN and AU peacekeeping missions. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe struggle to achieve gender equality and women empowerment continues, even though we experience some victories. We have raised the bar very high and we are committed to keep running faster, as we have a long way to go to make our country more developed than it is today,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
She urged nations that Gender agenda can be successful if there is a political will by the country\u2019s top leadership that appreciates men and women\u2019s equal capabilities and promotes equality.<\/p>\n
By quoting President Paul Kagame she urged countries to create an environment enabling women and men to maximize their potentials.<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen and men are equal in terms of ability and dignity. They should also be equal in terms of opportunity.As Rwandans,as a global community, we need every member of our society to use his or her talents to the fullest,\u201d she quoted president Kagame.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Speaker of Parliament, Donatille Mukabalisa has urged nations across the world to join hands in accelerating progress towards gender equality and women empowerment for the well-being of families and development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[72],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-36442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-featured-news-home","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","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":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","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":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36442","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\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36442"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=36442"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=36442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}