Over 50 percent women constitute Rwandan Parliament

Washington, June 2 (ANI): Rwanda's parliament has the remarkable distinction of having 56 percent representation by women making it the most gender-equal parliament in the world.

However, reasons for these figures are not some revolutionary gender-equality policies, but because of the horrific genocide that decimated the male population in the country in 1994.

Another factor for the dominance of women in the Rwandan Parliament has been reduced tensions between the Hutus and Tutsis and an all-embracing political outlook that encourages a sense of belonging to the country.

A thesis authored by Christopher Kayumba, of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, studied how the country managed to garner such impressive numbers despite having no history of gender-equality and being marred by crippling poverty.

"In developed countries, women's chances of ending up in the parliament are determined by their academic and professional opportunities, by whether they have access to high-status jobs and by how voters feel about women's position in society," he said.

This is not how it works in Rwanda. In my thesis, I emphasise the importance of the conditions that have arisen as a result of the war and the genocide, for example the lack of men," he added. (ANI)