Rwandan government leads way in gender parity

Rwanda remains the world’s leading country with the most number of women in government positions, according to the latest report by the Inter-Parliamentary Union dubbed ‘Women in Parliament’ (IPU).

Besides the 61% of the country’s parliamentary seats being occupied by women, the report also ranked Rwanda as the sixth country with women holding 50 %or more ministerial positions.

According to the body, Rwanda was the only African country in this year’s top ten leading countries with women in politics.

Besides Rwanda, there are only two parliaments where women account for above 50% of the seats. They include Cuba and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), occupying the second and third spots respectively.

For the first time, however, the global average of women in parliament reached a record-high 25.5%, an increase of 0.6% from the previous edition.

“Progress is being made, but parliaments must be more open to women. They should be gender-sensitive and transform their functioning and structures to facilitate work-life balance for women and men,” the IPU Secretary-General, Martin Chungong, said.

The report’s authors warn that women’s equal participation and leadership in political and public life are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, citing that achieving gender parity in political life is far off, with the current data.

At the current pace, it will take another 50 years before gender parity is achieved in parliaments worldwide, according to the report.

Olajumoke Adeleke/CGTN