women in parliament

Rwanda is the first nation in the world where women outnumber men in parliament after legislative elections Sept. 18. Women now account for at least 55 percent of the lower chamber in Rwanda, according to provisional results. Previously, they held 48 percent of seats.

"The role of the elected females is double: They must on the one hand concern themselves with the implementation of government decisions, and on the other be a voice for the grassroots," said Bellancilla Nyonawankusi, a Kigali election official.

Female lawmakers earned 20 seats in direct elections, Reuters reported. Another 24 were already secured in an indirect vote. Rwanda now has a higher number of female lawmakers than Sweden, where 47 percent of parliamentarians are women.

This is the second election since the 1994 genocide that cost 800,000 lives. Women have staked a strong role in rebuilding the country under President Paul Kagame's leadership and represent 55 percent of the 4.7 million registered voters.

A member of women's faction, Fatima Aalia, said here on Monday that the faction intends to change into a ‘women and family faction' in parliament in order to facilitate the path toward establishing a ‘women and family committee'.

In an interview with the Mehr News Agency, Aalia refuted a claim that currently men are members of the women faction, saying that the faction only consists of female lawmakers.

However, she said if a faction of women and family is established then male MPs can be members of the faction to discuss bills and proposals related to women and family.

She added that the establishment of a women and family faction will serve as a catalyst to propose the formation of a professional ‘women and family committee' which needs a two-thirds parliamentary vote.

In May of 2003, Rwandans ratified a new constitution that requires the participation of women in 30% of decision-making positions. In October of 2003, Rwanda's post-genocide transition officially came to a close with Parliamentary elections. In those elections, Rwandan women earned 49% of seats in Rwanda's new bicameral legislature, through election and appointment. This means that Rwanda has the highest percentage of women in its legislative branch, of any country, anywhere in the world.

Women are not among the major users of existing governance indicators, primarily because the indicators are gender blind and not relevant to women's needs.  Exceptions are the indicator on women's participation in parliaments maintained by the International Parliament Union, and the IDEA International database on electoral quotas for women.  Both have been widely and actively used by women parliamentarians and women's political groups to support lobbying and advocacy to increase women's participation in national parliaments, often through the use of electoral quotas.