The Effect of Increased Women's Representation in Parliament: The Case of Rwanda

Women add new dimensions to the policy agenda, but there is little evidence that increased women's representation changes policy outputs. This article examines the case of Rwanda, which now has the highest level of women's representation in parliament in the world at 48.8 per cent. Based on face-to-face interviews with women representatives in the Rwandan parliament, the authors confirm that the Western-based work has validity in a developing world context. In Rwanda, women representatives considered themselves to have a great concern with grassroots politics, but little change was registered in the working hours or calendar of the parliament. The relationship between men and women parliamentarians is not smooth, although it has been reported to have improved since 2003. In terms of the policy agenda, women's issues are now raised more easily and more often than before, but increased women's representation has had little effect on policy outputs. To indicate this lack of influence is not to say that Rwandan government policy is unfriendly to women. However, many of the most significant laws (from the point of view of the position of women) were passed before the large increase in women's parliamentary representation occurred such as Category One status for rape, the inheritance law and indeed the Constitution. The gender-based violence law is an exception in this regard.