https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_government
What facilitates a fair representation of women in government in Rwanda? According to Wikipedia, Rwanda has one of the highest representation of women in government with 61.25% in the lower house and 38.46% in the higher house. What facilitate this fair representation or makes it possible to have such a good representation of women within their government. I would like to know what are the political reasons such as law, hiring procedure, etc.
The simplest answer is that Rwanda legally requires women to be represented in government. Their consitution stipulates that:
At least thirty percent (30%) of Deputies must be women.
At least thirty percent (30%) of elected and appointed Senators must be women.
This is made possible by a closed party list election system, in which each party is required to have at least 30% women on their list of nominees. This contrasts with open list or primary-based nomination systems, in which party nominees are chosen by ordinary voters who are not obligated to meet gender quotas.
As for cultural reasons, you can largely “thank” the 1994 genocide. With a huge number of men having died or fled the country, Rwanda's remaining population was 60-70% female. Women's influence in society was thus increased due to sheer numbers.
