'The fact that we are so many has made it possible for men to listen to our views. Now that we're a majority, we can do even more.'
-- Espérance Mwiza (right), a Member of the Parliament of Rwanda, which is now 56 percent women.
Mwiza's quoted in Women Run the Show In a Recovering Rwanda, an article in which the Washington Post's Stephanie McCrummen tells of the transformation in gender roles since the 1994 genocide in the African country. "'Women can contribute a lot in ideas,'"a man says, and McCrummen indicates that ideas about governance are as varied as the country's needs:
In the recent parliament session, lawmakers asked the finance minister about the impact of the financial crisis on Rwanda's budget, the gap between exports and imports and the soundness of Rwanda's booming mortgage market. Just one question -- about funding for maternal and child health -- was gender-specific.
Great. But, um, since when is the health of a country's children a "gender-specific" concern?
