Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Anthropology Faculty Publications Department of Anthropology 2008 Gender Balance and the Meanings of Women in Governance in Post-Genocide Rwanda Jennie E. Burnet Georgia State University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_facpub Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Burnet, Jennie E., "Gender Balance and the Meanings of Women in Governance in Post-Genocide Rwanda" (2008). Anthropology Faculty Publications. 5. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/anthro_facpub/5 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Anthropology at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. GENDER BALANCE AND THE MEANINGS OF WOMEN IN GOVERNANCE IN POST-GENOCIDE RWANDA JENNIE E. BURNET ABSTRACT Across Africa, many countries have taken initiatives to increase the participation and representation of women in governance. Yet it is unclear what meaning these initiatives have in authoritarian, single-party states like Rwanda. Since seizing power in 1994, the Rwandan Patriotic Front has taken many steps to increase the participation of women in politics such as creating a Ministry of Gender, organizing women’s councils at all levels of government, and instituting an electoral system with reserved seats for women in the national parliament. This article explores the dramatic increase in women’s participation in public life and representation in governance and the increasing authoritarianism of the Rwandan state under the guise of ‘democratization.’ The increased political participation of women in Rwanda represents a paradox in the short-term: as their participation has increased, women’s ability to influence policy-making has decreased.