Additional information about gender quotas

Rwanda

Rwanda

Answer
Yes
Comment

Rwanda adopted a new Constitution in 2003. In addition to constituting a mandatory minimum 30 per cent gender quota in all decision-making bodies, the Constitution explicitly recognizes the responsibility of political organizations to ‘participate in the education of citizens on politics based on democracy and elections and operate in such a manner as to ensure that women and men have equal access to elective offices’ (Article 52, Constitution, Amendment 2 of 8 December 2005).

In 2007, the Law on Political Organizations and Politicians was amended, establishing that party lists for all elective offices must contain at least 30 per cent women candidates. However, the law does not contain any provisions regarding the rank order of women candidates. Following this amendment and in combination with the 24 reserved seats for women, the Rwandan Chamber of Deputies reached a worldwide record in the 2008 legislative elections, as 56.25 per cent of the elected deputies were women. This positive record was repeated in the 2013 legislative elections, when women constituted 63.75 per cent of the total number of elected deputies.

Rwanda’s remarkable progress in increasing women’s political participation and representation in the post- genocide period is largely credited to the introduction of these electoral special measures, as well as other legal acts such as the law for the prohibition of all forms of discrimination and sectarianism, and the Code of Conduct of Political Organizations and Their Members (adopted by the National Consultative Forum of Political Organizations in Rwanda in 2005). The code promotes rules and regulations, discipline and integrity, and governs all political activities in Rwanda.

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