Rwanda Ranks In The Top 5 For Gender Equity. Do Its Teen Girls Agree?
Editor's note: This post is an update of an earlier story, from the Invisibilia podcast and program, which is broadcast on participating public radio stations.
In what countries are women and men on the most equal footing?
That's a question that the World Economic Forum considers in its annual Global Gender Gap Report. Countries are ranked for the degree of women's participation in the economy, their educational achievements, their health and their political involvement.
Iceland is number one, followed by Norway, Finland, Rwanda and Sweden. Yes, Rwanda, this year as in past years, is the only African country in the top ten. The U.S., by contrast, comes in at number 49.
Why does Rwanda do so well in these rankings? And how does the issue of gender equality play out in daily life.
The answer: When it comes to the roles of men and women, Rwanda is a complicated place.
If you want to understand why, a good place to start is with the story of Mireille Umutoni.
In high school, Mireille aspired to be a club president rather than just secretary. And why not? After all, she lives in a country where women seem to face no barriers, no discrimination.
In the parliament, for example, women hold more than half the seats. No country has a better record than that.
There's just one problem: Even though Rwanda is arguably one of the most pro-woman countries in the world, feminism is not seen as a good thing. In fact, it's something of a dirty word.
In high school, Mireille found that teachers and students took for granted that the head of a club should be a boy. When she would stand up in front of
