Others, traditionally seen as discriminatory, are cited as examples for their improvements in terms of gender equality. What are these developments, and what does this mean for expat women around the world?
Rwanda: Parity in politics
Africa is still perceived as a continent plagued by wars and political conflicts. It isn't easy to talk about women's rights when many African countries are authoritarian regimes. But Africa - and especially sub-Saharan Africa - is experiencing a revolution. Rwanda has become a model, with more than 61% of women in Parliament. The country has a quota policy that allows women to seek influential positions. Women participated in drafting the 2003 Constitution, which recommended the allocation of at least 30% of positions to women in state decision-making bodies. Women account for more than 70% of the population - a population traumatized by the impact of the genocide. The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) advocates the integration of women in politics. Former RPF MP Bernadette Kanzayire explains the crucial role of women in the struggle for peace and the reconstruction of the country. Rwanda is still a role model today. Other African states, such as Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania and South Sudan, have also enshrined a quota of 30% of women in Parliament.
Rwanda has become a model for Africa and the world. In 2019, the country ranked 6th in the Global Gender Gap Index compiled by the World Economic Forum (WEF). While Switzerland ranked 20th, Namibia came in 7th, South Africa 10th and Senegal 11th. Sahle-Work Zewde has been President of Ethiopia since 2018. It's worth noting that the Ethiopian Parliament has 38.76% female participants. Women have also made significant progress in economic terms. According to the McKinsey Africa Gender Report (2019), one in four board members is a woman. This is more than in Europe which has only reached 23%. Japan, which is the world's third-leading power, lags behind. It ranks 121st out of 153 countries, that is, after Bangladesh, Senegal and the United Arab Emirates, according to a study by the World Economic Forum in 2020.
However, much remains to be done to ensure that African women's rights are being genuinely respected. Female politicians mustn't remain confined to so-called "soft" ministries (social, culture, etc.) to obtain the same scope and budget as male politicians. Their work should no longer be compared to that of their male counterparts. More than just numbers, quotas must be used to improve the situation of all women, from an early age, through education, fight against excision, promotion of female entrepreneurship, involvement of men in the battle for gender equality, etc.
Populism: A threat to women's rights
The 2019 United Nations report notes an improvement in women's rights around the world. But this global trend does not overshadow the disparities in different regions of the world. The year of Covid-19, 2020 is also when many women's rights have been questioned, especially in democracies. An alarming decline has been observed in several democratic countries. Patricia Schulz, a former member of the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, sees it as a permanent or non-permanent questioning of women's rights by different actors depending on the country.
In 2016, the election of Donald Trump plunged the United States and the world into uncertainty. The man with openly misogynistic words relieves the most conservative voters and states. Even after his departure, Trump's shadow still hangs over America, notably through the Supreme Court. On October 27, 2020, 8 days before the presidential election, Trump urgently appointed Amy Coney Barrett, a new conservative judge, at the Supreme Court. For the first time since 1930, the Supreme Court has a conservative majority. Women's rights organizations are rightly concerned. Last September, Texas passed a law seriously limiting the possibilities of abortion. From now on, abortion is prohibited as soon as the embryo's heartbeat is detectable, i.e. around six weeks of pregnancy—a time when women are often unaware that they are pregnant. But Biden administration's is challenging this law. A few months earlier, a new law in Mississippi recommended a ban on abortion from the 15th week of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. The Supreme Court is due to review the law this fall. According to Family Planning, if states become free to allow abortion or not, half of the American women risk losing the right to abort.
Eastern Europe has also been nibbled by a populist current, also called "national-conservative", for ten years now. Since 2015, women's rights have been threatened when the Polish national conservative Law and Justice party came to power. Traditional family values taught at school, lower subsidies to associations for the defence of women, differentiation of the retirement age: 65 years for men, 60 for women who are supposed to stay at home, until the anti-abortion law came into force last January. There has been a similar authoritarian drift in Hungary, from 2010, with the election of Viktor Orbán. The most notable impacts were challenging gender equality, educational reform advocating sexist education, where women are confined to their role of housewives and do not have the same intellectual abilities as men. In 2017, Vladimir Putin decriminalized domestic violence even though domestic violence kills 12,000 women each year, that is one every 40 minutes. This measure was particularly harmful during the lockdown when there was a dramatic rise in domestic violence cases. The observation is as alarming elsewhere in the world. In France, the first lockdown had catastrophic consequences: more than 40% increase in violence against women compared to 2019. According to the online reporting platform, there was a new rise during the second lockdown, with more than 60% of calls from victims of sexual and gender-based violence.
Will the post-Covid era be more favourable for women? For opinion leaders, the world of tomorrow will not be built without women, regardless of their expertise: doctors, researchers, developers, politicians, farmers, teachers, construction workers... Tomorrow is also in their hands.
