If today was 150 years ago, hundreds of thousands of women would have been killed because they got pregnant while not married. But we are not then and pregnant teenagers and mothers are accorded their rights, including staying in school.

It was an abomination on the entire family when a girl got pregnant. It was believed that all cows in her family would die and crops would fail. This is why when a woman was found pregnant; she was taken before the king who would then officially banish her to an uninhabited island so that wild animals shred her.

For those who didn’t have water bodies in their area, they would throw her into a rock valley. In fact, there is one located in Rutsiro district and it is estimated to be 30 meters deep.

If her parents didn’t want such a fate for their child, their grandchild would be forsaken.

Maurice Mugabowagahunde, a historian says that if the girl’s parents didn’t want her to be killed, they would hide her while she was pregnant, and then kill her baby right after she gave birth.

"It didn’t matter if she was raped. Even being a victim of abuse was considered shameful. Her parents would warn her to never say a word about it to anyone,” he added.

If it really was in the 1800s, some women would not be worthy of life, let alone all other rights they were denied, like owning land and other property. These are only a few of the many human rights abuses that were committed against women in Rwanda that exist no more.

Experts argue that respect for human rights on women in Rwanda can only be traced after the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. While reasonable improvements in women’s rights have been achieved so far, it is not so long ago that women couldn’t own land, open a bank account or even have a job without their husbands consenting to it.

As a matter of fact, "All Rwandans are born and remain equal in rights and freedoms” since 2003!

A study conducted in 2003 by Jennie E. Burnet and Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD), a local NGO, it is indicated that neither colonial statutory law nor post-colonial statutory law specifically protected women’s rights to land.

The study reveals that Article 4 of Law No. 2/08/1913 stipulated that "women could not engage in commercial activities or in paid labor or enter into a contract without the express consent of their spouses.”

It is also just in 1998 that this law was modified by Law No.42/1998 that allowed women to open bank accounts without their husbands’ consent.

Annie Kayiraba, the Executive Director of RISD explained to The New Times that it is only through the political commitment of the post genocide government towards gender equality that some milestones have been achieved.

"The milestone of women’s rights in post 1994 is the enactment of the Law No. 22 of 15/11/1999 supplementing Book I of the civil code and instituting part five regarding matrimonial regimes, liberalities and successions, replaced by Law No. 27/2016 of 08/07/2016,” Kayiraba said.

The law allows for equal land inheritance of both girl and boy child, with no discrimination. Another one she stated is the organic land law No 08/2005 of 14 /07/2005, updated as Land Law No. 03/2013/06 of 16/06/2013; with the latest change in Law N° 27/2021 of 10/06/2021, which stresses equal rights to property for legally married couples, as well as the prohibition of any form of discrimination in relation to access and management of land.

"These legal frameworks have empowered women to be aware of their equal rights to property and have also educated women on the existence and importance of equal rights in families including marriages. The legal frameworks help to challenge any existing patriarchal norms and structures, oppressive at the family and community level,” Kayiraba added.

While these milestones are believed to be the beginning of a successful journey, the Global Gender Gap Index ranks Rwanda the second most gender equal country in Africa and seventh in the world, with the score of 80.5 percent.

During the presidential campaign in 2017 when President Kagame was campaigning in Eastern Province, he committed to protect women at all costs and to let everyone know "what they can and cannot touch,” he said.

"Every Rwandan woman is branded ‘don’t touch,’” he said to a crowd of cheering people who had come to support him.

He didn’t disappoint, says Zulfat Mukarubega, an entrepreneur and founder of University of Tourism, Technology and Business Studies (UTB).

"After the liberation of our country, women were valued because we had seen men and women work together for this country.  This couldn’t have happened without President Kagame’s efforts to protect women. Whatever we have achieved now, it is because of him and it is really commendable,” she said.

Long way to go

While much has been done, it is not enough. 

Chantal Umuhoza, feminist and Women’s rights activist believes that establishing legal and institutional frameworks to ensure gender equality has been done and greatly but "that’s the easiest part,” Umuhoza said.

"We continue to witness the increase in Gender based violence and child defilement despite the heavy punishments for these crimes. It is clear evidence that criminalising women’s rights violation isn’t an enough solution,” Umuhoza noted, as she added that the issue needs to be addressed from social- "stigma of women’s bodily autonomy including decision to divorce, and gendered stereotypes” and economic aspects.

"We need to ensure women are economically independent and conscious. That includes education and awareness centered on dismantling power inequalities and most importantly, structurally and systemically to address barriers that reinforce and sustain these inequalities,” Umuhoza added.

As Rwanda joins the world to celebrate the International Women’s Day, many believe much emphasis should be put on strategizing for the future milestones instead of celebrating past achievements.