As the International Women’s Day approaches, experts advise on developing sustainable strategies to enroll more women in business and financial sectors. The remark was made during a conference that brought together the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda and experts on Wednesday, March 4 in Kigali. Under the theme “production and use of refined gender statistics”, data presented shows that despite efforts and improvements made over the years, women are still excluded from business and financial sectors than men. The Integrated Business Enterprise Survey 2018 indicated that in Rwanda, 70 percent of formal sector employees were men, and 29 percent women. One of the solutions suggested during the conference was encouraging private sector and civil society to play a role in helping women to join businesses. Ivan Murenzi, the Deputy Director General of Rwanda Institute of Statistics of Rwanda acknowledged gender loopholes in the financial sectors. “The gap is there and that is basically why we have such workshops to involve especially the private sector and other institutions to take part in finding solutions.” Dr. Jeannette Bayisenge, Minister of Gender and Family Promotion said that despite “well-thought” gender policies and strategies, insufficient participation of women in the economy stands out as the most challenging issue. “Rwanda is celebrating Women’s Day for the 45th time and the progress is promising. However, one of the challenges in our gender equality trajectory is inadequate economic inclusiveness of women and that severely hinders women empowerment,” she said. Sustainable solutions National Strategy for Transformation (NST1) 2017-2024 stipulates that one of cross-cutting areas to be sustained through a number of interventions includes continuing to facilitate women to access finance. As NISR called upon the private sector to lend a hand in encouraging more women in business, Private Sector Federation revealed that sustainable solutions are in the pipeline. Theoneste Ntigengerwa, the Private Sector Federation Spokesperson disclosed to The New Times that there is a worrying gap between women and men operating businesses and solutions are being developed. “We have noticed the challenge. The number of women in managerial functions of private businesses is still low and businesses owned by women is also inadequate in relation to men-owned businesses,” Ntagengerwa explained, adding that a 5-year long strategic plan in collaboration with Gender Monitoring Office and UN Women is yet to be launched. The strategy will be launched in March. One of the activities on the agenda is a gender-equality-oriented survey that will direct sensitization campaigns aimed at encouraging women to join businesses. Both the survey and campaign will kick off after the launch in March. Asked whether the efforts match the gap that needs to be filled, Ntagengerwa replied that nudging political players to take part in the strategy will be part of the campaign. Today, Rwanda is hailed as one of the best countries to be a woman with 62 percent of parliament and half of the cabinet being women.
