Today, March 8, Rwanda joins the rest of the world to mark International Women’s Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women; as well as calling for action for accelerating gender parity. Both locally and internationally, the celebrations for this year’s edition look at encouraging women to continue taking a leading role in the national development process while combatting the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects, among other things. Globally, the day is being celebrated under the theme: “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a Covid-19 world,” while in Rwanda, the theme is “Women, be at the forefront in the Covid-19 World.” According to the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, the day is an opportunity to mobilize women and all Rwandans in general to back the efforts to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic by reinforcing the prevention guidelines established by the government. Speaking about the day, Jeannette Bayisenge, the Minister for Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF) said: “As women are usually key players in development activities, they should also be at the forefront even at such a time when the country is being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. On this day, we want to remind them that they should take the lead during this time,” she said. The activities for the day will be organized in line with prevention measures for Covid-19. Among these, the ministry will participate in shows on state broadcasters, as well as spread information on social media aimed at informing people about the various issues that are of concern for women in society. Women in the fight against Covid-19 In Rwanda, women have been playing a great role during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. Here, some women have been on medical teams for testing, treating, contact tracing among other processes for keeping the disease at bay; while others have had their contribution in supportive activities like the manufacturing of sanitisers, or even working as youth volunteers stationed in various public places to monitor if people are respecting preventive measures. Godibereta Ngaboyamariya, a resident of Kigali City is one of the women that have played a role in the Covid-19 times. Being a Community Health Worker, she was one of those that were trained to follow up on patients that were getting their treatment from home, as a way to decongest hospitals and leave them for critically ill patients. “There is one patient I was following up. He was having a difficult time, not only because of Covid-19, but also because of other factors that had stressed him. We advised him, telling him not to lose hope. That is some of the work that CHWs are doing in this pandemic time,” she said. Aline Nelly Uwineza, a female entrepreneur has done tremendous work, manufacturing hand sanitisers. Her story with this particular business line began around February 2020, when she got to know more about the reality of the Coronavirus – even before a first patient was diagnosed in Rwanda. “I went to various pharmacies to buy disinfectants, but I realized they were scarce. So I decided to use some of the knowledge I had acquired from school so that I can make disinfectants,” she said. She embarked on the project, and later on, she was given the necessary license for commercial production. Today, she has a small factory in Kicukiro District, and has been doing a good job in making such essential products available on the market. Uwineza is just one example of the many women who have contributed to the country’s efforts to prevent the spread of the virus, providing solutions for problems that have come up at such a hard time.
