Years before many of us came into existence; women were not able to vote. Imagine not being able to put a tick beside the person you want in office? Someone who best represents your interests?Clearly I have caught the voting bug with all the news about the elections in the USA even if I’m not American but a lot of their issues are quite relatable and serve as lessons to women over here.One issue specifically that sounds out is all the hoopla about women’s reproductive rights. The Republicans seem to come out every other week with some crazy fact about abortion or something else concerning our sexuality. Honestly, I don’t even want to get into detail about these stories because I would hate myself for repeating such outrageous nonsense. Anyway as 21st century woman we have to understand the advantages of being politically aware. We need to be in control or at least try to have a say in what we expect our government to provide. For example, Mitt Romney’s plan to get rid of the Planned Parenthood programs, which provide free mammograms, was completely ridiculous. I understand that, for a bunch of rich folks who could afford private healthcare, that meant nothing; but those mammograms probably saved a lot of women’s lives. Over here in Rwanda, we have to be more aware of what is going on with our own rights as women. The Government tries to do as much as they can but we have to also take more of an initiative. We have one or two people publicly making noise about our abortion laws. Instead, we should all join and open more dialogue instead of having people in the Parliament making these decisions for us.However, not only dialogue can save, we have to take it a step further and vote. In the next elections one should be aware of who they are putting into power and who will serve women the right way. We have the National Council of Women and Pro-Femmes, Twese Hamwe; these are the voices that we should try to engage and make them understand what the modern day Rwandan women needs to succeed.We are smart enough to run business and work in government institutions all over this country, I think it is time more of our views and ideas are given a platform to be addressed. So come -on ladies lets be heard!
