Solina Nyirahabimana, the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, has singled out silence as the major threat to the fight against crimes committed against women, such as gender-based violence, sexual harassment, as well as denial of equal opportunities compared to their male counterparts. She was appearing before the parliamentary standing committee on Political and Gender Affairs, in a session that discussed gender equality and ensuring both women and men complimenting each other instead of always being at loggerheads. “Many women go through really bad experiences but because of the fear of speaking out, the perpetrators are never brought to book and reprimanded, which keeps the number of related cases on the rise—and this is one of the issues we are facing,” she said. In a meeting headed by the committee chairperson, MP Emma Rubagumya Furaha, the minister was tasked to explain the rampant number of early pregnancies that are being witnessed in different parts of the country, and the rampant cases of gender-based violence among others. The minister was also asked to explain progress on implementing resolutions passed by the same committee last year on December 7 in regards to the fight the different injustices against women. Among some of the weak spots that the committee observed to the minister include the lack of materials found the ‘girls’ rooms’ at all primary and secondary schools that are set up for girls to use during their monthly periods. The legislators observed that much as schools have done a lot in ensuring these rooms are in place, many were found in dire shortage of supplies necessary for them to serve the purpose. According to Rubagumya, the only supplies that were found in most of the rooms were mattresses and buckets and a few other things. She said that perishable supplies, which are most essential, including sanitary towels, were found missing. In her explanations, the minister noted the a lot has been achieved since the committee made the resolutions and among of these include making an extensive research on the causes of domestic violence, developed a learning tool called ‘Noza Imibanire’ which facilitate counseling of young couples before and after marriage to ensure they live in harmony. “We came up with a guide that will help the youths that are about to marry or the newlyweds to live in harmony because we realized that there was a lot of domestic violence in families and we thought this would really be helpful,’’ she said. Nyirahabimana noted how previously a woman had full custody of children after a breakup but currently, a bill is before parliament to see that in case of situations like mental disorders, chronic diseases and other cases which render a woman unable to take care of the children, a man will be able to take care of the children. The minister also called upon all men to turn up for the International Men’s Day that will be celebrated on November 19 where men will ponder about living in harmony as well as uplift females as most of the crimes committed against women in society today are by men. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
