Media release:
RAUW celebrates International Women’s Day

9 March 2007

Members of the Rwanda Association of University Women (RAUW) marched for the first time behind its new banner with the slogan Educate Women and Eradicate Gender Based Violence. The Government of Rwanda had declared International Women’s Day a national public holiday and thousands gathered at the Stadium to honour President Paul Kagame, who recently received the 2007 Africa Gender Award for accomplishment in respect of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa. His award citation said that “compared to other countries that reached the final stage of the competition, Rwanda is by far the country with the best performance in the promotion and protection of the rights of women”.

On Friday 9 March members gathered at the home of Dr Shirley Randell, RAUW Secretary, to celebrate both her birthday and IWD in a social occasion. Speakers during the evening included Caroline Pinder and Immaculee Habiyambere on the Rwanda Gender Audit, Jolly Rubagiza on her recent visit for training in Japan, Senator Aloisea Inyumba on the International Women Parliamentarians Conference, Tupochele Mtila on Sisters of Rwanda, Linda Melvern on her work on the genocide archives, and Mary Balikungeri who had visited IFUW in Geneva and CFUW in Canada. Footage from the IWD march the previous day was reviewed

Individual RAUW members contributed to celebrations in the provinces and districts, both in their own right and as representatives of other women’s organisations. For example, Beatrice Mukasine, a gender advisor at SNV, helped to plan and organise IWD celebrations in the Gakenke District. Nura Nikuzi, the President of the Southern Province Women’s Council, spoke at Rusizi District celebrations calling for the community to work as advocates for women’s rights and to help the survivors of domestic violence in the area. These ceremonies were also attended by government officials from the neighbouring countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi.

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