CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2013
| Author | Arntson-Kynn, Jamie Michelle |
|---|---|
| Title | 'At least, it's not genocide': Internationalized gender equality standards and the neglect of ethnicity in contemporary Rwandan policies concerning sexual violence |
| Summary | ABSTRACT: The horrific genocide in Rwanda in 1994 put international spotlight, for the first time, on the fact that sexual violence during conflict is a war crime and could be, depending on the context of the conflict, a tool of genocide. After the genocide, the Rwandan government sought to reconstruct the physical and social infrastructure of the country. It sought to re-establish itself in the international community and present itself as a stable country. In the aftermath of the war, the government adopted a new constitution that instituted progressive gender equality measures that were in line with the standard international policies and forbid formal recognition of ‘ethnic divisions’. The government has taken into account the gender aspect of how the violence unfolded during the genocide, highlighting traditional gender roles and a patrilineal kinship system influencing the high rates of sexual violence, but decided to completely omit the implications of ethnic aspect of Rwandan social reality. Despite governmental efforts to prevent sexual violence by adopting internationalized gender equality standards, sexual violence is still a prevalent issue. The omission of ethnicity in the new Rwandan constitution and the lack of recognition of its importance in gender equality policies could be a contributing factor to the prevalence of sexual violence in Rwanda. For this reason it is important to understand the ways in which ethnicity and gender intersect in contemporary Rwanda, outside of the context of the genocide memorialization. Although the recent gender equality policies might be changing gender roles, it is vital for the government to take in to account how ethnicity also plays a role in the local realities of Rwandan women in order to have an effective sexual violence prevention policy. |
| Supervisor | Helms, Elissa |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2013/arntson_jamie.pdf |
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