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The role of women in most of the countries in the world Including Africa and the rest of the continents have not been embraced, and therefore the potential of the women has not been utilized to the maximum. Women have for a long time struggled in fighting for their rights as well the equality among the residents of a nation (Basu, 2018). Throughout history, stories of women in leadership positions have been heard as well as their contribution to their countries and the world in general. There are several notable women leaders in the world some of whom have dedicated their lives in fighting against the injustices that are propagated by the government in the society.
Women have been vocal in airing their grievances, and this has led to the formation of women movements in the world. The issue of gender equality has for decades proved to be problematic to achieve although some of the countries have already achieved a good percentage of gender equality in their countries. Women have also been vocal in fighting for the rights of children as well as standing for peace in the war-torn nations. The role of women in advocating for peace has not been having been a tough one with no one in the community believing in them (Basu, 2018). Though there has been ups and downs in their struggles, women have succeeded in their endeavors especially for peace without engaging in the battle, and this shows the role and power of women in advocacy.
In the African continent the role of women has been neglected, but in some countries, women have been a crucial component of the government (Kuper, 2018). The inclusion of the women in government and achieving gender equality has not been a simple process and has been as a result of several struggles all through to make it successful. Rwanda and Liberia are among the countries in Africa that can be used as a reference point for the role of women in society. Rwanda is known for the 1994 genocide that left thousands of people dead but apart from the negatives, the country has been an example as a reference of gender equity as well as zero tolerance to corruption. Liberia, on the other hand, had been a country torn into war for many years with dictator presidents such as Charles Tylor who together with his soldiers were involved in dehumanizing acts that led to the suffering of women and children as the helpless in the country.
Rwanda is an example of a women movement success. In the ‘Rwandan Woman Uprising’ that is a book by Swanee Hunt, we get to know the history as well as the role of women in rebuilding their country after being torn into the genocide wars (Hunt, 2017). The author of the book shares the story of women around 70 in number, who were the heralded activists as well as the unsung heroines of the Rwandan nation. The women activists dedicated their time in making changes in the nation and were able to overcome unfathomable brutality, the unrecoverable loss that resulted from the war as well as the challenges of rebuilding a new Rwandan nation. According to Hunt, the Rwandan women did not form any movement neither did they wait for limelight to set the pace in rebuilding their nation but rather they organized themselves to solve a common problem. Among the common problems include healthcare, poverty, and housing serving the community to a greater good. The victory of the groups in Rwanda was usually in groups and wide-ranging meaning that they were not limited at a certain region alone. They addressed issues such as rape, female entrepreneurship, girl child education, reproductive education, equality in marriage and the mental health problem in Rwanda.
‘Pray the Devil Back to Hell’ is a film that narrates the plight of the Liberian women who took on the warlords and dictatorship of the then president of Liberia Charles Tylor (Hilkovitz, 2014). The rise of the women movement I Liberia come in the midst of a brutal civil war and was necessitated by the negligence of the Liberian government in fighting for peace. Each day the country ran into chaos, many people dying due to war and of all women and children becoming the victims of war. A lot of children were recruited into the army while others were taken by the rebels where they were expected to fight.
Women became victims of rape and torture, and this led to the formation of the ‘Women’s Peace Movement of Liberia.’ The documentary sheds more light on these women who are the unsung heroines of the Liberian nation and is an inspiration to the people who wish to end violence and war in their countries bringing about a peaceful nation. The Liberian women movement was successful as it won a once unimaginable peace for the country in the year 2003 (Gbowee, 2015). Women of all types and ages joined hands regardless of their religion forming a thin line between the opposing forces that was unshakable. The main weapon to which they used included the white T-shirts and a lot of courage and literary they faced the forces both opposing forces that had turned the nation into a den of war. Their demonstrations finally bore fruits leading to the termination of the presidency of the dictator president Charles Tylor and the rise of the first African female president Sir Ellen Johnson.
The women movements in the two countries, Rwanda and Liberia, have some similarities. They are similar in many aspects in that both of them were led by women. In Rwanda, women formed groups to which they used to agitate for their grievances. In Liberia the same thing happened, women joined hands to fight against the opposing groups that included the government and the rebels. Being led by women, both of them aimed at rising and advocating for the rights of women, especially matters that were concerned with women in the country. For the Rwandan movement, the women wanted equal representation as well as equality in marriage, and this is one way of fighting for their rights. Freedom was all that the movement wanted that included the right to education for the girls as well as the reproductive rights all of which were aimed at the betterment of the woman’s life. On the other side, the Liberian women as well initiated the women peace movement of Liberia to advocate against rape and dehumanization of women and children again fighting for the rights of women.
There is another common thing between the two movements and that is both of them succeeded in their endeavors. In Rwanda, the women organization achieved equal representation and right now 65 percent of the leaders are women, and this is a great achievement not only in Rwanda and the whole of Africa. Rwanda is the only African country that has such a great representation of women in the government. Besides, the movement’s goal of rebuilding the nation was relentless, and this means that they were not going back, through this they have achieved to curb corruption of their country as the country has zero tolerance policies on corruption.
The other aspect to which the movement aspired to agitate for and to which was made a success is that of female entrepreneurship as more women in the country are business women and there is a large number of women in business compared to men. The health care sector has been improved courtesy of the women movement in Rwanda. Going back to the Liberian women movement, they as well achieved their goals despite them being ignored by the then president Charles Tylor. Their demonstrations bore fruits as eventually, the final results led to the signing of a peace treaty in Ghana. The movement brought to an end the dictatorship rule by Charles Tylor and led to the rise of the first women in leadership, President Sir Ellen Johnson. Peace was restored in the country, and the process of rebuilding the country began. It is, therefore, true that the women peace movement was able to achieve their goal of bringing back sanity to the country through peaceful demonstration.
The similarity between the two movements continues in that both of them led to the rise of the number of women in the leadership positions and this is evident in both countries, Rwanda and Liberia. In Rwanda, the percentage of women in power is very high than any other country in Africa at 65 percent (Tripp, 2015). The credit can only be given to the women movement as they made it possible for the present representation and therefore their goal in fighting for equality was achieved and even exceeding their expectations. In Liberia, the same is true. The women peace movement of Liberia brought about the women in leadership with Sir Ellen Johnson being the first women president in Africa. Unity and solidity is another common thing the two movements had in common. If the groups were split, they could not have achieved the much due success in their advocacy. Besides, determination and a common course of the problem and that is rebuilding their nation and standing for peace compelled the success of the movements.
Despite the so many similarities, the two movements were also different in some way. In Rwanda, the women never formed a movement but organized themselves into groups. It is through these groups that they were able to advocate for their agendas and made it possible throughout the nation. The women in this country rose up and made an uprising of positivity and change. In Liberia, the omen formed a movement, and that is the Women Peace Movement of Liberia, and therefore they used this movement to demonstrate and fight for peace in their country.
Another difference among the two women movements is that in Rwanda the movement took action after the 1994 genocide and therefore it was started after the war, and therefore the main goal of the movement was rebuilding their nation. In Liberia, the women movement rose in the times of war, and this means that their main agenda was to promote peace among the citizens by standing in between the two rivals. In Rwanda, the women-focused in preventing another incident of war from happening in their country while in Liberia, the women movement fought against the continuation of the war. Another difference is that the Liberian women used the power of conjugal rights to fight for peace and this meant that they denied their men sex until peace was achieved (Hilkovitz, 2014).
The women accomplishments in the two movements provide significant lessons for the policymakers especially those mandated with the role of working towards the equality both genders either in Africa or the rest of the world. Women can be vocal in advocating for change in society, and their dedication can lead to a big change. With no weapon but the word of mouth women in the two nations have made tremendous progress that make the country be an example to the rest of the nations. We should not at any point undermine the role and the power of the women in the society.
ReferencesBasu, A. (2018). The challenge of local feminisms: Women’s movements in global perspective. Routledge.
Gbowee, L. (2015). Liberia: The Power in Fighting for Peace. Women and Power in Post-Conflict Africa, 78.
Hilkovitz, A. (2014). Beyond Sex Strikes: Women’s Movements, Peace Building, and Negotiation in Lysistrata and Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Journal for the Study of Peace and Conflict, 124.
Hunt, S. (2017). Rwandan women rising. Duke University Press.
Kuper, H. (2018). An African aristocracy: rank among the Swazi. Routledge.
Tripp, A. M. (2015). Women and power in post-conflict Africa. Cambridge University Press.
