Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Women Have Found Respect: Gender Quotas, Symbolic Representation And Female Empowerment In Rwanda, Jennie E. Burnet

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Building on previous studies of women’s formal, descriptive, and substantive representation in Rwanda, this article examines women’s symbolic representation, meaning the broader social and cultural impact of the greater representation of women in the Rwandan political system. It explores the cultural meanings of gender quotas by analyzing popular perceptions of women, of women’s roles in politics and society more broadly, and of changing cultural practices vis-à-vis gender. Data were gathered over twenty four months of ethnographic research conducted between 1997 and 2009, and ongoing documentary research. The study finds that although Rwandan women have made few legislative gains, they have …