Women saved Rwanda after genocide, creating a model for lasting security in countries worldwide. How they did it, and the difference they’ve made, holds lessons for the US and countries around the world. In the spring of 1994, the tiny African nation was ripped apart, leaving nearly a million dead. After the violence subsided, Rwanda’s […]
The women of Rwanda are raising their voices. Rwandan Women Rising, a new book by Swanee Hunt, celebrates these women’s awe-inspiring achievements—and lets them explain in their own words how they changed their country and our world. These stories are ferocious yet ultimately courageous. The women do more than recall the horrors of the 1994 […]
This article was originally published by World Policy Journal. In spring 1994, Rwanda was ripped apart by a genocide that left nearly a million dead. While news of the catastrophe reached all corners of the globe, the nation’s recovery and the key role of women are less often featured in the media. Swanee Hunt, former […]
Women often take on different social, political, and economic responsibilities during the upheaval of war. In some cases, after violence ends, they maintain these new roles and claim a larger space in public life. Take Rwanda, for example. In the 20 years after the genocide, women rose to positions of influence. The country currently ranks […]
This article was originally published by The Daily Beast. Twenty years ago, Eugenie Mukeshimana was eight months pregnant when genocide broke out in her homeland of Rwanda. As hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were slaughtered in a matter of only months, Mukeshimana saw first-hand the fantastic lengths her fellow mothers and women would go to […]
This article, co-authored by Swanee Hunt and Laura Heaton, was originally published by National Geographic. Crowds of police officers and nurses converged in a room painted with bright alphabet letters at a hospital in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali. A plush frog and a couple of dolls with Afros lay on the table, props that might be […]
This article was originally published by The Daily Beast. Rwanda has the highest percentage of women appointed to government in the world. Women account for 64 percent of its parliament. (In comparison, America ranks 83rd with 18 percent.) This is the same country that 20 years ago was in the throes of a genocide that […]
A new article, “The Rise of Rwanda’s Women,” by Inclusive Security founder and Chair Ambassador Swanee Hunt was published today on the Foreign Affairs website. The article will also appear in the May-June print edition. Over the last 15 years, Amb. Hunt and Inclusive Security staff have worked alongside Rwandan women leaders advancing peace and security. […]
This article was originally published by Global Post. This is the last piece in a five-part series. KIGALI, Rwanda — An inside view of Rwanda is Umushyikirano, an enormous town hall presided over by President Kagame and attended by his cabinet, their high-level staff, religious and business leaders, plus officials from the country’s 30 districts. […]
This article was originally published by Global Post. This is the fourth piece in a five-part series. KIGALI, Rwanda — Rwanda’s First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, has launched yet another initiative in this tiny central African state. Her office has started up projects advancing children, particularly girls, and providing what a business school might dub a […]
