Free Paper Sample on Empowerment of Women

Introduction

Women’s empowerment is the process of emboldening and inspiring women. It is the act of allowing, accepting, and incorporating women in the decision making process. In most African countries, women are outside the decision-making process; hence, there is a dire need to empower and allow them. Women empowerment is one of the indicators that help in measuring the overall nation’s development. Rwanda has been at the forefront of empowering women. As such, this paper aims to compare essential empowerment in the Rwandan regions of Kigali city and Nyarugege. To analyze women's empowerment in Kigali city compared to Nyarugenge in the past eighteen years. It is essential to categorize some indicators or measures and then combine them in a grouped index. These pointers should concentrate on the geographical areas' variations since Kigali city does not have the same conditions as Nyarugenge as a whole. It will be crucial to recognize all those yardsticks that render women's empowerment (WE) and necessary means for developing the country.

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Geographical Context

The United Nations (UN) presented a Human Development Index (HDI), a dependable compound gauge to compute from 0 to 1 the quality of life in various states. The constraints are set based on three basic factors: years of schooling, gross national income per capita (PPP), and life expectancy. As for long life span, this element takes into consideration the life expectancy at birth. The schooling year’s element considers education both adult literacy and children enrolling in schools. Thus, it considers the number of expected years of schooling and means of years of education. Lastly, GNI per capita is based on ta person’s proceeds amended to the nation’s living standards. The HDI is used to rank countries into four categories of human development. An area or country scoring a higher HDI means that its population has a higher lifespan, higher education level, and higher PPP or per capita income.

In 2010, the Human Development Report (HDR) ushered an Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI). While the HDI is still essential, the IHDI is the definitive measure of human development since it accounts for inequality. The IHDI does not consider some elements, such as the relative quality of goods and the net worth per capita in a country. The scenario tends to lower the ranking score for highly developed countries, including the G7 members. Usually, it is framed in terms of whether people in a particular region can do desirable things in life. For instance, it is being fed, well, healthy, and sheltered and doing work, going to school, participating in the community life, and voting. Therefore, IHDI is based on freedom of choice.

Gender inequality is measured with the Gender-related Development Index (GDI), which is essentially founded on similar elements as the HDI but attuned to the disparities between females and males (Nagle, and Cooke, 2017). The main aim of this index is to provide a gender-sensitive dimension to the HDI. It focuses on how health and wealth are distributed between various societal groups in a country. The index uses a scale of 1 to 5. A score of 1 means that the country or region is close to gender parity, while five infers that the country is far from achieving gender equality. Thus, grouping takes into account gender gaps that favor males, alongside those that favor females. In my study, I will compare the quality of life, education, and per capita income in Kigali city and Nyarugenge region by assessing the extent of women empowerment in the two areas.

Rwanda

Rwanda is a landlocked central African country located 2000km from the Atlantic Ocean. The country borders with Tanzania to the east, Burundi to the south, Uganda to the north, the Democratic Republic of Congo to the west (Izabiliza, 2003). According to the Rwanda population (2020), the country has a population of 12.95 Million. It has a surface area of 26’338 Km2, with a population density of 525 people per km2, making it the most densely populated country in the African mainland (Worldmeter, 2020). The state is extremely raised, and its geography is overlooked by hills, mountains, and savanna with many lakes all over the country (Izabiliza, 2003). The country has two dry and two rainy seasons every year with a climate ranging between subtropical to temperate.

The Rwandan administration opted to created new provinces, districts, and administrative areas in 2006. They include; Kigali province encompassing Nyarugenge, Gasabo, and Kicukirro districts. The southern province includes Ruhago, Nyanza, Muhanga, Nyaruguru, Nyamagabe, Gisara, Kamonyi, and Gisara districts. The Western province consists of Rutsiro, Nyamasheke, Ngororero, Rusizi, Rubavu, Nyabihu, and Karongi districts. The Northern Province comprises Rulindo, Gicumbi, Burera, Gakenke, and Musanze districts. The Eastern Province encompasses districts such as Rwamagana, Nyagatare, Ngoma, Bugasera, Kirehe, and Kayonza.

The study focuses on two areas in Kigali, District of Nyarurenge, that is, Kigali city and the Nyarurenge area. Kigali is the largest city and capital of Rwanda. Kigali is the country's capital city within the province of Kigali. In 2020 the province of Kigali has a population of 1’132’000, while Kigali city has a population of 745’261 (World Population Review, 2020). The surface area of the city is 730 Km2, and the population density is 1’021 per Km2. The city of Kigali is located in the country's geographical center, and 13% of its surface area is covered by Wetlands, which are essential for the storage and release of water and moderate the impacts of floods (Baffoe et al., 2020). The genocide destroyed the country in 1994, where an estimated 800’000 Tutsi were killed by Hutu radicals (BBC News, 2019). The city was rebuilt, and presently, it has enjoyed rapid growth in population.

Women Empowerment

Ideally, this paper aims to compare women empowerment (WE) in Nyamugenge, Kigali Province, Rwanda. The concept of women empowerment is described as the increased freedom in areas where it was previously denied (Pavanello et al., 2016). Several women across the globe have attained this significant achievement as a result of various cultural changes. The importance of WE is usually highlighted for its enhanced probability of creating changes in the usual context. Nonetheless, most countries that have achieved more in women empowerment are mostly developed and rich countries. In underdeveloped and developing countries, women are still deprived of making decisions about their lives and claiming their rights. In some areas, women's freedom to obtain healthcare for their children and themselves when required is denied (Pavanello et al., 2016). Therefore, achieving gender parity is a slow process because it pushes people to change many cultural thoughts and practices and needs far more changes in stated policies or legislation to change practices in the decision-making environment, society, and home.

Therefore, there is a need for gender parity and women empowerment across the world.Since measuring WE is a difficult concept, the paper will attempt to develop a standard indicator that measures how women have achieved gender equality with men for the last 18 years. In six crucial areas; education attainment, economic opportunity, political empowerment, social networks support economic participation, and access to health services. Thus, this gender development index will measure gender inequalities using a similar calculation method, like the HDI. Hence, it will be related to the Gender-related Development Indicator (GDI). The GDI will compare the extent of women empowerment within Kigali and Nyarugenge regions in the vital areas mentioned above. Use of indicators of Gender-related development (GDI)In studying WE, inequities based on an individual’s gender will be analyzed using HDI meters and GDI. The emphasis will mainly be on how WE are conveyed in life span, schooling years, living standards, and PPP, whereby the fundamental measure will be GNI per capita.

The GDI compares women's gender equality attainment in Kigali and Nyarugenge regions in the three dimensions of healthcare access, education access, and gross national income per capita. The main reason to focus on these three dimensions is that they are essential elements of urban services, which improve the quality of life. Accessing quality education in the urban center is crucial for both men's and women's economic participation and independence. Also, access quality healthcare services imply that child mortality is low, and data on this indicator can determine the extent of WE. Besides, GNI per capita indicates whether the women in the area of study are empowered or not. A higher GNI per capita show that women have the opportunity to participate in economic and political activities. As such, access to education, healthcare, and improved purchasing power parity are significant in choosing an area to live in and to measure the empowerment of women.

Conclusion

Thus, the indicator will permit the comparison between Kigali city and the region of Nyarugenge pointing out, which area has the facilities and policies that empower women. The index measures WE within an area based on the fair services both men and women can access. Therefore, only public schools and hospitals are taken into consideration. However, Job opportunities in terms of hiring and promotion take into account private and public companies.