While Rwanda has made remarkable strides in promoting Gender equality, with nearly two-thirds of its parliamentary seats and 52% of cabinet positions held by women, Eric Kneedler, the US Ambassador in Rwanda believes that by itself is not enough.
Speaking at the recently concluded Women’s Mental Health and Gender Equity forum organised by Kate Spade NewYork, AMCHAM (American Chamber of Commerce) Rwanda and Norrsken House Kigali on 1st August 2024, the Ambassador stressed the need for Gender Equity in the economic sector.
“As we celebrate these milestones, we must also address the challenges women face in business and entrepreneurship,” he remarked, adding that gender equity in the economic sector is not just about unfairness, but instead a catalyst for growth and innovation.
“Women’s participation in business leads to diverse perspectives, enhanced problem-solving, inclusive growth, and more resilient economies,” he echoed, recounting the US commitment to support such endeavors, including their partnership with Kate Spade.
Nelly Mukazayire, Deputy CEO, Rwanda Development Board who was a Keynote speaker at the same event acknowledged that mental health affects both men and women. However, women are always at a ‘competitive disadvantage’, therefore, requiring utmost mindfulness.
“When discussing Gender Equality or Equity, it’s not a fight between men and women. It’s more of trying to establish a balance that the community or the systems we’ve had for a long time created,” she said, inserting that the setup happened and if women aren’t given a boost, men will be far ahead.
Mukazayire thus explained women’s mental health ‘boosters’ in three levels: National, Community and personal, urging women to strike a balance between their communities and personal lives for better mental wellbeing.
National-level boosters, as asserted by Mukazayire, are policies, leadership, laws and regulations that foster women to be given opportunities. The community level entails the home and workplace–places women spend a lifetime–and the personal, knowing who you are and what you want to be.
Striking a balance between the community and individual to Mukazayire is: understanding what the community expects from you and what you expect from the community, thus playing your role in making the two ends meet.
“One of the things that affect us a lot, as women, leaders, or mothers, is we put a lot of burden on ourselves, driven by ‘I have to do this because they have to see me this way’,” she explained, encouraging them to redefine what is more impactful. “The point I’ve seen makes a big difference is when you sit and try to define what you have to do, whether it is work or home, define your expectations. It becomes lighter because then it’s your choice.”
The first Women’s Mental Health and Gender Equity in Business forum was held in 2023 during the Women Deliver Conference. It aims to explore how promoting gender equity intersects with creating supportive spaces for mental health and well-being.
According to Yannick Ntirushwa, Executive Director AMCHAM Rwanda (co-organizers of the event), part of his work in the chamber is to have an equal system that caters for women’s mental health, hence why Kate Spade NewYork was brought on board. Kate Spade New York’s work in Rwanda revolves around Mental Health.
The organisation commenced work in 2013 as an investor to Abahizi CBC – a Rwandan-owned women-led manufacturing partner for Kate Spade (American Fashion Designer). For the last 11 years, the association has produced 279,000 handbags that they export to the Global market in the US, UK and Japan.
Speaking to SENS, Taryn Bird, Executive Director Social Impact Kate Spade, said it’s through working with Abahizi CBC that they saw first-hand the importance of integrating vocational training alongside access to mental wellness.
“Georgetown University studied this work and came up with a report in 2017, finding that women who worked at Abahizi had higher levels of empowerment compared to the control group which only had access to vocational training. A very typical workforce.” Taryn said, noting that women who work at Abahizi have access to vocational training, mental health support, and financial literacy, among others.
Additionally, upon losing its founder Katherine Noel Valentine Brosnahan Spade, popularly known as Kate Spade to depressive suicide in 2018, the brand committed to support mental health initiatives in the US.
“We made a million-dollar commitment to mental health insurance in the United States. And since that point in time, we’ve reached 120,000 million women and girls providing access to culturally competent mental health resources around the world. In addition, we have worked with over 25 non-profit groups,” remarked Taryn, with pride during her presentation at the forum.
Asked why they selected Rwanda as their first location for the ‘on purpose program’, Taryn highlighted the country’s high artisan skill set, the pro-women government and the Trade policies as forces that compelled their investment rationale. On why the focus is on women’s mental health and not men’s, she conceded that “Mental health is a human right for everyone regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or race.”
Nevertheless, based on women’s life experiences, they are twice as likely to encounter traumatic events compared to their male counterparts, hence being a priority. “Women live with 50% more levels of anxiety, depression and PTSD(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder),” she noted.
This year’s forum consisted of two panels where panellists underscored the contrast between Gender Equality and Gender Equity, ongoing challenges of women entrepreneurs, common mental health issues of women in business as well as community engagement strategies.
In addition, the role of allyship, most importantly from male counterparts in achieving the aforementioned aspects was not overlooked.
Speaking on the first panel, Michelle Umurungi, Deputy Managing Director East Africa, Norrsken House Kigali, simplified Gender Equality as being invited to a party and Gender Equity as being invited to the same party and offered a plate that caters for all your needs.
“While you have access to the party (Equality), that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to enjoy the program (Equity). Equality is what a lot of people in different places know about, however, Equity goes as far as understanding and celebrating ‘difference’,” she explained.
When it came to Women’s Mental Health in workplaces, Tramaine EL-Amin, Vice President of Mental Health First Aid USA and National Council for Mental Wellbeing highlighted that; Mental Well-being encompasses physical health, mental health, financial health and all dimensions of wellness that exist.
“When we talk about mental health for a woman, it is not just about that individual. It is about all the circles to which that woman is connected,” she explained.
Claudine Umulisa, the Acting MD & Chief Operating Officer, Abahizi CBC, on the other hand, regarding her organization, underscored stigma as the main hindrance to women’s mental well-being.
She explained that although they provide in-house counselling programs, just a handful of their employees (90% women, and 88% mothers) sign up for the services in fear of being judged by their peers as having marital issues. To eradicate the challenge, Umulisa stated that they introduced couples therapy, where women can go for counselling with their husbands.
Vanessa Zuba, a Gender Equity Advocate, Radio Host and Social influencer further echoed society and social pressures as fountainheads hindering women’s mental well-being. Sharing from personal experience, Zuba recounted when she was 15 years old and signed up for a tech competition which was 95% male-dominated. Her idea was frowned upon, nevertheless, it didn’t stop her–as at that time, she ‘blamed’ age for the bad reception.
Having stood out in the competition and been selected to represent Rwanda at a global level, she henceforth secured various opportunities, among which included studying in the US.
While there, Zuba became passionate about Mental Health and started writing about it. This earned her a lot of back reaction, primarily from men regarding it as being overly ‘emotional’– women’s trait. She would later receive a lot of multiple ‘don’t you have a husband’ questions whenever she entered male-dominated spaces, a feat she said many young women face after school.
“Parents never ask boys when they are to get married. But once a girl is done with their degree, there’s always a ‘what next’ on their lips,” she remarked. On how she handles such cases, Zuba elucidated: “One, I had to learn how to be very empathetic with myself and to know that it’s not my fault that someone is not educated in terms of how they can address me and hold a space in different calibres”.
“Secondly, I learned to extend grace to them and understand that they don’t know any better. Given the cultural context of many African men, it’s what they have grown up seeing, being raised around–whether in the boardroom, in their families, it’s what they see”.
Ultimately, on a cultural context, Isabelle Masozera, Head of Masozera Wellness Foundation, interjected that as much as mental health is addressed in workspaces, it’s equally important to have the same conversation in homes, families and societies for the topic to be ‘normalised’.
“It should start with us and then spread to the people around us. If you’re a leader and state in the boardroom that you go for counselling, people who look up to you will follow suit,” she noted.
Kyle John Schofield, Co-founder & Managing Director QA Venue Solutions, who happened to be the only gentleman amongst panellists, shared the pivotal role male allyships play in Gender Equity. Born and raised in Swaziland, present-day Eswatini, Schofield says he was only introduced to human differences–race, gender and sex when he moved to South Africa.
To him, this was a cultural shock that he never wanted to see in his home or elsewhere, thus looking at everyone as equal, but having extra ‘respect’ for women and their contribution to social development.
“If I ever come across a CV with ‘I was a mother for 4 years’, I would definitely hire that woman,” he remarked after emotionally sharing how his wife–a mother of 3 looked after them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The forum was crowned with a movie screening at Canal Olympia on 2nd August 2024. Titled ‘Fight Like a Girl’, the movie starred renowned South African actress Ama Qamata, well known for her role in Blood and Water, Rwandan comedian Arthur Nkusi, poet Malaika Uwamahoro, Jones Kennedy Mazimpaka and Ruth Bahali.
The movie portrays the resilience of African women amidst daily hardships. After being ruthlessly separated from her parents, Sifa(Ama Qamata) is forced to work in an illegal mineral mine. She later escapes and finds herself on the streets of Goma, striving to make ends meet.
Luckily, she can land a job as a hawker for local fish (sambaza) on the streets. Like any other job, she encountered challenges, among which were low sales and shoplifting which forced her into debt with her employer, Abdul.
To clear her arrears, Sifa joins a female boxing club at the request of Coach Bagunda, the local trainer who had earlier received news about her terribly punching a guy who assaulted her on the street. Although her first fight earned her a black eye, the paycheck motivated her to keep fighting.
She eventually added boxing to her side hustles saying she was not yet Muhammed Ali. The movie ends with her battling one of the finest female boxers in Congo–Miki Ndaya, after her colleague Aisha, who was slated for the fight injured her hand in a scuffle ahead of the tournament.
Fight Like a Girl was nominated for the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in 2024, in addition to other nominations like, Best Production Design, Best Supporting Actor, Best Soundtrack, Best Supporting Actress and Best Leading Actress.
