2.3.3 Women entrepreneurship in
Rwanda
Rwanda is a world leader in promoting gender equality. In
just over a decade reforms in the political and legislative arena have placed
women's empowerment at the forefront of government's priorities and granted
women in Rwanda sweeping rights. In the aftermath of the genocide, they were
seen as key to the country's recovery and development (IFC 2008).
Women's labor force participation is significant,
with participation rates at a high 79.5 percent, and over 50 percent
of the labor force.7 Rwandan women head 42 percent of all enterprises. They
also comprise 58 percent of enterprises in the informal sector, which accounts
for 30 percent of GDP, and they make a significant contribution to the
country's economy through their business activities, which are well distributed
across sectors (IFC 2008).
According a to the same report, A 2002 study of women
entrepreneurs found that the majority are engaged in the retail sector (82 per
cent), with the rest focusing on services (16 to 17 percent) and manufacturing
(1 to 2 percent). Many of their businesses are successful and large, and as
some of the case studies in this report illustrate, Rwandan women are
increasingly branching out to nontraditional sectors such as Information and
Communications Technology (ICTs).
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