RDHS points to the need for increased efforts to fight gender based violence

The Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 2019-2020 in its section on spousal violence includes the following statement “Six percent of women who have ever been pregnant have experienced physical violence during pregnancy.” The statement appears short but its meaning delves into an issue that is real in our communities not only because it is raised in one of Rwanda’s most reliable surveys but also because there are testimonies of people’s personal experience with the vice.

Mukamusoni (name changed due to privacy) lives in Rutagara centre village, Rusera cell, Kabarondo Sector in Kayonza District. She experienced one of the most devastating forms of domestic violence.

 “We had a retail shop. But my husband never gave me the key of the shop. He never let me enter the shop. He would even spend night and days at the shop without coming home. And when I brought him food, he never took it. When I asked him the reason, he insulted me.” Said Mukamusoni.

 “I remember, one day he beat me up when I had a six-month pregnancy. Local authorities and police intervened and took me to a doctor. Luckily my life and the womb were not hurt. The child is now 16 years old.”

According to the Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey 37% of women and 30% men aged between 15-49 have ever experienced physical violence.  The same report revealed that there was an upward trend in cases of violence against women while it declined among men.

“The prevalence of spousal physical, sexual or emotional violence among women increased from 40% in 2014-15 to 46% in 2019-20. Over the same period, the prevalence among men declined slightly from 20% to 18%.”

Violence manifests itself in various forms including physical, emotional and financial all of which Mukamusoni experienced as her husband in addition to beating her, deprived her rights to family property and used family’s income wastefully.

“The hard life I was subjected to affected me significantly. My husband took away all the family belongings. He left me with all the children and at a time when I was pregnant. One of my children refused to go to school.” Mukamusoni recalled wiping drops of tears from her eyes.

“I struggled to feed the children as we had no farms. In the past we had money but were yet to own farms. I was so stressed that whenever a child committed a mistake, I felt angry to the extent where I wanted to end his life or mine.  This plunged me into a state of despair and as an orphan I had no one to share my experience with.”

Mukamusoni called for concerted efforts to end the vice which according to her can mainly be attributed to two things “Adultery and alcohol abuse are the leading causes of family break up.”

The Rwandan government as a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) adopted a number of institutional and policy measures that support these goals. Examples include the Constitution of the Republic of Rwanda; the Revised National Gender Policy 2020; Vision 2025; the National Strategy for Transformation (NST2); the 2nd National Action Plan on Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325. The Government has also put in place in legal instruments such the inheritance law, the family law and land law that give women equal rights to inherit property and own 50 percent of the property owned between married couples.