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Article: In Africa, women are vanguard of progress: In Rwanda, Liberia, Mozambique and elsewhere, `we are having a revolution,' says one official.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- August 9, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Chicago Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Laurie Goering
Aug. 9--KIGALI, Rwanda -- Sweden and Norway once claimed the world's highest percentage of female lawmakers. Now that distinction belongs to an African nation: Rwanda. Women in the tiny, land-locked country still recovering from a 1994 genocide hold 48 percent of the country's legislative seats. A woman heads the Supreme Court and half of the country's judges are women, as are half of its college graduates.
That, little by little, is bringing real change. Women and girls, who used to have no inheritance rights, now inherit equally with men. Rape, once rarely prosecuted, is commonly punished with sentences of up to 15 years in ...