Kigali 24-27 of September 2018
I was privileged to be invited as a gender equality resource person to the regional meeting in Kigali with Sida and Swedish embassy gender focal points for the African region. Positive energy and recognition of the important individual, team and partner experiences were shared! The organization of the Rwandan gender-based violence centre impressed while difficult topics such as religion, extremism and gender led to discussions and reflections stretching beyond the meeting room.
Sharing and reflecting upon male engagement and masculinities, including how also women participate in the construction of masculinities, go straight to the core issues of gender equality. I look forward to more dialogue on masculinity (and femininity) and the norms and beliefs, which reproduce the idea of women as subordinate.
An evening presentation on sexual harassment at the National Library organized by Kvinna till Kvinna and the Swedish Embassy brought the attention to the important role of women and girl’s right defenders such as Linnea Claesson “@LinneaClaesson” and Dominique Longa
“Imagine We Rwanda @ImagineIWR”, bravely reaching out while breaking taboos and giving voices to the unspoken.
With words like: “We can be the beginning and the end of our own story” Longa inspired the room. While Linnea reminded us that while it is ok to be angry we need to be “sneaky” and ask engaging questions: “How would you react if someone sent dickpics to your daughter?”
Author: Anja Taarup Nordlund, NCG’s senior Gender Equality and Equal Opportunity Expert
Author:
Anja Nordlund,
NCG’s senior Gender Equality and Equal Opportunity Expert
