Involving women in decision-making could put an end to sexual violence in East DRC

The raping of girls and women is a matter of real concern in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Incidences of sexual violence in the East, noticeably in South Kivu, are reported every day. Just two weeks ago, 3 women were raped in Kisharo (North Kivu) by soldiers from the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR). We can see that every time there are clashes between government troops and rebel troops, (MAYI MAYI, FDLR), it is primarily women who are targeted. We wonder why it is always the women.

What is even more serious is that our leaders show no political will to put a stop to these atrocities.

What could put an end to these war crimes?
I believe the proposal made by Helen Clark, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) might be one path towards a solution which could help to eradicate this form of sexual violence. On her recent visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Helen Clark said: “The involvement of more women in the administration of public affairs could help to put an end to sexual violence in the East.”

Also according to Ms Clark, “Strengthening the status of women and promoting the participation of women in the electoral process and the administration of public affairs could have a positive impact on the eradication of sexual violence.” This pronouncement comes at exactly the right time, just as the DRC is getting ready for local elections. In the DRC, as in South Kivu, women are under-represented in decision-making bodies even though they make up almost half (49.4%) of the population in this province.

The provincial government (South Kivu) consists of 12 members, only 3 of whom are women; the national parliament consists of 32 representatives from South Kivu, only one of whom is a woman. In the provincial parliament there are 36 members, 3 of whom are women. In addition to these two institutions (Parliament and Government) South Kivu has local authorities, local councils, cities, neighborhoods, districts and chieferies which are practically all run by men. Note: I can’t find any other word for Chefferies, and most of the articles on the internet actually use the French word Chefferies – it’s to do with the local tribal leadership.

What is the root cause of this marginalization of women in politics?
The main causes of this marginalization are tradition and the low level of women’s education. According to custom, a woman cannot lead a man because the woman is always inferior to the man, and must submit to him at any cost. If you look at the way in which elections are organized here in the Congo, it is always the men who get themselves elected; to change this situation the policy of setting quotas which so far has been applied in Rwanda, Burundi and recently Egypt must also be applied in the Congo to allow many more women access to the decision-making bodies. I believe that if there were many women in parliament, laws supporting women’s rights would be passed without any major obstruction. I also believe that if women were represented in all the decision-making bodies then no-one who committed an act of sexual violence would go unpunished.