Rwanda unveils gender-balanced cabinet with 50 percent women

Almost two thirds of the East African nation MPs are female

Rwanda Foreign Affairs Minister, Louise Mushikiwabo is the newly appointed head of the International Organisation of la Francophonie (OFI) (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images (AFP/Getty Images)

Rwanda has become the second African nation in a week to announce a gender-balanced Cabinet with 50 per cent of its members women.

The east African nation announced that women now make up half of the slimmed-down, 26-seat Cabinet.

It joins a handful of countries, mostly European, where women make up 50 percent or more of ministerial positions, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union and United Nations (UN) Women.

The country has received international recognition for female representation in government, with women making up 61 percent of parliament members.

Ethiopia's move this week was the latest in a series of dramatic political and economic reforms under prime minister Abiy Ahmed, who took office in April.

Mr Abiy reportedly told politicians that women are less corrupt than men.

"A higher number of women in decision-making roles have led to a decrease in gender discrimination and gender-based crimes," Rwanda's President Paul Kagame said on Friday in remarks to judicial officials.

That does not mean men should not be involved, the president said.

"But you must play an important role in upholding the rights of women," he added.

Press Association