In the past girls were left out of the national development agenda but over the last few years, the government has moved to promote and integrate women into development programs - a move that has started paying off.
"Now, if you look at different national programs like girinka and ubudehe , most beneficiaries are women," said Aloysea Inyumba, the Minister of Gender and Family Promotion.
Yet according to the minister, a lot still remains to be done to fully empower women to play their fundamental role in community development.
Inyumba says woman empowerment should start at family level because recent experience has shown that the family is "vital element" in national development.
The minister made the remarks during a media briefing about on-going activities to mark this year's International Women's Day.
Under the theme "Empower women and girls to sustain families," the month-long activities commenced on March 8.
The minister said that activities will focus on promoting welfare in families since it has becoming increasingly clearer that the challenges facing individuals in Rwanda today are best dealt with at family level.
"When you look at Rwandan society, a single family is [the basic unit] for national development," Inyumba said. The minister added that women need more attention because they are the managers of families.
To achieve this, the minister observed, education of women is essential.
However, families have not been supportive of in the education of women - in some cases preventing them from pursuing careers of their choice.
Family pressure
Gloria Kamanzi Uwizera, a 30-year woman, is one of the young women who faced with family pressure before she stood her ground to pursue her dream.
She is now one of the few women entrepreneurs and owns Glo Reations, an art and fashion business.
"When I decided to engage in painting textile, most of my family members discouraged and abandoned me. No one could understand what I was doing and they were pushing me to give up and find for me another job," she recalled.
She shared her inspirational story with young women in Kinyinya sector on March 8 during celebrations to mark the International Women's Day.
"We are born with different talents and we are the ones to discern them," she told fellow women. "If you believe that you can do something, be confident and do it."
She said her passion is in art and fashion, a business that she believes can be expanded to neighboring markets in the region.
"Although I had been interested in drawing since my early age, my passion for artwork was greatly inspired by the success stories of those who have made it in this profession," Uwizera said.
Her business that starting with working capital of Frw 30,000, now rakes in Frw 10,000,000 per annum.
"What I like most is being independent, discovering my skills and abilities and this enables me to know what I can offer. Since I ventured into business, I gained so much confidence and I have even become more passionate about my work," Uwizera added.
For Minister Inyumba, the month-long activities are meant to deal with such family pressure that that hamper women and girls from emancipation. Some home-grown solutions like Akagoroba k'ababyeyi (mothers' evening) will be used by parents to get together and discuss issues of concern at family level, she added.
"We hope that this will help in changing people's mindsets. Once this would be achieved, we are quite sure to get sustainable progress in development since all people will be freely reacting and translate their ideas into actions," she noted.
During the month, focus will be on areas such as promoting women's health and fighting malnutrition, economic empowerment of women, promoting girls' education and good governance.
Gloria Kamanzi Uwizera: “If you believe that you can do something, be confident and do it.” (photo Eric Didier Karinganire)