ABSTRACT
During the post-genocide transition, Rwandan women have embarked on some of their most critical endeavours of shaping gender politics in their country. Within a short period after the genocide had ceased in July 1994, the Fourth World Women's Conference took place in China from 4 to 15 September 1995. The genocide strongly casting its shadow over their political activism, the Rwandan delegation incorporated the difficulties they were facing at home into their international agenda. The law initially created four categories into which people who committed genocide-related crimes were divided. In post-genocide Rwanda, a further challenge to gender relations arose due to the high competition for resources between survivors, the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and returning refugees. The genocide provided them with a new impetus to organize themselves again and to act in women's interests. They made their presence in politics felt, thereby inhabiting a space that is most critical to women's political effectiveness.
