CEDAW/C/SR.37. English Page 4 11. Ms. OESER endorsed the statement ma:le by Mr. Nordenfelt at the previous meeting and requested that it should be recorded in the summary record that, w~n representatives of States parties participated in the deliberations of the Committee and replied to questions relating to the reports of their respective countries,. they were not speaking in a personal capacity but representing the Government of a State. 12. Mrs. REBONG said that Ambassador Moreno Salcedo had submitted the report as the representative of the Philippines. He had replied to some of the questions as the representative of his country and had expressed some views in a personal capacity. Initial report of Rwanda (CEDAW/C/5/Add.13) 13. Ms. BAZIYAKA (Rwarxia) said that the initial report of Rwanda might appear too concise and even incaiplete, but that was because it had been prepared long before receipt of the general guidelines on the form and contents of the reports of States parties. The Government of Rwanda had adopted no legal or other measure in that field since it had signed and ratified the Convention, because measures had already been adopted in order to ensure women's full integration in the country's develq:,ment and the expansion of their personality through access to education and to professional, social, economic an:i political responsibilities. 14. In Rwan:iese socie~y, women had always played an important role in ensuring the survival of their family, and had been respected as wives and mothers. However, as occurred in other countries, women were at times victims of stereotypes and prejudices which placed them in an inferior position canpared with men. In order to understand that situation better, it should be recalled that the great majority of the people of Rwanda were passing through a critical period with regard to housing, food and health, and were more concerned with the struggle to survive than with their legal status, Rwandese women had a heavy responsibility for ensuring the survival of their family and the groups to which they belonged, and only a small minority enjoyed relative economic irxiepen:ience and could become aware of women• s inferior status. That highlighted the great importance of improving living conditions so that women could be receptive to ideas of equality with men, it was therefore essential to integrate women in national develqJment. The second fiveyear plan for economic, social and cultural development, covering the period 19821986, was very explicit in that regard. According to the 1978 population census: the economically active female population was the same size as the male (94.3 per cent, compared with 94. 7 per cent) 1 female illiteracy was 75 per cent, canpared with male illiteracy of only 50 per cent; women workers with a secondary education constituted only 20 per cent of the total number of working women, and the fiyure fell to 13 per cent in the case of women with a higher education, 70 per cent of working women cared for the family and helped the husband in his work without receiving remuneration and, consequently, worked in a situation of dependence. The Rwandese Government had therefore provided, in the third five-year development plan, for the integration of women through the irrprovement of traininy an:i conditions of employment, the provision of equal opportunities and the intensification of measures to enhance the role of women in development. 15. Rwanda had been the first country in black Africa to have signed the / ...