CEDAW /C/S R .3 7 English Page 8 (Ms. Bernard) was any entity responsible for defending women's rights and whether there were women's organizations designed to nobilize women or encourage them to assert those rights. Sle would also be grateful for information concerning whether wives had the right to have their husbands pay for their maintenance and that of their children in the event of dissolution of a marriage. The representative of Rwanda had mentioned that there were provisions concerning maternity benefits and maternity leave. Sle would like to know whether women were also entitled to retirement pensions and what was the retirement age in the country. 26. It had been stated that the Q:>vernment of Rwanda offered facilities for women's education~ she would like to know what percentage of women made use of those facilities, especially in rural areas. She would also be interested in having the committee informed whether the principle of equal salary for equal work was actually being observed in practice. With regard to illegitimate children, she would like to know whether such cases occurred frequently in the country, whether the mothers were given resources to ensure the maintenance of their children and whether illegitimate children had the same rights as children of established marriages. Sle wished to know what measures had been taken to encourage women to hold management posts and what percentage of women occupied such posts in a,,anda. With respect to adultery, she had noted that the penalties for that crime were different for men and for women. She would be grateful for an explanation of why the term of imprisonment was longer for women than for men and why men but not women were offered the option of paying a fine instead of being imprisoned. The representative of Rwanda had partly answered that question in her statement by saying that the reason lay in the sociological importance of the family in R,/andese sac iety·, even so, however, it seemed that punishing women more severely than men was a mark of discrimination. 27. Ms. SALEMA thanked the representative of Rwanda for her excellent presentation. However, as had been pointed out, the report did not include the legislative or other measures which had been adopted to implement the convention\ measures relating to women's rights in matters of acquisition, change or retention of nationality·, education and illiteracy·, special problems of women in rural areas~ leyal capacity of women in civil matters~ and the rules governing marriage and family relations. Some of those aspects had been mentioned by the representative of a,,anda, but others needed further clarification. 28. With regard to the report itself, she would like to see more data relating to the Cbnstitution, the Penal Code, the labour Code and the rules relating to women's participation in the country's political life. Jlccording to the report, article 9 of the constitution stated that "all Rwandese citizens of full age who do not fall within any of the categories excluded by law shall have the right to vote in elections in the circumstances prescribed by law"~ she hoped that the committee could hear an explanation of what those excluded categories were. It was also stated that the National Ievolutionary l>bvement for D:?velopment was the only political organization in the country~ she wished to know how many women belonged to the movement and whether they were active in the political sphere. Sle would also be grateful for information concerning how women were represented in the National ~velopment council and in the Central committee of the Ievolutionary l>bvement and other political organs. She had heard that abortion was prohibited in I .. .