Microloan organization Vision Finance, which started a program in the Rwandan town of Masaka three years ago, says that while the majority of borrowers are female, "four out of five defaulters are men." Jeanine Mukandayisenga, one of the businesswomen in Masaka who benefited from microlending, tells the Post: "They say that women care more about the family, but I do not know if that is true...I think it has more to do with the self-control woman show in hard times. We know how to survive when men despair."

But women aren't just thriving as money managers in Rwanda; women hold 48% of seats in the Rwandan parliament, which, according to the WaPo, is the highest percentage in the world. And it's not like Rwanda is an anomaly. The World Bank says that "in India's great economic transformation of the past 15 years, states that have the highest percentage of women in the labor force have grown the fastest as well as had the largest reductions in poverty." One of the most encouraging aspects of female success in Rwanda is that women are being seen differently by the culture as a whole. "Today, woman are in business; before, if a woman had some money, she would have to give it to the man," Rwandan high schooler Eric Muhire says. "They could not compete against a man. But now, they are competing and doing better."

[Image via The MotherHood]

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