A few weeks have passed since the dress code controversy in Rwanda sparked a national debate. The discussion gained momentum, before gradually going quiet. Life seems to have moved on, but a loud kind of silence has since taken place.
The fact that the conversation ended without a clear conclusion is what makes it worth revisiting today. Rather than reopening the controversy, the idea is to reflect on what it revealed about our evolving society, and how to face questions of values, authority and public life.
A New Room for a National Debate
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this controversy was not only what was being debated, but where and by whom the debate was taking place.
Social media has become an increasingly important space for young Rwandans to express opinions, challenge ideas and engage with questions that were once discussed primarily within institutions, families or more private circles.
This is not necessarily a sign of growing division. It can also be a sign of a society becoming more vocal about itself. A connected generation is not simply consuming information differently. It is also developing its own way of participating in public life.
When young people begin to use the digital space to debate the rules and values of their society, we should wonder whether we are prepared to listen to what this new form of public expression tells us about the society we are becoming.
Because behind a dress lies a much broader question: how sustainable is the society that we’re handing over to the next generation?
The Talk Beyond the Dress
The legal framework itself is worth recalling. Article 143 of Rwanda’s Penal Code criminalises “any indecent act committed in public,” without precisely defining what constitutes indecent clothing. This room for interpretation therefore leaves significant discretion to those responsible for enforcing the law.
This is where the issue becomes interesting. A society can decide to uphold certain standards of behaviour. The real question is how it chooses to define, transmit and enforce them.
The initial discussion was about what clothing could be worn in public. Some young women then went on to raise concerns about harassment and sexual violence. For many, the connection seemed excessive. After all, no one was explicitly saying that women should dress a certain way to avoid provoking men.
Yet the reasoning behind it deserves to be understood. It rests on what can happen when a society gradually begins to associate the way a woman dresses with the way she can be treated. The various incidents, reported on social media, throughout testimonies around the controversy offer examples of this dynamic.
The viral video, posted on social media, reporting a young woman being arrested by the police because of her dress, while men around her appeared to cheer the scene, raised a question: When we take away freedom from one group of people in the name of a collective norm, what freedoms of behaviour might we unintentionally give to others?
Mores Hold When Adopted, Not Enforced
Preserving a culture can be an entirely legitimate objective. But that does not necessarily make it an argument from authority. There is a difference between teaching young people what their society values and asking them to conform to an implicit norm under the threat of sanction.
Rwandan youth are no longer simply the children to whom we are handing down a society. They are already the adults shaping it. They produce much of what we consume, run our businesses, and contribute to how Rwanda is perceived beyond our borders.
The question, therefore, may no longer be simply how to make a new generation respect old values, but how to give them enough understanding and responsibility to carry those values forward and help shape them for the world of tomorrow.
The experience of regulating nightlife offers another interesting example. A Cabinet resolution in August 2023 set fixed closing times for bars, nightclubs and similar venues, [2] in response to legitimate concerns around safety, noise and excessive alcohol consumption.
Some of the intended effects were indeed observed, others also emerged: part of nightlife did not stop, it simply moved elsewhere. Several business owners recorded higher alcohol sales during after-hours, suggesting that consumption had shifted rather than declined, migrating instead to private settings outside any regulated environment. It is then safe to assume that trying to reduce a behaviour in a given space does not necessarily work. At times, it simply makes it less visible, and harder to address.
This is a fundamental question in public policy: Does controlling a behaviour actually solve the problematic we set out to address?
In most cases, it simply changes form.
Risking a Hard-Won Reputation
This question becomes even more important when we look at Rwanda from the outside.
Our country has spent years building a particular reputation on the international stage: that of a safe, organised and modern country, capable of welcoming high-end travellers, investors, international conferences, artists and diaspora communities.
This reputation is regularly reflected in international rankings and indices, including the Women, Peace and Security Index [3] and the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report. [4] Rwanda is often recognised for its safety, particularly for women travelling alone. And on top of it, holds the world’s highest level of female parliamentary representation. [4] For many, Rwanda has therefore become a reference point for progress and gender equity.
This image is not simply a marketing asset. It is something that has been built over decades, and its value is social and economic.
For a traveller choosing a destination, safety is among the first factors considered. It is not limited to the risk of becoming a victim of crime. It also includes the freedom to move around, to go out, to dress as one chooses, and to know what to expect when interacting with authorities.
A video showing a woman being arrested by the police over what she is wearing may not reflect the everyday reality of Rwanda, however, for those discovering the country through their phones, it may become the image that shapes their perception of it.
We have already navigated several crises over how our country is perceived internationally: regional health issues and conflicts have repeatedly impacted our tourism and economy. In that context, why create new vulnerabilities ourselves that could feed a negative narrative about our country?
The Price of Openness
We want to attract more tourists, events, investment and international exchange. Above all, we want Rwanda to be perceived as an open, dynamic country looking towards the future.
That ambition, and the benefits that come with it, also bring the realities of globalisation. A society that opens itself up inevitably encounters different cultural references and different ways of living. That does not mean Rwanda should abandon its own: we have every right to define our own culture and our own values.
Indeed, Rwanda’s Minister of State for Youth and Arts, Sandrine Umutoni, took to social media to invite young Rwandans to question “who is shaping these trends in the first place, and why?” [5] Online, many turned the question back on her: the modesty code she defended has the same origin story. Pre-colonial Rwandan clothes covered far less skin before European missionaries made covering up a marker of respectability. [6]
Therefore, it is indeed interesting to ask where those values originally came from, how they have evolved, and who will shape them tomorrow. Rwandan culture has never been static. It has evolved through its encounters with colonialism, religion, the region’s history, migrations, and now, the digital world.
So what is the best way to prepare the youth for the responsibility of carrying its culture?
Should We Try New Tools?
Japan offers an interesting example of how generational tensions can become a tool for better policymaking.
In Yahaba, a small town in Iwate Prefecture, citizens took part in a process known as Future Design [7] . Some participants were asked to represent the current generation, while others were asked to imagine themselves as citizens living in 2060. The exercise was used to discuss long-term issues such as infrastructure and public services.
The shift in perspective changed the priorities expressed by participants. Those representing future generations placed greater emphasis on long-term investment and sustainability, while current-generation groups tended to focus more on immediate needs.
What started as an experiment was later incorporated into the municipality’s policymaking process, including through a dedicated Future Strategy Office, opened by the town’s mayor in 2019 [7] . The principle is simple but powerful: rather than trying to eliminate generational disagreement, create a space where different perspectives can contribute to a longer-term vision of society and efficient public policies.
Where This Leaves Us…
Rwanda has always decided for itself which values, laws and society it wants to build. It is precisely because our country claims that freedom that we should also ask how we prepare the next generation to exercise that same freedom when it takes over.
There is a cost to controlling youth more closely. The cost of losing individual autonomy and trust between generations, for an outcome that shifts behaviours rather than solving them.
How can we teach young people to make informed decisions or position our country in a global context, if we do not give them the tools to discern and decide for themselves today?
Our country has always refused to be infantilised by the rest of the world. Perhaps that is also the confidence we should pass on to our youth?
Sources
- Article 143, Rwanda’s Law No. 68/2018 (Penal Code); wording and lack of a defined dress code corroborated by legal analysis in The New Times.
- Cabinet resolution of 1 August 2023 and subsequent RDB regulations, setting closing times of 1am (weekdays) and 2am (weekends) for bars, nightclubs and similar venues; reported by allAfrica / The New Times and KT Press.
- Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, Women, Peace and Security Index.
- World Economic Forum, Global Gender Gap Report 2025 — Rwanda is the only Sub-Saharan economy with full parliamentary parity and holds the region’s lowest overall gender gap; parliamentary representation figure corroborated by UN Women.
- Sandrine Umutoni, Minister of State for Youth and Arts — remarks made in a social media post, reported by Igihe.
- Pre-colonial Rwandan dress (bark cloth / impuzu, animal hide / imyenda y’inkanda) and its gradual replacement by European fabrics and modesty norms during the colonial period — Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy, via Google Arts & Culture; the online rebuttal of the “foreign influence” framing is documented in African Feminism (opinion piece).
- Yahaba Town Future Design initiative — RIETI, Japan Policy Forum, and The Alternative, which confirms the mayor opened a “Future Strategy Office” (not “Division”) in 2019
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