Gender inequality is built on the premise that women have been marginalized in all aspects of life and this has resulted in poverty which is a function of human trafficking. The purpose of this study is to investigate the contribution of gender inequality to human trafficking in Rwanda. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted. The target population of the study comprised of 341 respondents and the sample size was 184 respondents. Among those who were issued a questionnaire only 154 responded. Stratified sampling technique and simple random sampling were used to obtain a representative sample.

1. 70 |  Sexuality, Gender Policy. 2020;3:70–84.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/sgp2
DOI: 10.1002/sgp2.12018
O R I G I N A L A R T I C L E
Gender inequality as the determinant of human
trafficking in Rwanda
John Gacinya
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creat​ive Commo​ns Attri​butio​n-NonCo​mmercial License, which permits use, distribution
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
© 2020 The Authors. Sexuality, Gender Policy published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Policy Studies Organization
School of Education, Mount Kenya
University, Kigali, Rwanda
Correspondence
John Gacinya, School of Education, Mount
Kenya University, Kigali, Rwanda.
Email: gacinyaj@yahoo.com
Abstract
Gender inequality is built on the premise that women have
been marginalized in all aspects of life and this has resulted
in poverty which is a function of human trafficking. The pur-
pose of this study is to investigate the contribution of gender
inequality to human trafficking in Rwanda. Quantitative and
qualitative approaches were adopted. The target population of
the study comprised of 341 respondents and the sample size
was 184 respondents. Among those who were issued a ques-
tionnaire only 154 responded. Stratified sampling technique
and simple random sampling were used to obtain a representa-
tive sample. A questionnaire was used to collect the primary
data. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version
21.0 for windows was applied to analyze the quantitative data.
The findings indicated that R = 0.50 and R2
= 0.30 which is a
strong relationship between the independent variables and the
dependent variable. The significance of the F-statistic is 0.000
which is less than 0.05. This implies that null hypothesis is re-
jected and conclude that there is a relationship between gender
inequality and human trafficking. The proposed model shows
that gender inequality (Beta = 0.539) was the most important
in influencing human trafficking and the Y intercept is 0.969,
Thus, the model is written as, Y = 0.969 + 0.539X. The study
concludes that human trafficking in Rwanda is a result of so-
cioeconomic marginalization. To overcome gender inequality
and, therefore, human trafficking the government of Rwanda

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1 | INTRODUCTION
D’Cunha (2002) expresses gender as different societal roles, qualities, characteristics, and behavior
that society considers suitable for men and women, and these differ within cultures. Most societies
tend to classify women as wives, mothers and beneficiaries, and men as producers, bread winners,
and public figures. This categorization of men and women is socially attributed to their domestic and
productive sphere roles and the categorization offers relative status and position between men and
women, with women more underprivileged in most circumstances.
Again, D’Cunha (2002) finds that women are less valued because of their social roles. This is
mainly observed in ownership and control over resources such as land and income, but it can as well
be seen in nonmaterial resources such as time and political participation. As an example women ex-
clusive biological roles of reproduction, pregnancy, breast feeding, and child care reduce the time they
have for paid employment. It therefore, means women are mostly dependent on their husbands during
these biological responsibilities. It also implies that death of the spouse, disability, unemployment,
or withdrawal of support on the part of the husband renders women susceptible to human trafficking.
Moreover, Barner (2014) sees human trafficking comprising of acts, means, and purpose. Acts are
the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, receipt of persons trafficked. Means are methods
through which victims of human trafficking are obtained and these are; threats of use of force such as
coercion, abduction, fraud, abuse of power, abuse of position of vulnerability. Means also encompass,
deception, giving, receiving of payments, and benefits to achieve the consent of a person. Purpose
implies various ways in which victims are used or exploited, which include prostitution, forced labor,
and sexual exploitation, slavery, servitude and the removal of organs.
There is consensus on what constitutes gender inequality and these are used to measure gender
inequality across countries. Among the criteria used to measure gender inequality is gender identity
by which boys and girls understand their gender roles through socialization and education. There is
political participation which is measured by share of women in parliament. Economic representation
indicated by technical, professional, administrative and management positions as well as material
resources such as access to land, housing, and credit. There are also social resources which measure
access to health and education as well as men and women share in labor participation (Ferrant, 2017).
About 800,000 women across international borders for sexual exploitation. Fifty-four percent 54%
are destined to Europe and Central Asia, 7% to the Americas, 25% to South East Asia, and 14% reach
Middle East and Africa. Most of these suffer sexual exploitation and hard labor (Park Cara, 2014).
Several factors combined can bring about sex trafficking, among them is feminization of poverty,
lack of socioeconomic opportunities, and this kind of situation is an ideal condition for the cunning
traffickers to deceive girls and young women who live in economically poor countries desperately in
need of employment (Rosario, 2013).
According to Msuya (2017), cultural practices are responsible for human trafficking in African com-
munities. Women have not been allowed to own property and further their education in some communities,
needs to encourage women do the nontraditional vocations
which are mostly in off farm works and joining government
decision-making positions.
K E Y W O R D S
Cultural practices, Economic Dependence, Economic
marginalization, Otherness, Patriarchal families

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and in this sense women are marginalized to the extent that they fall victims of human trafficking. In the
West African countries of Ghana, Benin, Togo, and south-western Nigeria. In these countries, women and
young girls of the Ewe ethnic group are prone to exploitation. Young girls -the “Trokotsi” are forced to
become slaves to the gods in the shrines. In essence the girls serve as laborers and offer sex to the priests
who serve the gods. It is a religious custom that once a family commits a felony, the same family has to
send a virgin daughter of about 15 years to the shrine to serve as a slave to the gods. These girls sent can
serve the gods for the rest of their lives and if they die, they are replaced from the same family. The priests
have full ownership of the slave. They can labor, provide sex, and can be beaten if they intend to escape.
Another cultural practice that marginalizes women in Niger Republic is the “Wahaya” culture or
the slave wife. A “Wahaya” is the fifth wife married after the four wives accepted Qur'an. The fifth
wife becomes a slave to the other wives and can remain so once the parents were also taken as slaves.
The slave wife does domestic work like cooking, cleaning, taking care of children, and livestock. Rich
men can afford up to 10 Wahayas (Msuya, 2017).
Further, abuse of women is realized among the Xhosa tribe of South Africa. “Ukuthwala” is a kind
of forced marriage practiced to compel a girl to accept marriage. It is equivalent to the kidnapping
of girls for marriage. A man intending to marry persuades his friends and peers to force a girl for
marriage. The girl can be picked on her way by these peers and raped by a man intending to marry.
This can prompt for negotiations with the girl's family since raping carries stigma. The girl's family is
forced to submit the proposed marriage as the family may not have any other option (Msuya, 2017).
A similar forced marriage also exists among the Chagga and Nyamwezi of Tanzania. A girl who may
be an adolescent can be abducted by men and taken to the home of a man wishing to marry her. She can
then be forced have sex with abductee. Girls are apparently given medicines or brew to induce compli-
ance. A girl normally kidnapped and raped and cannot, therefore, refuse marriage as she would then be
disapproved by her own family as she cannot be married to another person. Evidently these practices con-
tradict the fundamental human rights and fall in the right definition of human trafficking (Msuya, 2017).
Msuya (2017) indicates that even country legislation is to blame for condoning inequalities that be
fall women. In Tanzania, the law of inheritance is the customary law and contests women inheritance
of property upon the death of their husbands. More to that the Indian law of 1865 offers that one-third
of the property should pass to the widow and two thirds to the children upon the death of the husband.
If widow has no children, then she is entitled to half of the estate and the other half to go to the de-
ceased's parents or other blood relatives. In this sense wives are marginalized to the extent that they
become vulnerable to human trafficking once poor and dependent on their husbands.
Minderoo Foundation (2018) underscores the fact that gender exploitation is unlawful in China, but
still ancient gender imbalance practices exist. Women have been marginalized in terms of economic
wellbeing and this is a precursor to human trafficking. Most women in China are discriminated in
terms of employment. As an example, Chinese women make up 45% of the labor force, yet on average
a Chinese woman earn 74% less that of a man's salary. Women have difficulties in obtaining jobs even
when they have the same skills like those of men. It is difficult for a woman to find a job even when
their skills equal their male counterparts because of the cultural bias of hiring females (Minderoo
Foundation, 2018). This stems from ancient Confucian values that favored males to females in many
aspects of life, well indicated by the way family names are passed on according to the male ancestry.
Additionally, Private sector which rose after the socioeconomic transformations in China is hesitant
to hire women as the law requires them to receive benefits that make companies spent more maternity
leave, childcare benefits leave alone the fact that women jobs are interrupted by child bearing. It is at this
that women may be forced to sign contracts that they will not be pregnant during their tenure of work
(Minderoo Foundation, 2018). Families may encourage their daughters to migrate since staying at home
may prove a financial burden migrating from home increases women vulnerability to human trafficking.

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O’brien (2008) is of the view that half of the people who migrate around the world are women
and they are the most disadvantaged migrants when it comes employment. Women are discriminated
when hiring employees, they are overworked, paid low salaries, and first laid off. They are left impov-
erished, vulnerable to sexual exploitation in sex tourism industry.
Tuttle (2017) recognizes the issue of “Otherness” that contributes to human trafficking. The issue
of otherness implies “those who do not belong to you” and promotes a distinction between self and
others. It is in this regard that females perceive themselves different from males or females align them-
selves with females and males likewise because they are similar and distance themselves from others
they are dissimilar. Groups that are not similar do manifest themselves by race, gender, ethnicity, class,
and geography and these differences attract exploitation. Related to human trafficking, the subject
of “othering” works to explain the exploitation of people who are susceptible to human trafficking
based on their gender. Disregarding socioeconomic development for women encourages exploitation
of women and girls by men, in most cases through sex trafficking. As an example, men from devel-
oped countries have been with the urge to exploit women from developing nations.
In the traditional Africa society, women have been looked on as inferior. Men have dominated all
aspects of life-politics, economics, and business and have held few posts in the governments leave alone
the fact that higher education for a girl child is a recent phenomenon. There has been therefore practices
of gender based violence, domestic violence, and other outdated traditional values that respect social and
cultural values such as early forced marriage by parents which violate fundamental rights of the female
sex at most times resulting in divorce and subsequent vulnerability of the wives (Fabu, 2006).
Weatherburn (2015) notes that human trafficking is a result of gender inequality. Gender inequality
occurs because of lack of employment opportunities coupled with discrimination and lack of access to
education and where such vulnerabilities exist, cultural subordination of women prevails. Women in
Central and Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa societies may not therefore be attracted by the economic
development of the West, but need for freedom from domestic violence and a strong male dominance.
Wester (2013) highlights that in Sub-Saharan Africa, 80% of the people who fall below the poverty line
are women. Women political representation is so low in Sub –Saharan. Gender inequality is realized where
women have 6% in the parliament, 10% in local administration, and 2% in the cabinet ministers. To make mat-
ters worse, governments are poor, weak, and male dominated with difficulties to deal with violations of wom-
en's human rights such as human trafficking. More women do not have economic rights on land. For example,
women work force on agriculture is about 80% and women produce 80% of food yet they own 7% of land.
Two types of human trafficking found on a large scale in Democratic republic of Congo are sex and
labor trafficking. On sex trafficking women and girls are forcefully drawn from the rural and taken
mining centers on the grounds that they would be offered financial support only to be sold as sex ob-
jects. There are lots of informal campsites in the mining areas where women are taken for prostitution
in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The Batwa, or pygmy ethnic group does forced labor in
agriculture and mining areas of the Congo (Haider, 2017).
Warpinski (2013) offers a vivid example of women marginalization in the Democratic Republic of
Congo where many prostitutes are found around mining areas some of who are forcefully conscripted
in the armed forces. It is common to find that soldiers who hold women and girls at gun point during
raids and force them to be their wives. Women are kept and controlled by threats of use of force to
submit exploitation through sex and labor.
The organization for security and cooperation of Europe (1999) is of the view that women have been
excessively underprivileged in the area of socioeconomic development in the former soviet states and this is
whywomenhaveexperiencedhigherlevelsofunemployment,marginalizedinwagepayments,discriminated
in recruitment, employment, promotion, and retention. In this respect the Western Europe has continued to
be destinations for trafficked women and girls from former soviet states, Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

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There is also widespread evidence of cross border trafficking to Kenya coastal towns for female victims
of human trafficking from East African countries of Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Somali, Kenya,
and Rwanda (International Office for Migration, 2018). Also internal trafficking within the same Eastern
African countries of Burundi, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda is taking place (Bamuturaki, 2013).
Many countries have not succeeded in the fight against human trafficking as a result of varied chal-
lenges in legislation, for without proper legislation even reliable data on human trafficking becomes
unattainable (Isaboke Gacinya, 2017). Much attention has been on victims of trafficking than traf-
fickers themselves (Laczko Gozdziak, 2005).
In the current period people are free to move around the world because of globalization as the case
is with east African countries. Communication and access to information has become east through the
internet. These have been good because people are able to inform where opportunities exist, the bad
side is that people move to places that are un familiar and are trapped by human traffickers. Similarly,
the internet has been used to lure un suspecting victims to human trafficking and lack of capacity in
terms of personnel who still mistake human trafficking to mean prostitution and smuggling aggravates
the issue of fighting human trafficking (Asiimwe, 2014).
2 | RESEARCH PROBLEM
In Sub-Saharan Africa, women have been looked on as inferior. Men have dominated all aspects of
life-politics, economics, and business and have held few posts in the governments leave alone the fact
that higher education for a girl child is a recent phenomenon (Mutume, 2005). The poverty exhibited by
women is responsible for human trafficking suffered by 80% of women who fall below the poverty line.
Women are highly controlled where as men have power and strength. Cultural and social dictates
are that male children are more favored to go to school than females. Thus, there are great discrepan-
cies between the number of males and females who have education (Sultana, 2012). Less than 33% of
girls in sub-Saharan Africa are registered in secondary school. About 15 million children in West and
central Africa are out of school and this perpetuates poverty which drives girls into early forced mar-
riage and other human rights violation that include human trafficking (Natacha, Petroni, Steinhas,
Stoebenau, 2017).
Similarly, men in Rwanda have majority power and control over families. Gender based violence that
includes human trafficking committed against women has been one of the ways men understand their gen-
der superiority, as Rwandan community still harbor patriarchal tendencies (Gender equality strategy, 2019).
Significant strides have been made along closing the gender inequality gap in Rwanda such as im-
proving women access to finance, land ownership, securing employment in private and public offices
and increase in the number of women in science education which was originally a monopoly for men.
But, there are still obstacles to overcome in as far as gender equality is concerned. This is so because
the community originally embraced patriarchal beliefs. Most of the programs need to reach the lowest
segments of the Rwandan community (National strategy to fight gender based violence, 2011).
Statistics indicate that 65% of women are literate as compared 72% for men in Rwanda. More so
women experience higher rates of unemployment. Unemployment rate for women is at 17.5% for
women as compared to 16.1% for men (United Nations development program, 2019). Men still dom-
inate women because they have in the labor force as they have capital and skills to engage in produc-
tive ventures as opposed to women (Bizimungu, 2019). These equality imbalance in gender have an
indirect influence on human trafficking.
It is against this background that the author carried on the investigation to establish the nexus be-
tween gender inequality and human trafficking in Rwanda.

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3 | RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
To examine the contribution of gender inequality to human trafficking in Rwanda.
4 | THEORETICAL FRAME WORK
One important theory that explains why women commit crimes is the “Economic marginalization theory.”
Women have lagged behind in politics and socioeconomic development. There are few decision-making
positions women hold in the governments. Women education is a recent occurrence. In the labor market
women have been discriminated owing to biological responsibilities of child bearing. This kind of condi-
tion has resulted in large numbers of women being unemployed and low salaried and in most cases being
employed in less secure jobs or merely domestic work (Stewart, 2018). Being poor and under employed,
sometimes with large numbers of females headed households and large number of children women have
little to provide for their dependents, thus far they commit crimes, including human trafficking.
For the purpose of this study, economic marginalization theory helped to explain gender inequality
in that women have been marginalized in terms of unemployment, poorly paid with low purchasing
power and low household income and these have perpetuated poverty among women and compelling
women to migrate to countries of opportunity and in the end trafficked (Santos, 2010).
5 | CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK

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6 | LITERATURE REVIEW
United Nations Conference on Women Socio-Economic Development (2003) highlights that women
are oppressed and discriminated in most communities of the world and men superiority still prevails.
This has led to worldwide poverty among women and consequent increase of crimes committed for
women such as sexual and labor exploitation. This situation is worsened by the imbalance in the num-
ber of men compared to women in the labor market and few women in the labor market means higher
rates of unemployment for women and fewer possibilities for a career and low salaries.
Avert (2017) asserts that gender inequality results in Sub-Saharan Africa exhibit features of fami-
lies that are male dominated and these communities women are highly controlled, whereas men have
strength and power. Male children are favored much more than female children and more boys go to
school than girls and this implies boys are able to advance in education and have better future pros-
pects It is estimated that 18.8 million children in West and central Africa are not enrolled in school and
this kind of situation undermines girl children who have to marry early before adulthood. Additionally,
girls who do not marry early are forced to bear relationships with old men who have money and can
offer gifts. Age-disparity sexual relationships between young women and older men are common in
East, West, Southern, and Central of Africa. The risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation is also
higher for young women and adolescent girls living in poverty and out of school.
Innocenti Insight (2003) adds that gender inequality is yet another determinant of human traffick-
ing especially where women are vulnerable, they become easy target for traffickers. This stems from
the fact that women are generally poor. Poverty result out of the fact that cultural practices have con-
demned women to be a weak sex and inferior and so denied resources. In the three countries of Africa
such as Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe where a study was carried out women have been constantly
abused, oppressed, and undervalued. This has reduced freedom for women and increased the risk of
exploitation where human trafficking as a crime is seen as a justifiable matter in the community. Social
prejudices go hand in hand with poverty-stricken living conditions indicating that trafficking in women
and children is likely to flourish. Poverty is at the core of all that takes place within poor families who
are unable to support their children, and opt to give away girl children for commercial exploitation.
Jane (2015) argues that gender imbalance in China has caused bride trafficking. One child policy
in China has caused more boys being born than girls. The current population structure in rural China
is that between 20% and 40% of rural China are male and this has increased the number of men who
intend to marry. The issue of more men than women has resulted in bride trafficking.
Robyn (2013) attributes human trafficking to failure of the parents to provide education to girls.
This was observed in many regions of the world like Latin America, Africa, South and South east Asia
where girls who are most rural with little or no education have indeed suffered human trafficking.
Research derived from India's Andhra Pradesh where commercial sex industry prevails female sex
workers had not completed high school education and about three-quarters were illiterate. The author
states that girls should access education to prepare them for life skills and tap future job opportunities
as opposed to patriarchal societies that undervalue women and limit girls’ education a condition that
leads to girls trafficking.
Robyn (2013) indicates the relationship between female representation in the parliament and human
trafficking. She states that high female representation in the parliament has a direct reduction on the
number of cross country human trafficking. She cites the example of that Rwanda which has gender
parity, with 48.8% of government seats held by women in 2003. Women in Rwanda have gained the
right to inherit land as a result of increased female representation in the parliament. Because of this
female representation in the parliament women have benefitted from increased funding for healthcare
and education. As socioeconomic improvements will continue to rise few women will be trafficked.

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Fiorito (2012) asserts that other than patriarchal societies where women are often marginalized and
kept from obtaining individual economic status, education, and governmental support, women and
girls are also trafficked in areas where human rights, especially those of women, are disregarded. One
is bound to find that girls are married forcefully in early marriages that lead to loss of independence
and a violation of basic rights that are equivalent to human trafficking.
Gender equality and poverty reduction working paper (2011) posits that education and training are
important ingredients in as far as women empowerment is concerned. Education provides women with
the knowledge and skills in order to compete in the labor market. Education for women can easily be
achieved if tuition fees were waived off for girls as an incentive. Girls education should be adhered to
in terms of building schools that accessible to girls and have qualified teachers, healthy facilities and
a safe and secure environment.
Additionally, culture, tradition and history in most countries shape appropriate behavior, expecta-
tions and attributes for women and men and he general trend is that women have less control of them-
selves, less property, and have no powers to influence decisions on their own lives (Gender equality
poverty reduction, 2011).
Angelina (2012) indicates that trafficking occurs in societies where women are discriminated from
obtaining jobs and lack property rights such Latin America, Africa, and parts of Asia. Where oppor-
tunity occur for advancement in education, medical and welfare opportunities have been extended to
boy child. When resources are little girls are the first to be pulled out of school.
Employment presents mostly in areas where girls and women are vulnerable to labor and sexual ex-
ploitation, such as domestic servants, carpet weaving, and child care provisions. In some countries pros-
titution is seen as a way of life and means with which the family is to advance. Southeast Asian families
allow their daughters to be trafficked as means to obtain funds for capital to expand their homes and land.
Katarina (2002) argues that free movement of people, goods, and services across the globe have
contributed to the feminization of poverty. Feminization of poverty is used to highlight the greater suf-
ferings that women under go as they live in poverty when compared to men. As the case may be women
and men face poverty in different ways. According to Beijing Platform for Action Women poverty is di-
rectly linked to the lack of socioeconomic opportunities and independence, lack of access to economic
resources, credit facilities, land ownership, and inheritance as well as lack of access to education and
minimal participation in the decision-making process. These finally translate into human trafficking.
Binagwaho et al. (2010) argue that factors that push women into prostitution and human trafficking
are gender related and linked to gender discrimination and inequality. Girls lack access to education
and training is a hindrance to their development. Family socioeconomic crisis lure women to look for
finances to solve socioeconomic issues and are trapped into prostitution and human trafficking. Many
of the young girls who are part of prostitution and human trafficking joined so because they were poor
and lacked family support in all aspects.
Kathleen and Lynne (2014) observes that there is a direct correlation between population growth
sustainable development, and human trafficking. High population implies a constraint for wealth cre-
ation for the country and few resources will be available for development. It also means that individuals
will move to countries of opportunity and women as poor people will be potential recruits for human
trafficking. In essence, African countries have had little development because of population pressure
and the international community has targeted these countries for population control. Rwanda is one of
the countries that has implemented sustainable growth policies that reduce population growth where
fertility rate has been reduced from 6.5 to 4.5 and there is hope to achieve reasonable population growth
by 2020. In this way Rwanda expects to reduce poverty which is the bedrock for human trafficking.
Browne (2008) points out that there were 159 million international migrants of which 90 million
were women and girls in 2008. Originally, women migrated to developed countries depending on the

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head of the family interests, but in the current period women move to other countries such as North
America as migrant workers and are especially employed in domestic services, health care and teach-
ing. The Asian migrants workers are a case in point and the major cause of women migration has been
feminization of poverty. Browne (2008) indicates that Rwanda and Nigeria are currently empowering
women through legislature and women can now inherit land and property and there is hope that mi-
gration and human trafficking slows down once women acquire wealth.
According to United Nations development fund for Women (2005), Poverty especially that which
befalls women makes them dependent on their husbands is responsible for the gender-based violence
leave alone human trafficking. Women lack education and work experience and have not gained ac-
cess to well-paying jobs, with little disposable personal income, women become liable for sexual
abuse, and human trafficking.
7 | RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In this study quantitative and qualitative research designs were applied where strengths of each re-
search design reinforce each other. Similarly, weakness of each research design would be mitigated
best to understand the issue of gender inequality in Rwanda. The target population was 341 respond-
ents. The sample size became 184 respondents when slovin's formula was applied. About 154 re-
spondents answered the questionnaire and 30 respondents were given interviews.
7.1 | Qualitative research
To obtain qualitative data, Snowball and Purposive sampling techniques were applied. Snow ball
sampling and purposive sampling are non-probability methods. Snow ball sampling involved iden-
tifying potential respondents to complete an interview process on a subject matter. A chain referral
where a respondent was encouraged to recruit other people of the same kind to provide more data
regarding a subject matter. Moreover, purposive sampling entailed identifying and selecting indi-
viduals who have experience and knowledge in as far gender inequality and its relationship with
human trafficking.
7.1.1 | Interviews
In this study eight victims of human trafficking, six homeless, and six traffickers were interviewed
through unstructured and structured questions. As for purposive sampling four prosecutors were sin-
gled out as experts for the purpose of the study. The representative samples were drawn from the three
districts of Kigali city.
7.1.2 | Focus groups
In the focus group discussion, the researcher acted as the moderator. He guided, monitored and recorded
the discussion. One focus group discussion with six travel agencies was conducted. With the assistance
of the city of Kigali administration, travel agencies were invited for a breakfast meeting whereby the
researcher was invited upon request to administer the questions regarding human trafficking.

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Group dynamics principles were used to focus the exchange of ideas, feelings, and experiences
gender inequality factors contributing to human trafficking in the three districts of Kigali. Analytical
questions on how gender inequality affects human trafficking in the three districts of Kigali province.
The researcher collected more data in a short time in detail and the discussants explained and added
more meaning to the research questions.
7.1.3 | Quantitative research
Target population from which a sample was taken was 341 respondents. By use of Slovian's formula
(1967) cited by Omwenga and Maina (2016), where, n = N/(1 + N.e2
), the size of the sample became
184 respondents. Out of the sample size of 184 respondents only 154 returned the questionnaire. The
sampling techniques used were stratified sampling technique to increase the statistical effectiveness
and provide sufficient data for analyzing the various strata. Ten strata were used and comprised of 24
victims of human trafficking, 8 traffickers, 31 police investigators, 15 prosecutors, 15 judges, 12 local
authorities, 11 migration officers, 9 travel agencies, 9 International migration officers (IOM) and 20
homeless.
Research instruments comprised of a questionnaire for quantitative data (On a 5-point Likert scale
questions) and structured as well as semi-structured interviews for qualitative data.
In the case of quantitative research design, data were collected, processed, and analyzed in accor-
dance with the objectives of the study. Statistical package of social sciences (SPSS version) Version
21.0 was used to in the study to obtain descriptive as well as inferential statistics.
8 | RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Results and discussion depended on qualitative and quantitative data realized.
8.1 | Results on the qualitative data
Thirty victims of human trafficking were interviewed from the city of Kigali. Six respondents were
male and 24 respondents were females and age ranged from 20 to 44 years of age. Sixty percent com-
pleted primary and secondary school while few had university education. About 80% of the victims
were females and the main form of trafficking was sex.
Majority of the victims of human trafficking were women who had no land, no employment and a
good number of the victims of human trafficking were employed as domestic workers, street vendors,
shop, bar, and restaurant attendants. Women were attracted to the urban because the urban offers basic
necessities of life such as food, shelter, and water and later enticed by traffickers.
Most of the women victims of trafficking are destined to Uganda, Malawi, Kenya, South Africa,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia, and Europe.
8.2 | Results on the quantitative data
The research established gender as a factor in human trafficking the following findings were interpreted
as follows: 1–5, 1-Agree, 2-Strongly Agree, 3-Disagree, 4-Strongly disagree, 5-Indifferent (Table 1).

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8.2.1 | Graphical representation of the relationship between gender
inequality and human trafficking
According to the above histogram, the following results were obtained; using the target population
of 341, we were able to come up with the 154 respondents who responded as the sample size. Need
for education and lack of representation of women in off farm activities were found to be the most
determinants of human trafficking in Rwanda. Respondents rated these two segments at 67.1% each.
Need for adventure and sex work were found less significant in determining human trafficking and
were rated at 12.9% and 19.1%, respectively.
8.3 | Correlation of gender on human trafficking
The Pearson correlation (R) between Gender and trafficking was computed and the resulted as 0.55
(p = .000). The table 6.2 shows that there is a moderate association between the two variables (Table 2).
Regression analysis was conducted to check the linear relationship gender inequality and human
trafficking, and then, Regression results in Table 6.2.b indicate the linear relationship between gender
and human trafficking according to R = 0.55 and R2
= 0.3, means that 30% of variation in human
trafficking is explained in and the remaining 70% is explained in other variables.
8.4 | Analysis of Variance for gender inequality and human trafficking
Table 6.3, indicates that the value of p value is 0.000, which is small compared to (α = 0.05), meaning
that the null hypothesis is rejected. Hence this helps us to say that the gender inequality is statistically
significant in explaining human trafficking (Table 3).
TABLE 1 Gender as a factor in human trafficking distribution
1 2 3 4 5
Women have a ready market for labor and sex 18.1% 58.1% 20.0% 1.9% 1.9%
Women have little power and money 32.3% 51% 7.7% 3.9% 5.1%
Men are required in occupations for hard labor 23.2% 49.7% 20.6% 5.2% 1.3%
Need for jobs 46.5% 49.7% 1.3% 1.3% 1.2%
Need for education 23.9% 67.1% 5.2% 3.2% 0.6%
Adventure 29% 12.3% 43.2% 14.2% 1.3%
sex work 49% 19.4% 11.6% 18.1% 1.9%
Unequal distribution of wealth between men and women 35.5% 51.6% 5.8% 4.5% 2.6%
women are likely to be trafficked because they are
dependent on men
23.9% 54.8% 14.2% 5.8% 1.3%
Inadequate personal income makes women vulnerable 31.6% 49.7% 11.6% 5.8% 1.3%
There few women and girls in off farm jobs 14.2% 67.1% 5.8% 9.7% 3.2%
women and girls are exposed into trafficking and employed
in domestic work
46.5% 45.8% 6.5% 0.6% 0.6%
women in Rwanda have unequal representation at the labor
market and this makes them vulnerable
39.4% 45.8% 11% 3.2% 0.6%
Source: Primary Data, 2018.

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8.5 | Gender inequality and human trafficking linear regression model
To test the significance of a regression of gender inequality and human trafficking deeply, the
regression unstandardized coefficients and intercept have been taken into consideration in order
to see whether they are significance (Table 4). The null hypothesis states that β = 0, meaning
there is no relationship between gender inequality and human trafficking. And the results from
table 6.4 shows that β = 0.539 with small p value of 0.000 that is, p value is small comparing to
α = 0.05 at this, we have enough evidence to say that β is statistically significance, and also the
intercept is 0.969 with small p value, also which is significance. Therefore, the model is written
as follows:
Y = 0.539X + 0.969, which is statistically significant fit.
TABLE 2 Correlation of gender inequality on human trafficking
Correlations
Human trafficking process
Gender
inequality
Human trafficking process
Pearson correlation 1 0.55**
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.000
N 155 155
Gender inequality
Pearson correlation 0.55**
1
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.000
N 155 155
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).Source: SPSS, Version 21.0. The relationship between gender inequality and
human trafficking.
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Gender Inequality as a factor in human trafficking distribution
Agree Strongly agree Disagree Strongly disagree Indifferent

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9 | CONCLUSION
One most single factor that has determined women trafficking has been gender inequality. The defini-
tive roles for men and women cut across cultures and are to blame for the misery and demise that be-
fell women. Women have been marginalized economically, politically, and socially. Moreover, men
have strength and power and have dominated all aspects of life-politics, socioeconomics. Women are
mostly poor and depend on men to survive and it is for this reason that women migrate in search for
opportunities and trapped by human traffickers.
Feminization of poverty has occurred because women lack employment in original countries, thus
women have to seek for work elsewhere. Education for girls and women has been lacking due to the
patriarchal environment that has fostered male domination, allowing male children to go to school
while girl children are denied education.
Culture and tradition have condoned human trafficking through early marriages for girls while in other
instances girls are forcefully married and this contravenes the law as well a violation of human rights.
10 | RECOMMENDATIONS
In order to reduce human trafficking there is need to reduce gender disparities. Women should be
empowered in all aspects. In terms of employment women should be provided the right skills and
knowledge in order to compete in the labor market.
Need to change customs, beliefs, and attitudes of certain traditional practices that see women and
girls as inferior people only meant to produce children and do domestic chores. Raising aspirations of
girls and their parents is one way to achieve gender parity. Women should as well be encouraged to
TABLE 3 Analysis of variance for gender inequality and human trafficking
Model
Sum of
squares Df
Mean
square F Sig.
1 Regression 45.819 1 45.819 67.439 0.000a
Residual 103.949 153 0.679
Total 149.768 154
a
Predictors: (Constant), Gender inequality.
Dependent Variable: Human trafficking process.
TABLE 4 Coefficient result showing the relationship between gender inequality and human trafficking
Model
Unstandardized
Coefficients
Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.B
Std.
Error Beta
1 (Constant) 0.969 0.146 6.626 0.000
Gender inequality/choice to traffic men or
women/Women have little power and money
0.539 0.066 0.553 8.212 0.000
Dependent variable: Human trafficking process.Source: SPSS Version 21.0.

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work and do the non-traditional vocations which are mostly in off farm works. This will help them to
break social taboos.
More women should get into decision-making positions. Thus more women are required in ministe-
rial posts, local administration, and law making bodies. This would give women confidence required to
champion sexual harassment, forced marriage, and human trafficking. Governments wishing to reduce
the out flow of female in trafficking can increase the number of women representations in the parliament.
Funding women to start income generating projects is necessary. Micro-credit facilities can pro-
mote women empowerment and can stabilize women and reduce vulnerabilities such as poverty and
unemployment. Credit facilities extended to women can provide money to start investments and break
the circle of poverty.
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How to cite this article: Gacinya J. Gender inequality as the determinant of human trafficking
in Rwanda. Sexuality, Gender Policy. 2020;3:70–84. https://doi.org/10.1002/sgp2.12018