UGANDA: Uneven Progress on Gender Equality

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Fawzia Sheikh

KAMPALA, Sep 3 2005 (IPS) - Uganda has been widely praised for having a constitution that reflects gender concerns. The 10-year-old document commits the country to affirmative action in the workplace, freedom from sexual discrimination and economic rights for women.

It also allows for a commission to monitor whether government programmes discriminate on the basis of sex. In addition, Uganda has pledged to implement the United Nations’ eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which include the promotion of gender equality by 2015.

Nonetheless, progress towards real women’s empowerment has been somewhat erratic in the East African country.

Women are visible in political office, holding almost a quarter of parliamentary seats. However, their representation and participation in business and social institutions such as hospitals and schools is far less, according to member of parliament (MP) Betty Amongi.

“The president has been using women to get political support,” she claims.

Government has established a Ministry of Gender – but given it substantially less money than other departments. Mary Amajo, another MP and chairperson of the Uganda Women’s Parliamentary Association, says the ministry lacks financing for the local women’s councils under its authority, which are supposed to assess women’s needs.

“I wouldn’t call it totally lip service,” notes Amajo of government efforts to bring about equality between men and women. “I would say it is slow because we’re still a male-dominated society. When we start debating anything to do with gender, that’s when male MPs walk out to do other things.”

Women have trouble gaining access to financial resources and land, Amajo told IPS. Although they can buy land, family property is still inherited by men. As a result, women often lack the collateral to secure loans from big banks that offer low interest rates – and must turn to loan sharks.

Uganda also has no specific laws governing domestic violence, which currently falls under aggravated assault in the penal code. Women need access to legal aid, safe shelters, counselling and financial resources to sustain themselves if their spouses are imprisoned.

Patterns of gender inequality begin at school level.

According to Amongi, government funding for schools does not cover all of their expenses – forcing schools to charge fees. However, parents in rural areas who cannot afford to educate all their children typically give preference to boys.

This stems from the cultural belief that “girls are supposed to be prepared for marriage, not school,” Amongi explains. She says some parents encourage daughters to marry at a very early age – even as young as ten years.

The primary education system throughout the country is further burdened by a lack of feeding programmes, overcrowded classes and schools that sometimes lack separate toilets for boys and girls. This makes life awkward for menstruating girls whose plight is aggravated by the fact they may not be able to afford sanitary towels.

“Oftentimes a girl gets her dress soiled and the boys laugh. The girls laugh sometimes too,” says Amajo. “In a month she misses four days on average, so some of them give up.”

In addition, young girls may fall prey to sexual advances by teachers and other male authority figures – which could bring their education to a halt: “When girls get pregnant, they drop out of school,” observes Amongi.

The second MDG speaks of the need to achieve universal primary education, while the third goal focuses on eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary school.

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is another problematic issue facing young women.

Dora Byamukama, an MP and chair of the government’s Equal Opportunities Committee, believes Uganda needs more legislation outlawing the practice. FGM is dealt with by laws about torture, which makes it difficult to apprehend those who carry out the practice.

Problems relating to gender are worse in war-torn northern Uganda, where girls battle sexual abuse and poverty on a scale not experienced by their counterparts in other regions, says Amajo.

Since 1986, government has been fighting the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the north of the country.

Led by Joseph Kony, the LRA claims that it wants to replace the administration with one based on the Biblical Ten Commandments.

However, the group has become better known for its abduction of children to serve as rebel soldiers and sex slaves.