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UGANDA - TOWARDS WOMEN'S SUBSTANTIVE
ENGAGEMENT IN POLITICAL LEADERSHIP
Direct Link to Full 104-Page 2014
Report:
Foreword by Rt. Hon. Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga, Speaker
- Parliament of the Republic of Uganda
The
last two decades have been recognized as critical in national and global
efforts in the empowerment of women and in enhancing their participation in the
governance and leadership spaces. Women’s participation in politics has been
high on the agenda of governments and this has spurred up their leadership
abilities on the social, political and economic platforms of social change.
Women political leaders have campaigned and lobbied on key social needs and
concerns like health, education, security and poverty. In Uganda, women have
espoused their newly acquired status and recognition especially through
affirmative action to affirm their visibility on the frontline of political
participation and engagement to push for gender sensitive policies. The period
from 1986 to date has specially enabled women to take an active role in public
politics. In this period, women legislators have taken lead in the enactment of
critical laws like the Domestic Violence Act (2010), the Prohibition of Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM) Act (2010), Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act
(2009) and have sustained the debate on issues that infringe on the security of
women generally. At the local councils, the women councilors have emphasised
legislation on gender based violence (GBV) and delivery of services for
livelihood enhancement.
It is
equally important to acknowledge the civil society and the women’s movement in
particular, who have continued to strengthen the capacity of women political
leaders, and to lobby and advocate for the advancement of the women’s agenda
and national development in general.
Even
with these achievements registered at national and local levels, when it comes
to decision making, the ground has remained uneven. I want to congratulate and
appreciate the role of Isis-WICCE for yet again demonstrating its role in
research and documentation by coming up with this study. The thorough analysis
presented in the study is critically important as it gives us women political
leaders in Uganda an opportunity to question and challenge ourselves further on
our roles and mission.
The study ‘Making a Difference Beyond Numbers: Towards Women’s Substantive Engagement in Political Leadership in Uganda; calls on us not only to celebrate the few strides we have made as leaders but to continue to reflect on whether we have effectively exploited the available decision making opportunities to the advantage of our constituency in Uganda. We must indeed question ourselves on what difference we have made in the lives of the ordinary women and men in Uganda. As this study concludes, we must ensure a more critical focus, move away from our individualistic aspirations, and work towards critical and all embracing objectives which are powered by a rights and people centered agenda. We surely need a critical mass to achieve our empowerment objectives and to make a difference in this country. The task is still enormous but we must embrace it to make a difference.
