A CRITICAL REVIEW ON HOW WOMEN EMANICIPATION HAS BEEN ACHIEVED SINCE THE 1995 CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
BY
NKURUNUNGI CRISPINUS
1153-01024-01871
A RESEARCH REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF LAW IN PARTIAL
FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF A BACHELORS DEGREE IN LAWS
OF UGANDA IN KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL
UNIVERSITY
SEPTEMBER, 2019 DECLARATION I, NKURUNUNGI CRISPINUS do hereby declare that the work presented in this dissertation arises out of my own research, I certify that it has never been submitted or examined in any university as an academic requirement for any award.
Sign Date
,... o•~H••••••• ...... :. ·l, ,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,oo ...{> ./CJ/2£1 1 ......
NKURUNUNGI CRISPINUS
ii APPROVAL This dissertation has been submitted with the approval of Dr. Chima Magnus as the university supervisor.
Signed Date of Approval
...... (Supervisor)
iii DEDICATION First I give praise and thanks to the Almighty GOD for giving me the strength and the capacity to complete this work successfully. For all he has done to me, for his blessings, guidance, wisdom, knowledge, favors and endless blessings throughout my life and this far.
iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am deeply indebted to my supervisor Dr. Magnus Chima for his overwhelming support and supervision in the compilation of this research.
Next in line I would deeply love to acknowledge my beloved parents, my brother, sisters and friends for their overwhelming and grateful help that they have endorsed in me throughout my curricular activities.
Lastly but not least, I would love to acknowledge all my former classmates, friends and everyone who has been of great importance to the conclusion of this research.
v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ...... ii
APPROVAL ...... iii
DEDICATION ...... iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...... v
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... vi
ABSTRACT ...... ix
CHAPTER ONE ...... i
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY ...... 1
1.0 Introduction ...... 1
1.1 Background of the Study ...... 1
1.2 Statement of the Problem ...... 4
1.3 General Objective ...... 5
1.4 Specific Objectives of the Study ...... 6
1.5 Research Questions ...... 6
1.6 Scope of the Study ...... 6
1. 7 Hypothesis ...... 7
1.8 Significance of the Study ...... 7
1. 9 Methodology ...... 7
1.10 Literature Review ...... 8
1.11 Summary of the Chapters ...... 11
CHAPTER TWO ...... 12
vi UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPTS AND CONSTRAINTS TO AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN UGANDA ...... 12
2.0 Introduction ...... 12
2.1 Women's Attitudes Towards their Participation in the Elections ...... 12
2.2 Economic Constraints Affecting Women Participation ...... 13
2.3 Social Cultural Constraints ...... 14
2.4 Political Challenges ...... 20
CHAPTER THREE ...... 29
LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON WOMEN REPRESENTATION AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN UGANDA ...... 29
3.0 Introduction ...... 29
3.1 Gender Inequality and Cultural Context ...... 29
3.2 The Women's Movement ...... 31
3.3 Political Background and Legislative Structure ...... 32
3.4 Women in Parliament ...... 34
3.5 Legislative Trend ...... 36
3.6 Domestic Violence Act (2010) ...... 41
3.8 Conclusions ...... 43
CHAPTER FOUR ...... 45
FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE VIOLATION OF AFFIRMATIVE ACTION AMONG WOMEN IN UGANDA ...... 45
4.0 Introduction ...... 45
4.1 Torture and Women Dignity ...... 45
vii 4.2 Rape and Human Dignity ...... 48
4.3 Social Exclusion and Women Dignity in Uganda ...... 50
4.4 Absolute Poverty and Human Dignity in Uganda ...... 52
4.5 Labor Exploitation and Human Dignity ...... 54
CHAPTER FIVE ...... 57
FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION ...... 57
5.1 Findings ...... 57
5.2 Recommendations ...... 59
5.3 Conclusions ...... 61
References ...... 62
viii ABSTRACT The world over, the number of women elected to public office has been increasing. The current percentage of women in all national parliamentary structures, upper and lower houses combined, stands at 20.4 percent, a significant improvement over 11.7 percent (1997) less than two decades ago. According to Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), countries such as Uganda are showing high prospects in implementing affirmative action in the country. Although little research has been conducted on women's substantive representation in some developing countries that have recently reached the milestone of electing more than 30 percent women in national parliaments, Uganda as a case study attempts to answer whether women parliamentarians have, in fact, been able to shift the debate and increase the parliamentary response on issues of gender equality. In the case of Uganda, the role of men is salient, but the over-arching importance of men parliamentarians can be imputed from the first two lessons in Uganda. Men parliamentarians have a primacy over strategically important leadership positions both in parties and in governments: globally, women represent only 17 percent of minister-level and parliamentary leadership positions. Men outnumber women in politics by large magnitudes and are critical members of coalitions to support the passage of gender-targeted legislation. Strategies that include men parliamentarians and enable them to understand their stake in the gender equality agenda have a positive effect on the passage of gender-targeted legislation.
ix CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
1.0 Introduction This section includes the background to the study, the statement of the problem, the purpose of the study, research objectives, research questions, the scope of the study, the significance of the study, the literature and methodology of the study.
1.1 Background of the Study In 1995, the country enacted a new Constitution that was significant in that the supreme law made far-reaching gender provisions that have also been replicated in other laws, such as the Local Government Act (LGA) of 1997. Since then, periodic presidential, parliamentary and local government elections have been held every five years with women's participation in this area guaranteed by the law through quotas. After many years of political freeze under the political system where people contested in elections to public offices as individuals, political parties were eventually set free in a 1 referendum held in 2000 .
The changing numbers of women representatives in Uganda are of particular interest. Following the national liberation conflicts, 2 the inclusion of women in governance has been influenced by President Museveni and the National Resistance Movement (NRM) in Uganda. Museveni mainstreamed women within the NRM, appointed women to important posts in the Cabinet and the Supreme Court and set aside reserved seats for women in the legislature. In 1995 women won 17.41% of the seats in parliament. Silvia
1 Republic of Uganda Public Administration Country Profile, UNDESA (2004) 2 While the national liberation struggles are over, war continues in the northern Ugandan border region.
1 Tamale's study of women in Ugandan politics in 1999 showed that women were simply not taken seriously by their male counterparts.3
In 2004, Tamale commented that such emanicipation approaches would have limited success when patriarchal structures and institutions were not also challenged. In 2005 the proportion of seats held had risen to 23.9%, and it rose again to 30.7% in 2006. The Ugandan electoral structure is based on a complex combination of direct and indirect elections and an Electoral College system. Early in 2006 Uganda reformed its system for reserving seats for women by raising the number of women district representatives from 69 to 80. In addition to these, women won 14 constituency seats, and held a number of appointed seats : 1 each of the youth and disabled representatives, and 2 representatives from both the workers, and Ugandan People's Defence Forces as a result of 99 of the 332 seats in the Ugandan parliament were women.
In 1990 Miria Matembe, a former special reserved seats MP, lobbied successfully for an amendment to the Land Act for equal ownership of the family residence. The amendment was passed in parliament, but missing when the Land Act was promulgated in 1998. Matemba spoke out against this, and against corruption, and was removed from her seat as former Ethics and Integrity Minister. Subsequently she spoke of women members being subject to ridicule and sexual harassment. Even with this number of women in the house, there was no up dated laws on domestic relationships, domestic violence or sexual offences.4
With 35 percent of members of parliament being women, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) ranked Uganda at number 16 worldwide on the proportion of women in national legislatures ahead of many developing and developed countries as of 31 October 2011 (IPU, 2011). A provision in the LGA (1997) has ensured that one third of all local
3 When Hens Begin to Crow: Gender and Parliamentary Politics in Uganda, Westview Press, (1999) Boulder, Colorado 4 www.womensnews.org/story/the-world/060313/ugandas-pro-woman-program
2 government councillors are women. 5 With the transition to a multiparty system, more political opportunity has been provided in general and specifically for women. Some of the major political parties provide for 40 percent inclusion of women in party structures. 6
Joint capacity-building for women in political parties, in local governments, for members of parliament and women in the public administration could expand capacity across a broad spectrum and strengthen women's leadership in the public administration.
While Uganda has made tremendous progress in the area of gender equality, there are challenges in many areas. Despite the enactment of the Domestic Violence Act (2010), gender-based violence perpetuated against women and girls is still rife estimated at over 60 percent by various studies.7 Such violence appears to be socially accepted and accompanied by a culture of impunity. Maternal mortality is still amongst the highest in the region and the division of labour in the household still burdens women rather than men. This also applies to women employed in the Public Service, who have to combine public and private roles. 8
At the household level, progress in the transformation of unequal gender roles has been relatively slow, due to persistent patriarchal attitudes and deep-rooted negative attitudes regarding the roles, responsibilities and identities of men and women in all spheres of life.
Widowhood profoundly affects the status of women and undermines their security. For older women, discrimination and being subject to the practices of property-grabbing compounds their poverty and gender discrimination. Older women with disability suffer greater discrimination, poverty, stigma and isolation, gender-based violence and face
5 Local Governments Act, 1997, Part III. 6 For instance, the constitution of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) states that it will implement affirmative action in at least 40 percent of its structures (Article 8, section 1). 7 Madanda et al. (2009); UBOS and Macro International I nc. (2007); Kaye et al. (2005). 8 This observation is based on key informant interviews which indicated that many women are burdened by both public responsibilities and domestic chores.
3 obstacles in accessing justice. They also suffer discrimination in access to employment and health care. 9
The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) sets out that governments should adopt temporary special measures to correct persistent imbalances in women's access to public life and other areas. CEDAW also has a particular focus on not only eliminating discrimination in laws and policies, but also putting in place measures to ensure that women are able to enjoy equality in practice despite often weaker starting positions.10
Emancipation has been used by various governments and agencies all over the world to counteract historical discrimination faced by women and other ethnic minorities. To foster diversity and compensate for historical exclusion of such groups, emancipation programmes prioritize the inclusion of minorities in areas such as employment, education and government. In Uganda, emancipation has been applied largely in social and political affairs in favour of groups that have hitherto been marginalized women, youth, people with disabilities and workers as well as in education to ensure gender equity.
Recent gains in women's higher education, where many have recently graduated from universities and other tertiary institutions following emanicipation, could help to establish a high quality pool of qualified women at entry level. These women could then be supported to enter and progress through the public administration. It is therefore important to understand why the increased numbers of women graduates are not yet translating into Public Service recruits.
1.2 Statement of the Problem A lack of data over the years makes it hard to gauge whether the situation has been improving or getting worse. However, it is clear that the proportion of women in
9 HAl, URAA, ACFODE and FHRI (2010); ROU (2009). 10 http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/453882a7eO.html.
4 Uganda's Public Service is low. This does not match the representation of women in Uganda, where females are more than half of the country's population.
Given that the proportion of women is relatively lower than that of men even in junior positions, Uganda's public administration at all levels is likely to remain male-dominated for a long time unless special temporary measures are put in place to attain gender equality. Indeed, as noted by the MPS, with the exception of the medical field (where women dominate nursing and other support positions) and the heavily feminized secretarial occupation, all other jobs are male-dominated (ROU, 2011).
The 1995 Constitution provides that 'the State shall ensure gender balance and fair representation of marginalised groups on all constitutional and other bodies'. 11 While this provision does not refer explicitly to public administration, it could be assumed that the principle refers to public bodies. Unfortunately, there is no definition of gender balance such as 50:50 or minimum representation of each sex at 40 percent. In effect, the implementation of gender balance in public administration has not been followed despite the constitutional pledge. It is important that a more operational guideline is developed on what is meant by gender balance to support its implementation
An interesting point is that there are proportionately more women in top management than in the middle management. Research needs to be done to explain this and a work life imbalance during the years when women are caring for young children is suggested as one reason. Other possible explanations are that there are some direct appointments of outstanding women in senior positions as RDCs or to head particular public agencies without following the 'normal' Public Service promotion system, hence the trigger for this investigation.
1.3 General Objective The purpose of the study is to carry out a review on how women emancipation has been achieved since the 1995 constitution of the Republic of Uganda?
11 Section VI on gender balance and fair representation of marginalised groups, Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995, ROU (1995).
5 1.4 Specific Objectives of the Study I. To find out the various constraints hindering emancipation of women's representation and leadership in Uganda. II. To assess the effectiveness of the legal and institutional framework on emancipation of women's representation in Uganda. III. To examine the governments role and policy framework in ensuring women representation in Uganda's leadership.
1.5 Research Questions I. What are the various constraints hindering emancipation of women's representation and leadership in Uganda? II. What is the effectiveness of the legal and institutional framework on emancipation of women's representation in Uganda? III. What is the governments role and policy framework in ensuring women representation in Uganda's leadership?
1.6 Scope of the Study Geographical Scope
The study will be carried out in Uganda entirely, it will majorly focus on women representation into the political sector of the country including the legislature, judiciary and executive branches of the government, the analysis will be based on a time line of Uganda's women political participation from 2001 to 2019.
Time Scope
The research will be carried out in a period of 3-4 months, this time period will enable the researcher attain relevant information to help in the accomplishment of the research purpose.
6 Content Scope
The research aims at investigating the challenges and achievements of Ugandan government towards incorporating and achieving gender balance through emanicipation and appointment of more women into the leadership wing of the country.
1.7 Hypothesis There is a likely relationship between emanicipation implementation and women political representation.
1.8 Significance of the Study This study is of great importance to the following people:
The study is helpful to the human rights commission of Uganda, the ministry of gender and all women organizations at large, it focuses on eliminating the causes of gender discrimination in general.
This study fully equips to the nongovernmental organization (NGOs) and community based organizations (CBOs) who are very much concerned about gender equality in Uganda, it is of help to all organizations to eliminate male dominance and gender inequality in the country.
1.9 Methodology This research will be qualitative; it will be conducted using interviews, library and desk research methods. These desk research methods will be used to review government published data such as laws and policies which were very helpful in the entire research process. Also important textbooks and articles will be reviewed to obtain and contextualize scholarly opinions for the guidance of this paper. The research will also review Newspapers to ascertain the current trends in the industry. The paper also relies on some internet sources for secondary or tertiary information to support the study especially in ascertaining current global trends in the industry. Also a few interviews will
7 be carried out questioning the women, men, police and responsible organisations on their take on the issue researched about.
1.10 literature Review Eyben (2010) describes political empowerment as "people's capacity to influence policy, make demands, and call to account the state institutions that impact upon their lives. This includes political representation and collective action". When considering women's participation in public and political life, empowerment must also consider women's access and mobilization within formal and informal political spaces. No longer can political empowerment be conceptualized as limited to the formal sector, including elections and political parties.
It now must span new public and political spaces that, as yet, remain under-analyzed, raising new questions regarding women's voices and influence, the power of coalitions that span from local to transnational levels, and new forms of accountability. This report offers insight into the intersections between the formal and informal, highlighting how state-society relations can create opportunities for progressing gender equality goals, and emphasizing these new ways of thinking about political and public life. Women continue to experience significant discrimination related to their participation in public and political life in most domains of the public sphere and in all geographical regions.
The indivisibility of women's human rights underpins women's participation in public and political life. The issue of gender equality in political and public life cannot be considered in isolation, as women aspiring to participate in political and public life continue to face complex barriers related to the attainment of their full range of human rights, such as social, economic, cultural, family, health and safety rights. As the former Prime Minister to Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland has stated: "Everything is interconnected". Social policy, labour market policy, gender equality policy, family policy and economic policy are all elements related and dependent of each other. The indivisibility of these rights is made evident, for example, when analysing the continuing
8 financial crisis in Europe, which has significantly impacted women's participation in national parliaments and gender equality issues in political policy.
Women face a number of significant barriers when considering their participation in political life. In many countries, there is resistance to women's political participation because of prevailing gender norms questioning women's ability to lead. For example, women may be underrepresented in politics because of perceptions that they are less qualified or do not possess sufficient leadership skills. These stereotypes are linked to women's roles as caregivers. Many women are unable to balance family and public life and are not granted support from their spouses and families. Women are also still responsible for the majority of childcare and household tasks in many countries. The long hours, lack of flexible working patterns and the lack of part time roles can be practical bars to women's participation in public and political life. Amnesty International notes that " ... where women are the primary care givers for children, access to child care and careful timing of political party leadership meetings are crucial to women's ability to participate on an equal footing with men".
Additionally, a lack of financial resources can significantly hinder women's participation in political life. Women frequently lack access to political party funding and financial resources for their election bids, and must pay for the advertising costs of their campaigns. Women often experience violence and sexual harassment at the ground level in political parties, which can make their participation dangerous. Male bonding and persistent stereotypical attitudes towards women can also discriminate against women. For example, in India, women's participation as candidates in national and state elections has declined because it is difficult for women to establish a foothold without patronage from powerful men in the party. In addition, Lebanese structures of political representation are dependent on familial ties from male to male relatives, which excludes women.
This research strongly agrees with the statement from The United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women, General Assembly Resolution, December
9 1993 that, Violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of women and that violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men. 12
[2010]The researcher agrees with the authors of Humiliation, Degradation, Dehumanization: Human Dignity Violated when they state that; Most debates about the concept of human dignity suffer from short comings due to the fact that the role of human dignity is often characterized as the supreme foundation of morality or nothing at all. By doing so, alternative and more specific roles of human dignity are ignored and the many dimensions of the concept there by drift out of sight. The debates are often restricted to topics of abortions, genetic enhancement, or abstract values such as sanctity of life. It is true therefore that while all these different topics of human dignity are important, they somehow seem to miss the primary interest in human dignity. 13 Thus this paper is going to examine one of the left out topics of human dignity, that being interpersonal respects resulting into treatment of women with dignity by the men irrespective of the area or position in life.
This research strongly agrees with Amnesty International report of 2010 that, Violence against women is compounded by discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity, sexual orientation, social status, class and age. Such multiple forms of discrimination further restrict women's choices, putting them at increased risk of violence and making it even harder for them to obtain justice. There are no comprehensive statistics on cases of violence an indication in itself that this type of human rights violation is not taken
12 / RES/ 48/ 104. Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women ''(1993). Retrieved fromhttp://www. un.orQ!documents/ qa!res/ 48/a48rl04 .htm 13 www.corteidh.or.cr/tablas/ r30885.pdf Humiliation, Degradation, Dehumanization (Human Rights Violated.)
10 seriously. Attitudes that accept and justify violence against women are widely held within Ugandan society. 14
[2012] The researcher agrees with the definition of degrading treatment or punishment as in the of the police pocket book on basic human rights standards. Degrading treatment or punishment constitutes acts which cause a person to Jose his/her dignity and self-respect or which are humiliating to the person. Examples of such acts include undressing a person in public; slapping or kicking or caning a person in front of his/her family or neighbors or friends; and forcing a person to eat or carry food which is a taboo to his/her cultural or religious beliefs. 15
1.11 Summary of the Chapters The first chapter of the study discusses the introduction to the study that includes the background of the study, the statement of the problem, the objectives, scope, significance, methodology and literature review.
The second chapter focuses on the understanding of the various constraints hindering emanicipation of women's representation and leadership in Uganda.
The third chapter presents the effectiveness of the legal and institutional framework on emanicipation of women's representation in Uganda.
The fourth chapter presents the role of government and other institutions in policy formulation and implementation on emanicipation in Uganda.
The final chapter discusses the conclusion to the findings and recommendations for the responsible stakeholders in implementing emanicipation in Uganda.
14 https:/lwww.amnesty.org/en/documents/AFR59/001/2010/en/ "i can't afford justice": violence against women in Uganda continues unchecked and unpunished 15www.ug.undp.org/content/dam/uganda/img/Researchandpublications/police pockrt book onhuman ri qhtspdf.downloads.
11 CHAPTER TWO
UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONCEPTS AND CONSTRAINTS TO WOMEN
EMANICIPATION IN UGANDA
2.0 Introduction
This chapter reviewed the various literature on affirmative action in Uganda and other cou ntries with cases from local council elections and based on the subthemes which were to analyse women's attitude towards affirmative action, to establish the cha llenges towards women participation in politics and establish the opportunities available for enhancing women's participation both as candidates and voters.
2.1 Women's Atti.tudes Towards their Participation in the Elections
Literature reviewed on the 1997 elections by revealed that most women shied away from participating because they lacked the confidence to fit in the public arena which
16 was then new to them . To most women, whether as candidates or voters, the 2006 multiparty elections came out as a rushed process which they did not have time to organize for. Accordingly, there was enormous uncertainty, especially when a referendur.l on the need to open up political space was held in July 2005, less than 12 months to the general elections meaning that the promise to open up was not
17 obvious .
16 UWONET, 1998 17 UWONET. , 2007 12
The position of women remained largely invisible in the debate on the transition. For instance, the question of how to position women to compete in multiparty elections wa$ not adequately addressed (Makara et al, 2007). Efforts by women organisations to raise the voice of women were lost in the maze of the rush UWONET, 2007).
2.2 Economic Constraints Affecting Women Participation
There is a link between economic status and women's participation. The gender gap in earning is registered world over with the women's average wage equal to 75% of men's average wage. This, according to the UNDP Report (1990), indicates the risk of poverty for women becomes higher hindering their participation as they are preoccupied with making ends meet. Survival becomes their pre-occupation leaving
18 them with no time for activities like political participation .
In a study carried out in South Africa, as is the case with many developing countries in Africa, it was established that most female-headed households in the rural areas were the poorest of the poor. In 1995, it was further established that 54% of women were classified as economically inactive compared to 37% of men. This in one way
19 hindered women"s participation .
Ssali and Atoo (2007) revealed that access to finances was a great challenge to women's participation. Money is required to finance campaigns and sometimes to buy
20 voters , which was also the case with the 1997 elections. It was also noted that
18 Mikkel, 1997:428 19 www.unctad report 2° Kapampara, 2002 13 many who attempted to stand as independents, having lost in their party primaries, cited limited funding from their parties which barred would-be contestants in the local
21 council elections .
Candidates contesting for the different posts had to pay a non- refundable nomination fee. Some potentially good leaders were prevented from standing because they cou ld
22 not raise the non-refundable fee . However, the above studies rest on the assumption that having access to finances would automatically mean one would be victorious in the elections, which is not the case, especially in enlightened societies.
2.3 Social Cultural Constraints
Bonepath and Stoper (2008) identified women's gender roles as a challenge and argued that lack of political recognition of women's reproductive and labour roles made it difficult for them to campaign because they were busy washing dishes, dispensing cough syrups to children and cleaning the house. More so Mahatma
Gandhi, in his writings was a believer in harmonizing and equalising productive roles of men and women which were referred to as so called women's Jobs. Joshi (2006) quotes Gandhi, "More often than not, a woman's time is taken up, not only by the performance of essential domestic duties, but in catering for the egoistic pleasures of her remnant of barbarism. It is high time that our woman kind freed from this incubus".
21 UWONET, 2007 22 Electoral Commission Report, 1998
14 A report by the Associated Press dated 1 June, 2002 cited religion as a hindrance where, for example, the Imam of the Afghan capital's main mosque Qariubai
Durahman was quoted as saying that the participation of women in the then upcoming Loya Jirga (elections), on equal basis with men, contravened the rule of
Islam and could undermine the system. He argued that the votes of women delegates to the Grand Assembly should not carry the same weight as those of men. He also said that the Koranic teachings dictated that the Assembly, which was due to select a new transition government for Afghanistan, could not choose a woman as the country's leader.
He was quoted, "Men's views have to be accepted because they are higher than women's, from an Islamic point of view, a woman cannot be elected the leader of an
Islamic country because women are unintelligent." In Uganda, though religion not that prominent, it featured as a hindrance where some headlines could not be ignored like,
"Tabliqs will not support Miria Obote", so the responsibility of leadership goes only to
23 men" . According to the Tabliq Muslim sect leader, Sheikh Suleiman Kakeeto, Tabliq
Muslims would not support the UPC presidential candidate, Mrs. Miria Obote because she was female. Accordingly, they would not back any female candidate seeking political power because it contravened Islamic teachings.
Supporting a woman to attain political power therefore was a breach to God's law. His other reasons included the following:
23 Daily Monitor, 29 December 2005
15 Women are naturally vety weak and cannot manage big positions, this
could drive the countty into chaos Islam supports women s freedom
but should not go beyond the limit Islam guards women under hard
situations but not to oversee home affairs. When God created man, he
allocated specific responsibilities and it is clear in our religion. So the
responsibility of leadership goes only to men no woman can head a
family. It is on record that a man marries a woman but not a woman to
marty a man. I advise all Muslim women with plans to stand for any
post to drop the idea. We will not support them. They should do it at
4 their own risli •
Culture and gender stereotyping in politics, lack of leaders as role models, coupled with lack of self-confidence and skills to function in the public forum, further hinders women's participation. Appea ls to change the culture is met by stereotypes who claim that Africa is entitled to her cultural heritage, consequently women are subjected to various forms of human rights violation in the name of culture. In Uganda, culture and patriarchy are still deeply entrenched in many societies; hence women's participation is seen as a gift" from the movement government rather than a right, which undermines the respect they have earned in their own right to be elected to positions of leadership.
Affirmative action is still a "ceiling" rather than a stepping-stone that constrains their participation in directly elected seats. In many places, women are still perceived as subordinate to men. For instance, married women often find it difficult to find a
24 Daily Monitor, 29 December 2005 16 constituency to run in . If they contest in the constituency where they were born, they are told to go to the constituency where they are married. When they contest in their husband's constituency they are told, "You came here to marry not to rule." Women candidates have to project an image of absolute devotion to their husbands and families and of being good wives, mothers to a degree not required of men as one candidate in
Gulu Municipality put it:
If you are intending to become a woman candidate to contest a seat
you cannot put on trousers and go to the village. You have to wear a
gomesi (formal women//s attire)/ you have to look as a mother. For the
men they can go away and drink their malwa (alcoholic drink) in the
25 most unexpected places and no one bothers them. It is patriarchar •
Another candidate Victoria Sekitoleko narrated her experience during the 1996 elections and was quoted as follows:
I was the most popular at the beginning then I was told that I was a
woman and they wanted a man. That I was not a Muganda. It was
insinuated that because I was a widow, I could easily go back to my
area of birth, after they had given me their votes. Culture dictates
6 really affected my performancc! .
Intimidation by spouses. Observers noticed that some husbands prohibited their wives from participating in elections. Others coerced them into supporting candidates
25 Christine Lalobo/ Woman candidate 26 Arise Magazine/ 1996:19
17 of their (husbands') choices. Those that would go against their husbandsl/ wishes were threatened with divorce. In other instances, those that were lucky to have participated
in the women council elections were prohibited by their husbands from taking part in village council elections, as was the case in Kiboga district. One observer was quoted as saying, "Husbands told their wives that their elections were over (women councils) so there was no need to vote or contest again in the village councilsl/ (UWONET, 1998).
Lack of support from fellow women due to cultural beliefs regarding the place of women in society. The "Pull her down Syndrome", a phenomenon which prevented women from supporting fellow women. Victims of this tendency were mostly the highly educated, rich women contestants. In a research by UWONET in Pallisa district in 1998, a woman voter was quoted as saying, "Why should I vote for a woman who will not remember me after getting her wealth? I would rather vote for men who are in most cases generous with wealth." Male candidates easily bribed voters, a practice very expensive to female contenders. Voters therefore resorted to booing women contestants in an effort to intimidate them out of the race.
Low levels of literacy (DEM Group, 2006). The Uganda National Household survey
1999-2000 put the literacy rate for women at 51% compared to 77% for men indicating that only 30% of the Ugandan women can exercise control over decision making as well as national policies. In relation to strategic decision-making, women constitute only 39% of the over 17,000 persons in prominent positions, showing 44% compared to the non-political one (12%) (MGLSD, 2000). In a study by UWONET,
1998 in most districts on the 1997 elections revealed that only the elite women
18 emerged to take up the challenge of occupying posts on local councils. Most voters confessed that lack of education hindered them from participating in the elections, as they did not know what was expected of them as candidates and voters hence the study aimed at investigating whether lack of education was a hindrance to women participation.
Women's social status. In Africa women are discriminated against based on their marital status whether married, single, separated, divorced or widowed (Tamale,
1999). Married women contestants were accused of neglecting their husbands and families while those who were single were accused of being prostitutes (Tamale,
1999). To her, women were considered as "Trespassers" in the political arena. Those outside their parent tribe were labelled as "Outsiders" and told to go back and represent areas where their husbands came from. The ,tribal ticket" was played more against women than men; even fellow women promoted this kind of discrimination. A woman candidate in Kampala against whom a tribal ticket was played responded, "As women we do not belong to any tribe. Once one is married you are expected to belong to your husband's tribe and yet your in-laws will never accept you wholeheartedly." She lamented over her loss. Thus the study aimed at finding out whether social status affected women's participation.
The media as a hindrance. The media at times does not adequately inform the public about the rights and roles of women in society and, if they do, the publications done are written in English leaving the illiterate with no idea about what is going on.
UWONET (2006) reported that the media did more of what it always did to women,
19 less coverage, negatisation and trivialisation. The overall analysis of the media's performance especially in the election was that it gave prominence to the male candidates (especially presidential). Media coverage for women in the 2006 elections was much less and when it occurred, it mainly looked out for weaknesses as one woman candidate (Miria Obote) asserted, "The media has never been friendly to us women. It always looks for the negative side". It was noted that the media concentrated on personal attacks such as whether a woman was beautiful, married, divorced or otherwise. In the words of another woman candidate, "Media is very expensive. Unless you are a strong politician who can stand all challenges, it is hard to go through, the media is unpredictable. People bribe them to write about them
27 positively" •
2.4 Political Challenges
Limited numbers of women in politics. The fewer they are, the more difficult it becomes for them to push for women's issues. In a country like Uganda where the majority numbers of the leaders are male, lobbying becomes very difficult. Drude
(1997) a political scientist in an extensive research on women's participation quoted a respondent saying, "Don't expect us to make much difference as long as we are only a few in politics. It takes a critical mass of women to make a fundamental change in politics." His research, however, contradicts with Novelist countries where the significant numbers of women in elective positions show they could make a difference in pushing for women's concerns. Though this was the case mainly during the 1997
27 UWONET, 2006
20 elections, the study aimed at investigating whether there was improvement during the
2006 elections.
Political instability especially in the northern, western and eastern parts of Uganda affected the 1997 elections especially as voters. It was difficult for voters to move freely to the polling centers to cast their vote (UWONET, 1998). This was observed in parts of Soroti, Lira, Kabarole and Gulu districts. The study aimed at finding out if political instability hindered women's participation.
Lack of political party support. A research by UWONET (2007) revealed that parties other than the NRM expressed inability to attract women in their ranks. This was confirmed by the 2006 nomination roll released by the Electoral Commission clearly indicating that only NRM was able to field candidates on all posts for the district women seat (Uganda Gazette/ February 14, 2006). Parties performed poorly in fielding women on open seats, which would have been the single most important litmus test for gender inclusiveness on the part of the parties that participated in the 2006 elections. Women principally remained in the "ghetto" of the district seats and out of the total 808 contestants on open parliamentary seats, only 33, constituting 4% of the electoral contest, were women. One woman activist was quoted thus:
All political parties are highly lacking in accommodating
women. They have supplied hot air for the women/· they
have engaged them yet they have not translated what they
promised in reality. For example they promised a minimum
21 of 30% posts for women in elective offices but when you
look at their line-up~ most women have been thrown out
8 All they are getting is lip servia! .
Intimidation by security agencies. Though 2006 elections were relatively peaceful unlike the 2001 elections where security agencies including the army were largely involved in perpetrating overt violence (UWONET, 2007) the 2006 elections witnessed a shift to more structural forms of violence. The involvement of security agencies in the electoral process created an environment characterised by fear and uncertainty which largely undermined the principles of transparency, free and fair electoral process. The Commonwealth Observer Group (2006) noted that, "There was widespread use of intimidation and harassment tactics by the security forces and some armed NRM-0 supporters against the opposition party executives, supporters and district representatives at national and district level. The security environment worsened as polling day approached. The air was filled with charges and counter charges that had the effect of increasing the feeling of insecurity among the population." Hence to many women due to fear decided to opt to stay at home than participate in the exercise as voters for fear of violence and death. The study aimed at investigating whether insecurity/harassment prevented women from participating.
Affirmative action hindered many women from participating in the local council
29 elections • In Uganda while Affirmative Action has been lauded for paving way for
28 Daily Manito~ February 1, 2006 29 Tripp, 2000; Ahikire, 2004d 22 women's involvement in politics through reserved seats by exposure, political
experience, and confidence to run their own open electoral contests (Tripp, 2000),
and increasing the number of women in the electoral contest (Ahikire, 2004d), it has
been observed that it has been a hindrance for women to contest on the directly
30 elected seats . Many perceived it as the NRM"s way of cultivating women as a vote
bank (Goetz, 2003). Affirmative Action also reinforces the view that these are the only
spaces for them to participate and at the local council through the women's quota.
Ahikire (2004d) observed that Affirmative Action created a political space for women
outside the mainstream politics, hence ghettoizing" their participation. This suggests that mainstream politics is for men and affirmative action seats for women. This "add
on" policy of Affirmative Action to Ahikire (2004) puts women's political legitimacy in jeopardy as women politicians are perceived as representatives of women.
Subsequently, the electorate is more interested in voting for women on the
Affirmative Action seats rather than when they contest to unseat male candidates, especially under the directly elected council elections.
Election Management Challenges
Inadequate voter education: A research by UWONET (1998) on the 1997 elections
revealed that the Electoral Commission failed to fulfill its obligation to impart civic and voter education in time. More so, a study by UWONET (2006) acknowledged that civic education was generally inadequate. People particularly from rural populations were
30 Daily Manito"' 8 March, 2006
23 principally left in the dark in terms of the transition and politicians only transmitted information that favoured them like ,vote me". Lack of information affected women more due to time constraints and other gender-related factors. One woman voter was quoted as saying:
The transition was not well handled because there was no civic education.
We depended on hearsay and the majority of women knew only about
contesting on the affirmative seats than directly elected posts.
Another woman MP contestant asserted, "No one had done civic education in my area." The information that had spread was that anyone going against the NRM was against the national interest. Opposition is portrayed negatively and voters had no voter education on the elections and their rights. "I spent more time doing voter education than talking about my manifesto." DEM Group report on 2006 elections observed that some women candidates did not have enough information about the elections. One woman candidate from Mbale District only learnt on the voting day that she was supposed to have two agents in all the polling stations. Women who contested as directly elected councillors (candidates) and whose photographs appeared on the ballot paper with men were thought to have appeared by mistake, hence leading to their loss of votes.
Inadequate voter education (lack of political consciousness) led to the overwhelming number of 300,000 invalid votes ( 4% of all votes cast). The voter turnout of 65.8%, which means that 3.5 million registered voters did not cast their votes, may in part be
24 explained by limited voter education (EC Report, 2007). A survey conducted by the
IRI concluded that by the end of January 2006, 47% of Ugandan voters were not aware that the elections were to take place beginning 23 February 2006. Even then, only 33% were aware that the presidential, parliamentary and women MPs elections
1 would take place concurrentll .
The Move from Electoral Colleges to Universal Adult Suffrage. Prior research revealed that electoral colleges though could easily be manipulated and had held women at ransom (UWONET, 2007). Voices from women on the 2006 elections showed that
Adult Suffrage had discouraged many would-be aspirants and had favoured incumbents. Considering the use of resources, multiparty politics proved to be more expensive than single-party campaigns. Women had to spend both in the primaries and the actual elections, given the coverage of some districts, the issue of finance for women was more crucial in multiparty politics. The study aimed at finding out whether electoral college method of voting was better than universal adult suffrage.
Missing names in the voters" register hindered their participation as voters. Creation of new polling stations from voters exceeding over 700 and merging those with less than 200 voters, voters" names were posted to new polling stations than the previous ones where they had originally been registered as voters. Gender roles prevented some women from checking their names during the "display of the voters" resister" they only turned up on polling day to find their names missing. A report by
International Observers revealed that election officers (presiding) denied possibly
31 New Vision, 10 February 2006 25 hundreds of thousands of registered voters, especially women, the right to vote because they were allegedly not on the voters" registers. The final national voters" register of 2006 showed that of the 10,450,788 registered voters, 6,880,484 (65.9%) had cast their ballot in the elections. Carrying a voter's card was not enough to be
32 allowed to vote until your name was found on the register .
Both domestic and international observes remarked that the significant number of names missing from the register affected the fairness of the elections, but they appeared to regard this as a problem of capacity rather than intent on the part of the
EC (EU, 2006; Petersen, 2006; DEM Group, 2006).
The Opportunities Available for Women to Effectively Participate in Elections
United Nations Report (2001) recommends institutional changes to establish gender equality in basic rights as the cornerstone of greater equality in political participation and voice. Similarly, policies and programmes that promote equality in education and access to information (including legal literacy) can strengthen women's urgency and their capacity to participate in the political arena.
Internationally, the legal framework CEDAW to which Uganda is a member through
Article 7 (a) and (b) and strategic objective (GI) of the Beijing platform of action all geared towards effective participation of women. In Uganda, through the 1995
Constitution where Articles 32(1), 33(2), 22(3), 33(4), 33(5), 78 (1) (b)33 all of which encompass affirmative action seats for women. More so National Objectives XV and VI
32 Makara et al, 2007 33 The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995
26 also encompass affirmative action which objectives led to the establishment of the equal opportunities commission.
The Local Government Act 1997 through section 180 (2) (b), Art. 205(2) (b) has the potential to strengthen women's participation in Local Government decision making.
The Electoral Commission Act 1997 which mandates the commission to organize elections and cater for women's quotas, the Political Parties and Organization's Act
2005, the Press and Journalists Act and the Electronic Media Act where negatisation of women that stand for political posts is prohibited. These acts aim to specify laws, which help to enhance women's active involvement. Women's organizations like
UWONET in a bid to enhance women's participation drafted the 2006 women's manifesto and some other, for instance FIDA, organisations supported women
34 financially to participate as candidates .
However, much as all these legal provisions are in place, few women have been competing with men on the directly elected positions. We realise that it is the reserved seats for women that have increased their participation and has restricted how far they can go especially in the rural communities where the law is misinterpreted to mean that women can only compete under the reserved seats than the directly elected positions in Uganda.
While reviewing literature, issues of class were ignored where some people could present their candidature for elections while others could not. Therefore what was left
34 UWONET Report, 2007
27 was to choose from those that had presented their candidature. Only those who had property and were able to acquire a good education in good schools where they met other future leaders were the ones who stood for elections. Hence the study aimed at investigating whether such scenarios existed in Uganda.
28 CHAPTER THREE
LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON WOMEN EMANICIPATION IN UGANDA
3.0 Introduction
Women's representation has been on the rise in Uganda since the introduction of a reserved seats system in Parliament in 1989. The quota was further strengthened as a legal mechanism by a new, gender-sensitive constitution that was adopted in 1995. The national commitment to gender equality and the increasing trend in the number of women parliamentarians has raised hopes for the passage of gender-targeted legislation. However, as this study will show, the presence of women in Parliament alone has proved to be insufficient for changing the legislative agenda. The strength of the women's movement, consensus building between women parliamentarians, and the buy-in of men parliamentarians are also crucial factors in determining the success of gender-targeted legislation in Uganda. This study on Uganda will analyze these factors in greater detail through the examination of two gender-targeted bills, the failed
Domestic Relations Bill (2003) and the successful Domestic Violence Act (2009). Based on this analysis, this study will also offer lessons that could facilitate the passage of gender-targeted legislation in the future.
3.1 Gender Inequality and Cultural Context
Like many African states that have shown a commitment to uproot gender inequality in their society, Uganda stands at a crossroads. It boasts one of the most gender-sensitive
29 constitutions in Africa and, in recent years, has enacted a series of legislation that aims to correct power imbalances between men and women. Uganda also ratified the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women on July 22,
1985.35 In spite of this legislative progress, gender inequality continues to hamper the lives of Ugandan women, particularly in the domestic sphere where women are subjected to violence and face discriminatory customary norms.
According to a United Nations Population Fund report, "15 percent of pregnant women experienced physical violence, and the first sexual encounter of 24 percent of women was violent."36 The law criminalizes domestic violence, yet the problem continues to be widespread. A report by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) explains that the law has not been consistently enforced and women have faced a number of obstacles in seeking justice, including the financial cost of making a domestic violence complaint. 37 Furthermore, in spite of civil society's efforts to change attitudes, it is still widely believed that domestic violence is acceptable. 38
Women are also disadvantaged by discriminatory customary practices. These practices include early marriage, widow inheritance, and the denial of women's rights to
35 United Nations, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979). 36 United States Department of State, Country Repotts on Human Rights Practices for 2011, (Washington, 2011). Available from www.state.gov (accessed 10 March 2013). 37 International Federation for Human Rights, Women's Rights in Uganda: Gaps Between Policy and Practice, (Paris, 2012). Available from www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/uganda582afinal.pdf (accessed 6 March 2012). 38 United States Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011 (Washington, 2011). Available from www.state.gov (accessed 10 March 2013).
30 inheritance and property ownership. 39 The women's movement has been at the forefront in pressing for legislative change on these issues; however, the ongoing battle in Uganda's National Assembly today is a testament to the cha llenge of rectifying women's unequal treatment in the domestic sphere.
3.2 The Women's Movement
The women's movement in Uganda is a collective effort of women leaders and organizations which has grown in size and force since the 1940s. From as early as the mid-1960s, women attempted to reform customary laws on divorce, marriage, and inheritance. Unti l the mid-1980s, their efforts were thwarted by men parliamentarians who opposed gender equality and further cha ll enged within political parties as party li nes were not in line with gender equality. The women's movement was also suppressed by the state, particularly during Idi Amin's regime.
The women's movement, however, gained greater autonomy and made strides towards women's advancement when the National Resistance Movement (NRM) came to power in 1986. After attending the 1985 World Conference to Review and Appraise the
Achievements of the UN Decade for Women in Kenya, women activists returned to
Uganda and lobbied the NRM to include women leaders in government ministries as well as advocated for reserved seats for women in the National Assembly. 40 They also
39 International Federation for Human Rights, Womens Rights in Uganda: Gaps Between Policy and Practice (Paris, 2012). Available from www.fidh .org/IMG/ pdf/uganda582afinal.pdf (accessed 6 March 2012). 40 Sylvia Tama le, "Introducing Quotas in Africa: Discourse and Legal Reform in Uganda," paper presented at International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)/Eiectoral Institute of Southern
31 advocated for the creation of a women's ministry and, during the early 1990s, formed a non-partisan women's caucus to ensure that women's rights were promulgated in the revised 1995 constitution.
The strength of the women's movement is also evident in their continued pressure for legislative change. Their efforts have led to a mixture of success, such as the
4 enactment of the Domestic Violence Act (2010) \ and failure, such the failed Domestic
Relations Bill (2003), which has allowed for the persistence of discrimination against women on issues of divorce, marriage, inheritance, and property rights.
3.3 Political Background and Legislative Structure
Uganda's unicameral National Assembly consists of both directly and indirectly elected members, as well as the Vice President and cabinet ministers who are considered ex officio members without the right to vote. All members serve five-year terms.
Constituency representatives are elected by a simple majority vote in single-member constituencies. The indirectly elected members are comprised of youth representatives, representatives of persons with disabilities, representatives of workers, and Uganda
People's Defence Forces representatives. The Constitution requires that at least two of the Army representatives and at least one of each of the remaining three groups be women.
Africa (EISA)/Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum Conference, Pretoria, November 2003. 4 1 Domestic Violence Act of Uganda, 2010
32 Uganda's Constitution also mandates that Parliament include one woman representative for every district. Previously, electoral colleges indirectly elected district women representatives. Since the reintroduction of the multi-party system in 2005, district women representatives are elected directly by voters on a special ballot in each district for women candidates. Women are also eligible to run for the regular constituency seats in Parliament.
There are currently 375 parliamentarians serving in the Ninth Parliament. Of the total members, 44 parliamentarians are unaffiliated and the remaining 331 represent seven political parties. An overwhelming majority of both men and women parliamentarians are members of the NRM. The NRM came into power in 1986 and has since controlled the executive and legislative agenda . Historically, members of the NRM have been very loyal to the party and its political agenda.
The NRM has the most influence over the legislative agenda through legislation introduced by Cabinet ministers known as Executive Bills. These "Executive Bills" have been the most common form of legislation.42 Ministers first introduce to the Cabinet legislative proposals that are relevant to their Ministries. If the Cabinet approves the proposed bill, it tasks the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs with drafting the bill. Once the drafting process is complete, the Executive Bill is ready to be introduced into the National Assembly. An individual parliamentarian or the Chairperson of the
House Committee in the National Assembly may also introduce legislation, referred to
42 Catherine Kyokunda, "Pa rliamentary legislative procedure in Uganda," Commonwealth Law Bulletin vol. 31, No. 3 (2005).
33 as a "private member's bill." A parliamentarian working on a private member's bill is eligible to receive assistance from the relevant government departments in drafting the bill. However, parliamentarians are restricted from introducing private member's bills that are fiscal in nature as this is considered to fall under the purview of the executive branch .
Once a bill has been introduced and read for the first time in the National Assembly, it is referred to the appropriate sessional committee for examination based on subject matter. This committee stage is especially important when an Executive Bill is under consideration because it provides a forum for meaningful debate by stakeholders as well as parliamentarians who may not have been involved in consultations prior to the bill's introduction.
Within the legislative branch, there are two committees that focus on women's issues.
The Committee on Equal Opportunities is the standing parliamentary committee that works on issues of gender equality. For the Ninth Parliament of Uganda (2011-2016), there is also a sessional Committee on Gender, Labour and Social Development.
3.4 Women in Parliament
During colonialism and long after Uganda's independence, women in Uganda were considered "minors" and were, consequently, excluded from decision-making positions
43 4 in public institutions. For example, in 1980 \ out of 143 seats in the National
43 Uganda gained its independence in 1962. 44 Josephine Ahikire, "Towards Women's Effective Participation in Electoral Processes: A Review of the Ugandan Experience,"
34 Assembly only one seat was held by a woman. The number of women parliamentarians
increased after 1989, following the NRM's affirmative action policy, which introduced
one reserved National Assembly seat for a women parliamentarian in each of the
country's 34 districts. The reserved seats system was formally established by law with the adoption of the new constitution in 1995. Since the implementation of the quota
policy, the number of reserved seats has continued to increase as the government has created additional districts in Uganda. In the current parliament, there are 112 district women MPs each representing one of the country's 112 districts.
Until 2006, electoral colleges elected women to fill reserved seats. This process was criticized for depriving voters of their right to directly elect district women representatives. After years of campaigning by the women's movement, and opposition from President Museveni, the National Assembly permitted district women candidates to
be elected by adult suffrage.
Discussing the merits of the NRM's affirmative action policy, Aili Mari Tripp points out that reserved seats provided women with the exposure, political experience, but more importantly, the confidence to run for regular, county-level seats in parliament.45 Thus,
Uganda has witnessed a steady increase in the number of women parliamentarians due to the political space its affirmative action policy has provided for women's participation in politics.
45 Aili Mari Tripp, Women and Polttics in Uganda (Madison, University of Wisconsin Press, 2000).
35 In contrast, the National Assembly has seen a slower change with respect to an
increase in the number of women in leadership roles. Rebecca Kadaga, the current
Speaker of Parliament, is the first female speaker in Uganda's history. Kadaga served as
Deputy Speaker from 2001 until her election as Speaker in 2011. As part of her responsibilities as Speaker, Kadaga chairs the Parliamentary Commission, the
Committee on Appointments, and the Business Committee. The Rules of Procedure for the current parliament also require the Speaker to ensure that women chair at least 40 percent of the sessional (sectoral) committees.46 However, enforcement has been lacking. Under the current parliament, women only make up 25 percent of chairpersons of the sessional committees.
In addition to the shortage of female leaders, parliamentary committees are greatly unbalanced in terms of male and female membership. Men parliamentarians heavily outnumber their female counterparts in most com mittees. Of the 29 standing and sessional committees, there are nine committees with a female majority. These include the Committee on Equal Opportunities, the Committee on Human Rights Affairs, the
Committee on Gender, Labour and Social Development, and the Committee on Health.
3.5 Legislative Trend
An examination of legislation passed by the Uganda National Assembly between 2001 and 2011 shows an increase in the number of bills targeting gender equality. Uganda
46 Parliament of Uganda, "Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Uganda (2012)," undated, http://www.parliament.go . ug/ new/ imagesj stories/ constitution/ rules_20 12. pdf (accessed February 18, 2013).
36 seems to exemplify the theory that an increase in gender-targeted legislation is likely to
occur as more women take on positions in parliament. While the numerical presence of
women parliamentarians certainly had some bearing on the kinds of issues discussed in
the legislature, the rise in the number of gender-targeted legislation between the
Seventh and Eighth Parliament is likely to have resulted from the direct election of
district women MPs, the strength of the Uganda Women's Parliamentary Association
(UWOPA), and NRM political maneuverings.
Few legislative gains were made between 2001 and 2006 on issues that concern
women.47 Ugandan women fought for legislation on land rights, inheritance, and
equality in domestic relations. In 2003, the Uganda women's movement (UWONET)
pressured parliamentarians to pass an amendment to the 1998 Land Act that would
give all family members access to land (previous attempts to pass an amendment that
gave women the right to co-own land with their spouses failed). In 2003, UWONET also
advocated for the Domestic Relations Bill (DRB), which consolidated laws on marriage,
divorce, polygamy, and bride price and sought to advance women's rights on these
issues.48
Its efforts, however, were hindered by President Museveni who pressured NRM
parliamentarians, who comprised a majority in the National Assembly, to stymie the
passage of both bills. At the end of the Seventh parliament, despite the share of 28
percent women parliamentarians, the two obvious pro-women bills were obstructed.
47 Ibid 48 Supra
37 Instead, Parliament passed the Persons with Disabilities Bill (2005) and the Employment
Bill (2006), which addresses sexual harassment, forced labor as well as maternity and
paternity leave. Muriaas and Wang primarily blame "executive dominance" in the
49 legislature for this dismal outcome .
However, as will be shown in the discussion of the DRB, divisions among
parliamentarians along the lines of gender and religion also served as obstacles to
gender-targeted legislation. In contrast to the Seventh Parliament, the Eighth
Parliament passed a substantial number of bills that promoted gender equality. The
legislation includes the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act (2010), the
Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act (2010), the Equal Opportunities Act (2010), which establishes an Equal Opportunity Commission as required by the constitution, and the Domestic Violence Act (2010). Women parliamentarians held 30 percent of seats in the Eighth Parliament; however, the quantity as much as the quality of women
MPs may have contributed to these legislative gains. 50
As district women made up the majority of women representatives, it is possible that the direct election of these MPs by their constituents in 2006 help to promulgate gender-targeted bills between 2006 and 2011. As previously mentioned, in 2006 the
Parliament abolished the procedure of electing district women representatives through electoral colleges. This electoral procedure had been attacked by activists and scholars who argued that electoral colleges (which consisted mainly of men) primarily chose elite
49 Ragnhild L. Muriaas and Vibeke Wa ng, " Executive Dominance and the Power of Quota Representation in Uganda/' The Journal of Modern African Studies_ val. 50 (2012). 50 Ibid
38 women for reserved seats, and thus created a quota system that did not reflect the diverse experiences and backgrounds of Ugandan women. Moreover, these critics argued that women elected through electoral colleges were constrained in their ability to change the legislative agenda as they were beholden to the NRM, which they credited for implementing the quota policy that put them in reserved seats in the first place.
Until 2006, electoral colleges were compromised as the NRM controlled the selection of women for reserved seats, ensuring that these women held conservative views that aligned with the party's stance on gender equality. Thus, even if a district woman representative favored gender-targeted legislation, she was constrained by patronage politics and toed the party line. Critics of the electoral colleges advocated for electoral reform in which district women representatives are directly elected through universal suffrage. They expected that direct elections would not only lead to the election of non- elite women for reserved seats, but would also give women the freedom to push for legislation that is important to their constituents. 51
Cecilia Josefsson points out, however, that after the change to universal suffrage and multi-party elections in 2006, this did not reduce support among district women representatives for the NRM. Comparing the political affiliation of county representatives and district women representatives, she notes that in the elections for the Eighth
Parliament, "73.4 percent of the women on reserved seats were affiliated with NRM
51 Celia Josefsson, "Who Benefits From Gender Quotas? Assessing the Impact of Election Procedure Reform on MPs' Attributes in Uganda" paper presented at the Third European Conference on Politics and Gender, Barcelona, March 2013.
39 compared to 64.6 percent of the regular county representatives." In the elections for the Ninth Parliament, 76.4 percent of the women on reserved seats are NRM members while 69.2 percent of the county representatives are affiliated with NRM. NRM women continue to dominate the reserve seats, and by extension, the NRM continues to exercise control over district women representatives. This explains why the biographies of district women representatives show less of an indication to promote the advancement of women issues. It seems that appearing to align with their party's values and vision of gender equality still remains of critical importance for district women representatives than outright support for women's empowerment despite electoral reform.52
The reality is that district women representatives are walking a tight rope: balancing their allegiance to the NRM and to their constituents. Muriaas and Wang agree with this assessment, noting that a change in the electoral system, and the return to multi-party elections, has not lessened the NRM's dominance. Yet it has created the political space, however slight, for women MPs to fight for the demands of their constituents. Similarly,
Josefsson asserts that electoral reform may impact "women's legislative autonomy and their possibilities to further the interest of women in Parliament," which is evident by
53 the series of gender-targeted legislation passed after 2006 .
Muriaas and Wang also suggest that the legislative gains of the Eighth Parliament were in part an outcome of political maneuvering by the NRM. They argue that President
52 Ibid 53 Ragnhild L. Muriaas and Vibeke Wang, " Executive Dominance and the Power of Quota Representation in Uganda,"
40 Museveni repositioned the NRM as a pro-women's political party in preparation for the
2011 elections to garner support from women constituents, who were frustrated by the
NRM's obstruction of the legislative process. However, the authors also emphasize that
UWOPA continued to actively collaborate with civil society organizations and
development agencies to advocate for laws that are important to women.
If one were to pull out key elements that led to the increase in the number of gender targeted legislation from the Seventh to the Eighth Parliament, certainly a "critical
mass" of women parliamentarians was necessary. However, perhaps more important than critical mass and the direct election of women by their constituents was the continued advocacy by UWOPA and civil society organizations to counteract the NRM's control of the legislative process and their efforts to bring men parliamentarians on
board in support of gender-targeted legislation as will be shown in the following discussion of the Domestic Violence Act.
3.6 Domestic Violence Act {2010)
As the ORB floundered in the legislative channels following the government's decision to
suspend debate, a group of women's rights and HIVI AIDS organizations met in 2006 to
discuss the need for legislation that addressed the high levels of domestic violence in
Uganda. The organizations agreed to form the Domestic Violence Act Coalition in order to collectively advocate for the Domestic Violence Act (OVA) and lobby the government for its passage. While the ULRC worked on drafting the act, OVA Coalition members worked to drum up grassroots and community support. The OVA Coalition also worked
41 with the UWOPA and the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development to create political support and pressure for the DVA. 54
After three years of intense advocacy, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social
Development, Gabriel Opio, announced that the Cabinet had approved the DVA and it was ready to be reviewed by Parliament. The DVA defines and criminalizes domestic violence, provides protection for victims, and imposes penalties on abusers. Opio urged both men and women parliamentarians to support the act, saying that, "men should not be scared, the law is not intended to protect only women, but all victims of violence in homes. Sometimes the men are the victims - they are beaten by their partners."55 In
June 2009, the Minister of State for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Fred Ruhindi, tabled the DVA in Parliament. The act was subsequently referred to the Committee on
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
In November, parliamentarians rushed to pass the DVA following the sensational murder of former army commander Major General James Kazini by his girlfriend, the result of a domestic dispute. The day after General Kazini's death, Ruhindi presented the act for its second reading, which was then followed by a parliamentary debate. A recurring theme throughout the debate was the act's impact on not only women, but also men and children. The act was passed by Parliament on the same day.
54 Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP), The Domestic Violence Act Coalition. Available from http://www. raisingvoices.org/ files/cedovip/DomesticViolenceActCoalition.pdf (accessed 31 March, 2013). 55 Arthur Baguma, " Domestic Violence Bill Could Help Fig ht Silent Deaths," New Vision, 9 March 2009. Available from allafrica .com/ stories/2009031 00041.htm I.
42 3.8 Conclusions
Since the NRM's rise to power in 1986, Uganda has made some inroads with respect to
changing the power relationship between men and women in both public and private
life. The 1995 Constitution recognizes equality between men and women and stipulates
the implementation of laws and policies to correct gender imbalances that have
especially been promoted by customary norms. A quota policy has increased the
number of women in parliament throughout the years to the current share of over 30
percent women parliamentarians in the Ninth Parliament. The Eighth Parliament
produced the most gender-targeted bills in the country's legislative history. This
progress was the result of concerted advocacy efforts undertaken by the women's
movement and caucus to challenge social and political impediments to gender-targeted
bills that advance the rights of Ugandan women.
This case study reveals that increasing the number of women in parliament is enough
to change the legislative agenda, but not enough to get gender-targeted bills passed.
Women parliamentarians are facing political and social hurdles that are not easily
overcome by women's numerical presence in parliament. The NRM, the ru ling party for
the past 27 years, controls the legislative agenda and has effectively blocked legislation
that is not aligned with its interests.
The DRB, for example, was deemed too controversial for the NRM and was blocked by
President Museveni. Men parliamentarians also opposed the bill because they did not
believe that they could benefit from its provisions. Some women parliamentarians
within the NRM who may have supported the bill were constrained for doing so because
43 of party allegiances. Other women parliamentarians did not support the DRB because it did not align with their religious or cultural beliefs.
44 CHAPTER FOUR
CHALLENGES AFFECTING WOMEN EMANICIPATION IN UGANDA
4.0 Introduction
This chapter presents the several factors in the world and Uganda in general that
contribute to the violation of women's dignity. According to a survey conducted by the
BBC, respondents in 25 countries were asked which of the following positions came
closer to their own views about women dignity and several factors arose including
torture,
4.1 Torture and Women Dignity
There is a wide variety of practices coming under the heading of "torture": Severe
beatings, putting persons into stress positions, extended sleep or food deprivation, the
use of special devices like the rack or thumbscrews, performing mock executions, or
prolonged exposition to noise, and many more count as torture. It is not clear at first
sight what might be the common element(s) in these acts. On the other hand, it is hard
to draw a clear line between torture and related practices like degrading treatment,
harsh punishment or coercion . The need for a clear distinction of these practices
becomes evident, for instance, in the dispute about the Bush administration's attempt
(manifested in the infamous Bybee-Memo) to explore the limits on how far it could go
45 in aggressively interrogating suspected terrorists without having to call such treatment
"torture".5 6
On Wednesday of 26th February, 201457 morning around 60 female activists and their supporters, including men, gathered at the Uganda National Theatre in Kampala . In a peaceful protest organised by the End Mini-Skirt Harassment Coalition, the women, many clad in black miniskirts and above-the-knee dresses, carried signs that read "Thou shall not touch my miniskirt", and "Lokodo hold your libido". The gathering was spirited, just as the response to the so-called miniskirt ban, which was supposedly signed into law on 6 February, 2014 under the Anti-Pornography Act, but is now being withdrawn by the cabinet for review, has been tongue-in-cheek. "Uganda should dress its population in nothing but onesies," wrote the organisers of Kampala's monthly
FashionCorps event on their Facebook page. "These ubiquitous adult baby-gros cover up those naughty breasts, buttocks and thighs and as an unexpected side-benefit they quickly dampen any sexual ardour between wearers, whatever their gender."58
But the realities of the apparent law are no laughing matter. According to a report by
Uganda's New Vision newspaper, in the eastern part of the country, seven men were arrested for allegedly targeting women in miniskirts and stripping them naked. The women were said to be on their way to church at the time. According to a report in the
56 For a thorough discussion see the contributions in Greenberg (2006); another prominent example is the European Court of Human Right's decision in Ireland vs Great Britain that the treatment of a prisoner who was interrogated while standing blindfolded in a stress position and, additionally, deprived of food, water and sleep was a case of "maltreatment", but not "torture". 57 1 The New Vision 26 h, February, 2014 58 The New Vision, 28th Feb/2014
46 Daily Monitor, mobs, including bikers claiming to help police enforce the law, have
undressed eight women wearing miniskirts and even two men wearing low-slung
trousers, in Eastern Uganda, in the past week. The confusion over the Anti-Pornography
Act was perpetuated by the focus on women's clothes, despite there being no actual
mention of mini-skirts in the bill. The fact that many people on the streets are selling
porn DVDs was neglected and more emphasis brought to the women.
So far, it is still an open question if it is always and without exception morally wrong to
put another person in a situation where her moral standing is completely denied. Can't
we easily imagine scenarios where we have a perfect justification for torture and,
hence, can give the victim valid moral reasons for what we do to him? In such cases, torturing a person and respecting her standing as a moral being would be perfectly
compatible. A much discussed example in this fashion is the so-called "Dirty Harry"
scenario where a kidnapper has hidden his victim in a place where she will suffocate
within hours if she cannot be rescued . A police officer arrests the criminal, but since he
refuses to cooperate the only means to save the victim is to torture the kidnapper; so the officer inflicts pain on the criminal until he is willing to give up the wanted
information. In this case it seems undeniable that there are good reasons to torture the
kidnapper: In analogy to defense of others, the police officer could claim that torture was the only means to avoid the killing of an innocent person and thus give a perfect
rustication for what he does. 59
59 (Benhabib(1987:88-90).
47 4.2 Rape and Human Dignity
Rape has long been thought of as one of the prime examples of a violation of human dignity. While throughout history the concept of dignity in rape discourse has primarily rejected the notion of sexual morals, as rape was seen as an attack on honor (first of the man and family, and then of the woman), with the rise of the human rights movement, dignity violated by rape is conceived primarily in terms of equality and
60 autonomy of women .
At the end of September, a Youth Minister in Uganda Kibuule went on record to say a woman who is indecently dressed and is raped should face charges and the perpetrator should be set free. Journalists recorded his voice at a function in the western district of
Ntungamo and the next day newspapers carried the story. Kibuule ran to radio stations claiming he was misquoted, he even opened a twitter account to dig into the debate where many Ugandans had contributed condemning this rape apologist. More than 20 girls are raped everyday in Uganda but the silence continues. Most of these rapes are committed by close friends and relatives. But for people like Kibuule, the obsession with women's bodies blind them from the reality. They blame clothes not perpetrators. Like many other instances in Uganda, a minister like Kibuule can abuse women and spread
61 hate speech and incite violence and get away with it .
Not much time has passed and we are hearing a harrowing account of 23 year old girl who was gang-raped by Pakistani men. There's a public outcry and like in many other
60 (Rada v ci , c 2005). 61 https://rosebellkagumire.com/2013/10/16/rape-and-the-culture-of-victim-blaming-in-uganda/
48 sexual violence cases it has emerged the file initially at Kira road police was
mismanaged. This girl is living in fear because those who gang-raped have threatened
to hurt her more or even kill her. But this is not new, many rape cases are never
prosecuted to the end. More than the justice system we have a cu lture of silence and
victim blaming. If a woman or girl is raped we have first find out if she didn't 'deserve'
it. We need a society that can support rape victims to be able to speak out without rape
apologists like Kibuule threatening them. If we have ministers who are on the side of
rapists and actually advocating for rapist's rights to rape we are far from the morality
62 that we all like to go preaching about .
Parliament needs a strong legal and institutional framework governing Sexual Offences.
This law should have provisions that protects rape victims from traumatic court
sessions, creates a well facilitated sexual assault police unit, creates sexual assault
response centres in our health centres to deal with the risk of HIV infection and provide
post exposure prophylaxis, and which emphasises protection of child victims of rape.
Second, there should be a public education campaign targeting men to sensitize them
about the difference between consensual sex and rape. That's the only way men will
understand that women have a right to say no to sex. Is is also the only way we can
build a society that can groom men who respect women. Third, we need more men
especially those in government and parliament to take a courageous stand to end
sexual violence.
62 Ibid
49 4.3 Social Exclusion and Women Dignity in Uganda
Social exclusion remains a major hindrance to the development of Uganda as a country,
a hindrance to improved welfare of women and generally leads to ignoring of the
recognition of the contribution of women to national development. Exclusion and
discrimination have become a central focus of discourses in the world today. Social exclusion and discrimination refer to the process and outcome of keeping a social group outside the power centers and resources. Despite the effort put by the government of
Uganda and other women organisations to develop, integrate and find ways of addressing the social exclusion, the problem still persists.
Exclusion creates concern since it involves the denial of ownership, access and control over resources, denial of right over ones labour and right over ones reproductive resources, denial of opportunity for education, health care, housing, public amenities,
recreational facilities and spaces and basic needs, denial of social interaction and denial of access to social spaces, denial of right to representation and participation in social, economic, and political participation. The way forward to social exclusion should be the
Inclusion of women in all the development aspects.
The concept of social exclusion, resulting from the need to conceptualize this condition, was principally influenced by two basic approaches. One of the latter takes the concept literally and examines the phenomenon of social exclusion mainly in regard to practices of spatial separation. Seminal contributions to this position were provided by the works of Erving Goffman (1961) and Michel Foucault (2003), which investigated the shutting
50 away of mentally-ill patients into psychiatric institutions. While their work focused mainly on the fate of those stigmatized as "abnormal" from a hegemonic point of view, the subsequent research widened the focus on other socially marginalized groups- for example, the marginalization of economically disadvantaged classes who live largely separated from society in socially deprived areas, ghettos, or favelas. Based on this perspective, social exclusion is understood as a process of setting up spatial zones in which the socially disadvantaged are segregated from the rest of society.
On the other hand, there is a second tradition which considers social exclusion in regard to the lack of possibilities for social groups to participate politically and socially. In the
Anglo-Saxon context, these inquiries focused on the concept of the "underclass" to examine to what extent poverty, unemployment, or social origin make it impossible to participate in what is commonly considered to be a good life.
In similar ways, close attention has been paid to this potential for a lack of participation with the concept of "les exclus" in France. However, more socially proven factors were at play here, such as, for example, lack of education, cu ltural habitus or a minority
63 lifestyle . In contrast to the first perspective, these approaches do not consider social exclusion within a context of spatial segregation, but rather as a lack of participation as a result of political, economic, and social barriers. Consequently, this theoretical tradition therefore regards social exclusion as being the systematic discrimination of socially disadvantaged groups to whom participation in society's good life is denied.
63 Castel 2002 51 4.4 Absolute Poverty and Human Dignity in Uganda
This understanding of relative poverty is too broad and too thin and, moreover, in an
important sense much too sketchy. It is too sketchy because it fails to draw an
important line between different kinds of poverty. The apparent strength of just having one notion of poverty turns into a serious weakness. If there is only applied absolute poverty relative to socioeconomic circumstances, it becomes hard to differentiate between what is normally called absolute and relative poverty. Then those people we normally call absolutely poor are in the same sense poor as those we normally call relatively poor. This is counterintuitive, because the distinction between absolute and relative poverty is designed to indicate that people in absolute poverty live under much worse conditions than those in relative poverty.
A defense of relative poverty as applied absolute poverty could point at the plurality of basic goods. It could be argued that in absolute poverty more important basic goods like food or health are threatened, or simply that, in general, more basic goods are lacking. This is certainly true, but it fails to capture the point of the differentiation between relative and absolute poverty because it cannot establish that we do, indeed, have two different kinds of poverty, only different intensities of poverty. While the first account establishes a categorical difference, the latter can only establish gradual differences. Thereby, an important intuition concerning the dissimilar nature of relative and absolute poverty is lost. Someone who is absolutely poor is endangered in his ability to live any decent life at all, because he is facing an existential threat. Someone
52 who is relatively poor is endangered in his ability to live a decent life in his given
society, because he is facing a social threat.
An account of relative poverty that can explain while both, relative and absolute
poverty, are kinds of poverty, but different kinds of poverty, as we attempt to present
in the final section, brings us closer to this intuition. Another major problem of this
understanding of relative poverty as socially applied absolute poverty is that it fails to
capture fully what we normally perceive as relative poverty. As said: It is too broad and too thin. Think again of the two examples of the poor boy and the rich young woman.
The poor boy has access to all basic goods; he can go to school, has shelter and food,
is in good health; he can even play, maybe not with the school kids who ridicule him,
but surely with other poor boys in the area he lives in. Yet although he has access to all
basic goods he is still poor and humiliated by his classmates for this poverty. Now, the
rich young woman, on the other hand, is still rich, but maybe she does not really have
access to all basic goods.
The problem becomes even more visible, and surely more pressing, when relatively
poor people have only very limited healthcare or no healthcare at all, while others can
afford the fanciest kinds of plastic surgery. The same counts for having very different and fewer education opportunities or having to live in segregated housing areas
because everything else is far too expensive. The availability of all these things, from clothing and entertainment goods to healthcare and housing, very much depends on a person's income. The problem here is not that relatively poor people do not have access
53 to basic goods at all, but that they have much less access to those goods compared to
their fellow citizens. But why should that be a problem? To understand the humiliating
character of relative poverty, it is necessary to see the social character of self-respect.
Self-respect is not something totally individualistic, but dependent on how others see
and treat us. Moreover, we see ourselves as part of certain groups, and our identity is
very much dependent on our membership in those groups (Sen 2006, Young 1990,
2000). If we are rejected by one of the groups we identify with, this can be humiliating,
64 because it harms our identity on which our self-respect is built .
4.5 Labor Exploitation and Human Dignity
The concept of "labor exploitation" comes loaded with ideology. For Kant, one
wrongfully exploited when one treated another instrumentally or merely as a means.
For Marx, exploitation was making use of some vulnerability in another person in order
to use him or her to attain one's own ends at his or her expense. Whilst divided on the
causes of exploitation (for Liberals, it is organizational; for Marxists, it is structural),
Liberals and Marxists agree that the involuntary nature of the labor relationship is key
to any situation of labor exploitation. Nowadays the term "exploitation" is often evoked
in a way that is detached from its ideological origins as a corollary of capitalist society,
if not as a symptom.
Labor legislation comes from overlapping sources: national labor laws; human rights
law at the national and regional level; UN human rights law; and international trade
64 Margalit 1996: 134-137
54 law. At the centre of all of this, the International Labour Organization, as a UN specialized agency, is charged with drafting and directing the universal minimum labor standards to be implemented at the national level. As the institutional leader in the campaign against labor exploitation, the ILO has been developing standards for the protection of the individual from exploitative labor practices since its creation in 1919.
As with exploitation, it is difficult to talk of the ILO's labor standards regime without acknowledging its ideological origins. Perhaps more than any other set of norms, the
ILO's labor standards regime embodies the clash of ideologies inherent in the UN and everything emanating from it. At once utilitarian and deontological, individualist and collectivist, the ILO's labor standards regime is a complex creature.
In seeking to understand the relationship between dignity and labor exploitation, this paper has examined associations made between labor exploitation and a loss of human dignity from the perspectives of the ILO, a selection of NGOs, and a casestudy of laborers. It has been shown that the ILO, as international standard-setter, identifies the nature of the employment relationship as key to labor exploitation and, at the same time, acknowledges that the essential economic and social components of labor standards are integral to "work in conditions of freedom, equality, security and dignity"
(otherwise known as "Decent Work").
Yet the ILO fails to formalize the economic and social components of labor standards through a binding legal framework. Instead, the essential economic and social components of labor standards, concerning as they do questions of distribution, are
55 now, in light of the disintegration of trade unions, the concern of civil society organizations. NGO campaigns against labor exploitation advance the ILO's political rights agenda whilst demanding "economic justice" beyond the ILO's limited regime. On the ground, my case-study in South Africa suggests that for this group of laborers, improvements in labor conditions are changes which improve their relationship with their employer whilst strengthening the communities they go home to.
56 CHAPTER FIVE
FINDINGS, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
5.1 Findings
On Parliamentarians' involvement in the Domestic Violence Campaign
We worked closely with the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association and the two chairpersons were greatly involved because we made it a point to involve them in whatever campa ign around domestic violence. In fact, we even influenced them to create what they called the Gender-Based Violence Roundtable, so that there was a particular team that was very specific on fronting the [Domestic Violence Bill] as it has effects on women emancipation.
Inequality in representation among some government sectors
Although women constitute more than half of the world's population, they are underrepresented in parliament in both developed and developing countries. For a parliament, and society as a whole, to be democratic, women and men must have an equal opportunity to influence the legislative agenda. If men alone are responsible for decision making, only part of the population's experiences and potential will be reflected . Thus, to achieve a just and democratic society in which policies reflect the diverse experiences of all groups, more women need to be included and their full political participation ensured. Through three country cases, this study has attempted to
57 answer whether women parliamentarians have been able to shift the debate and increase the parliamentary response to issues of gender equality.
Passing and implementing of gender based policies
In contrast to Uganda's National Assembly has passed a plethora of gender-targeted bills despite a decrease in the number of women parliamentarians. The number of laws passed from 2000-2013 is impressive and covers many issues on women's status in society, including land ownership, domestic violence, gender mainstreaming, and laws and amendments to enhance women's access to public office. Viet Nam's increasing connectivity to the global political economy has made it more accepting of international norms especially with regard to gender equality. Such norms complement the equity oriented philosophy that underpins Viet Nam's communist political structure. However, further research needs to be conducted to understand additional factors that may have contributed to the conflicting trends observed in VietNam.
Low enforcement of gender based policies
This study also identifies some facilitating factors and obstacles that affected the passage of key gender-targeted bills in each country. All three case studies reveal that the party plays an important role in shaping the legislative agenda and determines the passage of gender-targeted bills. For example, in Uganda, the NRM party took advantage of it dominance in the Executive and the National Assembly to obstruct the passage of the DRB. In Mexico, because women were not represented in the party leadership on the Labor Committee, they were excluded from discussions on the
58 paternity-leave Labor Law. The Mexico case study, in particular, shows that it is necessary to have more women in leadership positions in political parties and government committees in order to influence the legislative agenda .
Lack of collaboration among women representatives
There is also a need for greater effort among women parliamentarians to work together to support gender-targeted legislation. This was particularly apparent in Mexico when high-ranking women parliamentarians across party lines sought reforms to the quota regime in defiance of their parties' rules. Thus, increasing the presence of women in positions of power in parties, and creating mechanisms through which they can collaborate, is needed to facilitate the passage of gender-targeted legislation in
Uganda. Similarly, stronger collaboration among women parliamentarians, irrespective of religious views, is necessary to ensure the success of future gender-targeted legislation in Uganda.
The case studies also suggest that although women parliamentarians are not a homogenous group, on average they tend to introduce more gender-targeted bills than men. In Uganda, for example, the women's caucus and women's organizations spearheaded advocacy efforts for the ORB and OVA, which were met with resistance from some men parliamentarians.
5.2 Recommendations
Based on the lessons drawn from the three case studies, we identify the following best practices for enabling the passage of gender-targeted bills:
59 There is need for a strong legislation on women emancipation and
empowerment in Uganda, further still an institutional body to enforce the
legislation set can also be put in place by the government.
In rural and remote areas, the law enforcement and village representatives need
to be helped by the government to set up a strong committee that can help
promote and empower women socially, politically and economically.
Women's representation in strategically important government committees and
in the party leadership is an important factor to influence the passage of gender targeted legislation.
International institutions play an important role in providing technical support in
drafting gender-targeted legislation.
There needs to be consensus-building between women and men
parliamentarians in support of gender-targeted legislation.
Greater collaboration between women parliamentarians and the women's
movement is necessary to push for gender-targeted legislation.
Strategies to unify women parliamentarians around the same issue are
necessary to enable the passage of gender-targeted bills as women have different concerns and interests.
Civil-society-based women's movement and a strong caucus continue to be
important for building public support for gender-targeted bills and coordinating advocacy efforts.
60 5.3 Conclusions
In all three cases, civil society and government institutions were crucial in facilitating the passage of gender-targeted legislation. The Ugandan women's caucus and women's organizations spearheaded the DVB and DVA coalitions, which were important for garnering support for the bills. The Viet Nam's mass women mobilization wing of the
CPV has proved to be an important institution for promoting women in politics and gender-targeted legislation. In Mexico and Viet Nam, the media is viewed as a resource for galvanizing public support and pressure for the gender-equality agenda. In Mexico, for example, the media brought greater attention to men parliamentarians who were implicated in the Juanitas scandal. Also, women parliamentarians utilized the judiciary to implement strong quota reforms.
Lastly, as women do not make up the majority of parliamentarians in the National
Assembly of Uganda, the passage of gender-targeted bills is contingent on support from men parliamentarians. In Uganda, it was precisely because women parliamentarians employed strategies to garner support from men that the DVA passed. Similarly, it would be a mistake to rule out the role of men in helping to pass the series of gender targeted bills in Viet Nam given the decreasing number of women in the National
Assembly. Strategies that aim to build stronger alliances between men and women parliamentarians are therefore critical for the passage of gender targeted bills.
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