Uganda: Despite Gains, Women Still Lag Behind Economically, Socially
They endure agonising pain to ensure generational continuity. They are the pillars on which homesteads stand. They are women. It is said of them: Behind every successful man, is a woman. At the national level, women’s contribution to development is significant, but for all their toil and selfless efforts, are women given befitting respect?
According to Maggie Kigozi, the Uganda Investment Authority executive director, women still face major challenges in their socio-economic environs.
“A woman dressed in a busuuti (Ugandan traditional dress) doesn’t attract as much attention as a man when it comes to getting bank loans,” she says. “In fact, she may have to come along with her husband.
“Land is a chief collateral if one is to get a loan,” says Kigozi. “Women lack it.” Indeed, there are many other road blocks stopping women from reaching their full potential, in spite of their 51% share of national population.
No economic independence
When it comes to access to land, a key factor of production, women take a back seat in most traditional African societies.
A gender and productivity survey carried out by Uganda Bureau of Standards (UBOS) in 2008 showed that 93% of registered land in Uganda was owned by men, with only 12% of women participating in formal labour.
Cultural subordination has also not done women’s role in development any good. For example, the payment of bride price reduces women to property.
Financially, women are not yet fully independent, says Karooro Okurut, the Bushenyi Woman MP. “Women in relationships are suffering at the hands of men just because they have no other means of survival. This amounts to slavery. There is need to find more ways that will ensure the financial independence of women and quickly too,” Karooro says.
Maternal health bad
Women still experience high maternal mortality rates, 435 per 1,000 live births per year – one of the highest in the world.
The total fertility rate is at 6.7 children per woman, with 16% of women married by the age of 15 and 53% by age 18, according to the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (UDHS 2006)
The high fertility rate at 6.9 has a bearing on the provision of health services for women since these are, by any standards, too many children per woman.
Education and the girl-child
In education, where resources are scarce, it is often the girl-child’s future that is sacrificed. Girls are often married off at an early age for financial gain (bride price).
Employment
Only 16.3% of women in urban areas are unemployed, compared to 7.5% for men, according to 2004 UBOS estimates.
In addition, 46% of all women in the active labour force are unpaid, according to a gender and productivity survey. Only 18% of men fall here.
Women accounted for 73% of unpaid family workers and 40% in formal employment sector.
The average monthly salary for women in paid employment stands at sh40,000, only half of a man’s take-home pay.
Commercial laws and taxation work against women. In a male-dominated country, the tax regimes are uniform, yet women own few limping business enterprises, with many collapsing at infancy.
Interventions
Through the transformative leadership under the 24-year-old NRM rule, a number of women have changed their behavioral dispositions and attitude towards work.
“They now engage in hitherto male-dominated work such as road construction and maintenance,” said Museveni in his 2009 Women’s Day speech.
“I continue to encourage women to aggressively embrace entrepreneurship. Women have cultivated a culture of saving and investment,” he said.
Under the bona baggawale (prosperity for all) scheme, women entrepreneurship has increased, with 55% of microfinance borrowers being female. And on a brighter note, 16% of the registered land in Uganda is now owned by women.
Courtesy of the affirmative action in the 1990s, women have also secured important national decision-making positions.
“That was the start of the paradigm alteration in which women were no longer seen as second-rate people, but as equals with their male counterparts subject to the same social obligation and entitled to the same status,” says Karooro.
In Parliament, for example, there are over 100 female legislators. The proportion of women in local councils rose from 6% in the early 1990s to 44% in 2003; while in Parliament it rose from 18% in 1996 to 30.4% to-date, which is the internationally recommended quota.
Some of the women holding key positions are the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, Laeticia Kikonyogo, (deputy chief justice) and Maggie Kigozi (UIA chief).
Cabinet ministers include Syda Bbumba (finance), Namiremebe Bitamazire (education) and Miria Mutagamba (water and environment).
Due to some responsive interventions, women are slowly but steadily improving their entrepreneurship abilities, contributing 40% to Uganda’s GDP.
“The number of women-owned projects increased from 50 to 200 in the last five-years,” says Kigozi. “They are investing in trade, hotels, construction and manufacturing industries formerly a no-go are.”
There’s still social inequity
Social transformation, however, cannot be a reality when households and individuals do not have adequate incomes.
One major impediment to the realisation of economic growth and development in most developing countries is the failure to access big markets, most especially by women. This needs urgent redress.
With the establishment of the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology, women have a greater chance of accessing ICTs, thereby enhancing their competitiveness and participation in the global economy. This indicates the Government’s efforts in trying to narrow the gender digital divide.
The President always emphasise that there needs to be an increase in girls’ access to education and promotion of cultural acceptance of their right to education.
While a lot has been done in Uganda, it also evident that we still have miles to go before we can boast of gender equality and women’s empowerment. There is clear evidence that gender equality reduces poverty which is a cause and consequence of economic growth.
Author: Joel Ogwang
Source: AllAfrica News (http://allafrica.com/stories/201003090658.html)
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