Gender Politics in Uganda

by Hilda J. Twongyeirwe and Fortunate Tusasirwe

VIDC online magazine Spotlight

This article was published in the VIDC online magazine Spotlight March 2021. If you want to receive the quarterly online magazine, invitations and documentations please subscribe here. 

Further reading


Goetz, Anne Marie (December 2002) No shortcuts to Power: Constraints on Women’s Political Effectiveness in Uganda. In: The journal of Modern African Times Vol. 40, No.4 , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

“Lifting of Age Limit: Female Activists Arrested”, Badru Kasadah, 13 September 2016, Eagle online.

“What polls say about women’s political leadership”, Eunice Musiime, 11 February 2021,Daily Monitor.

“Uganda: More Women Urged to Enter Politics Ahead of 2021 General Election”, God-frey Ssali, 26 Feburary 2020, The Independent, Kampala.

Tamale, Sylvia (1997) When Hens Begin to Crow: Gender and Parliamentary politics in contemporary Uganda, Kampala.

Authors


Hilda J. Twongyeirwe works with FEMRITE - Uganda Women Writers Association as Ex-ecutive Director. She is a published writer and editor of fiction and creative non-fiction. “No Time to Mourn. An anthology by South Sudanese women” (2020) is the latest book she has edited.

Fortunate Tusasirwe works with FEMRITE as Programmes Officer. She is a writer, especially of poetry and motivational content.

General election, 14 January 2021, Kampala © Abby Ramadan

General election, 14 January 2021, Kampala © Abby Ramadan

Uganda obtained independence from British Government in 1962. Before then, politics of the country were mainly controlled by aristocrats and colonial administrators. Pioneer women in Uganda’s politics and the women's liberation movement after independence were mainly from the aristocrat lineages.
In Uganda, participation of women in politics has always been a labored process bur-dened with patriarchal tendencies that relegate women to the margins. However, the National Resistance Movement which came to power in 1986, opened up a number of opportunities through Affirmative Action policies that have enabled more women to participate in politics – from grassroots to parliament.
Currently, the Speaker of Parliament is a female – Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga – who has served in the same position since May 2011. She is the first woman to be elected speaker. She occupies the third most important office in the country. Uganda was the first country in Africa to have a female Vice President – Specioza Naigaga Wandira Kazibwe – from 1994 to 2003. But does this not make Ugandan women jump with excitement? Probably not.

Women’s Participation in the 2021 General Elections

Women continue to suffer so many huddles in Ugandan politics due to different factors such as unequal access to education, poverty, care and domestic work, oppression and male dominancy, persistent gender stereotypes among others. In the just concluded parliamentary elections, one male contestant drew a pistol at a female contestant who was said to be leading in the race.