Gender is My Agender Campaign (GIMAC) Young Women’s Network , through the She Leads program has challenged the government of Uganda and other stakeholders to enhance the fight against gender imbalance as a way of scaling down on the rising trend of gender based violence against women and girls.
GIMAC is young people’s network established in 2018 to recognise and amplify young women’s voices and their advocacy efforts in their communities, countries and regions.
The group’s National Coordinator, Rehema Malole says that even though the current government has done a tremendous job in enhancing the welfare of women, there remains a big gap that calls for the participation of everyone concerned to overturn.
She for instance notes the general perception among society which tends to put female children after their male counterparts which reduces them to a feeling of being less human.
” When a boy child speaks, you tend to suggest that they are the only children and the girls are not. Like you always say that a girl child will go and marry and get her own family but when a parent falls sick, it’s this se girl you invite to take care of you.” she bemoans.
Rehema Malole further downplays the increase in women’s political representation, especially with juicy positions on the Cabinet, asserting that more often than not, decision-making remains a preserve of the men making it less impactful.
She also demands that the political system should strive toward a 50-50 balance in representation to strike a gender balance. She wonders why the laws stress that women’s representation on various councils and committees should be at least 30% and not 50.
GIMAC Young womens’ She Leads Coordinator also demands more effort in actualising the laws that grant land rights to the women in the country.
She stresses that land ownership is a significant policy issue from which women are, unfortunately, locked out.
“Why focus on women’s land rights in Uganda? Women in Uganda make up 51% of the population (UBOS, 2002) and provide over 70% of the labour for agriculture.” she contends.
Despite these statistics, Malole argues that women own only 7% of land as their rights to ownership are
restricted both in the natal and matrimonial homes. Women in rural areas she notes, are most vulnerable to this deprivation. They have no control over what they produce and the proceeds therefrom. There is inadequate literature on women’s experiences about land, especially in rural Uganda. There is also lukewarm participation by civil society organizations in advocating for land rights for women according to Rehema Malole.
She demands that the situation of these women is worthy of scrutiny and attention.
She also faults the theory of human rights based on the argument that all human beings are equal and should enjoy all rights equally.
Women in Uganda, according to her, have made significant strides in achieving some rights to education, employment and participation in public
affairs. However, achievements on women’s land rights have remained minimal despite the Government’s efforts to reform the laws and practices that govern it.
This, she says is attributed to the male-centred nature of land tenure systems in practice across the country. These systems favour men’s ownership of land as women are mostly restricted to user rights. Women’s decisions on inputs are aggressively curtailed.
Rehema Malole, thus, appeals to the government to work towards revoking the draconian customs and beliefs holding women behind, arguing it is only then that the country will be able to attain a significant level of development. She notes that keeping a country’s 51% population outside the production chain is not only nonsensical but also self-defeating.
About the She Leads program
She Leads Africa Regional Program is a joint program of Plan International Netherlands, Defence for Children – ECPAT the Netherlands (DCI-ECPAT), African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), and Terre des Home the Netherlands (TdH).
Funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands from January 2021tl to Dec 2025. Being implemented in 7 countries in Africa namely: Uganda, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Liberia and the Africa Regional Program is being implemented with AUC and RECs like EAC, ECOWAS and IGAD.
GIMAC Young Women is currently implementing the project in the 7 She Leads countries. Which are heavily characterized by discriminatory gender and age-related social norms that deny and restrict civic space for GYW, limiting their rights to move freely, voice opinions and engage in public life.
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