The Republic of Uganda

MINISTRY OF GENDER, LABOUR AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY (IWD) 2013 THEME: THE GENDER AGENDA: CONNECTING GRASSROOTS WOMEN TO

DEVELOPMENT

A SYNOPSIS

8th MARCH 2013

Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development P.O.BOX 7136, Kampala

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Theme: “The Gender Agenda: Connecting Grassroots Women to

Development”

1.0 Introduction Each year around the world, International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on

the 8th of March. Various events take place to highlight the economic, political

and social achievements of women. Governments, Civil Society Organizations,

Institutions, Development Partners, Women’s Groups, the Private Sector and the

Media participate in commemorating the day.

International Women’s Day is celebrated in recognition of the contributions and

the different roles women play in the development process of their countries;

hence women from different ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political

backgrounds are united under a common cause and purpose.

International Women’s Day is observed under selected themes and the global

theme for 2013 is “The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum”. In Uganda, the

National theme this year is “The Gender Agenda: Connecting Grassroots Women to Development”. The national theme recognizes the achievements towards gender equality and

women empowerment and takes cognizance of the contributions of grassroots

women to equitable and sustainable development. It draws the attention of all

development actors in Government, Civil Society, Faith Based Organizations and

the Private Sector to examine the extent to which their respective policies and

programmes have responded to the needs of women, in particular grassroots

women.

Further, the theme emphasizes the importance of connecting grassroots women

to development while taking into consideration the gender agenda. Grassroots

women, as ordinary people in society, on whose behalf decisions are made,

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require that their needs and interests are considered in the policies, laws, plans

and programmes in order to attain the universal goals of gender equality and

empowerment of women. Equally important, connecting grassroots women to

development entails ensuring that they are included in decision making

processes that affect their lives and that they are able to contribute to and hence

benefit from development.

The Government of Uganda has signed and ratified key frameworks that define

the global gender agenda. These include the 1995 Beijing Declaration and

Platform for Action, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW 1979) which is recognized as the

international Bill of Rights for women, as well as the Millennium Declaration and

Development Goals especially Goal No. 3 which is gender equality and women’s

empowerment. At the regional level, Uganda is a party to the Protocol to the

African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights on Women in

Africa (2003), and is signatory to the African Union Solemn Declaration on

Gender Equality.

Uganda aligns itself to the regional and global agenda while defining the National

Agenda through the existing laws and policies. The Constitution guarantees

equality between men and women. The Uganda Gender Policy (2007) is a guide

to mainstreaming gender in all development programmes. The National

Development Plan identifies gender inequalities, negative attitudes, mindsets,

cultural practices and perceptions as some of the constraints that must be

addressed to achieve sustainable and equitable development. One of the

objectives under the Social Development Sector is to promote gender equality

and women’s empowerment by ensuring equitable access to opportunities and

their participation in the development process.

2.0 Challenges of Grassroots Women

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Uganda’s population currently estimated at 30.7 million is predominantly rural,

with only 15% living in the urban areas (UNHS 2009/10). Women constitute

51.2% of the population with the sex ratio of 95 males per 100 females.

The majority of Ugandan women live in rural areas as subsistence farmers and

hence form the bulk of grassroots women. These women have limited access to

and control over the natural, human, financial, physical and social resources.

They have limited skills due to high illiteracy levels as reflected in the literacy rate

of 66% for females compared to 79% for males. The situation is worse in rural

areas with illiteracy rates standing at 74% males and 58% for females. (UNHS

2009/10)

Given the low levels of education, most grassroots women are engaged in low

income jobs or are self employed in the informal sector. Studies have established

that among secondary and tertiary graduates, those in wage employment are

generally better off than those in self employment, yet the share of women in

wage employment in non agricultural sectors is only 40%. (UNHS 2009/10)

In the employment sector, women comprise 74.7 percent of employees in the

lowest paying sectors such as agriculture and quarrying, in comparison to 65% of

men. (UNHS 2009/10) The meagre incomes of women therefore subject them to

economic dependency and contribute to among others unequal gender power

relations at the household level, which affects decision making at family level.

(MOFPED, 2009).

Other factors that affect development of grassroots women include the

patriarchal system that dictates women’s subordination to men. Societal

expectation influence women’s roles where women work longer hours (12-18hrs)

as compared to men (8-10hrs) as evidenced in women providing 80% of the

agricultural labour force while also undertaking work in non-farm activities such

as arts and craft and road side vending to supplement household incomes. In

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addition, women are responsible for the non-paid care work within household and

within the community.

Gender based violence in the form of physical, sexual and psychological abuse

is prevalent in the country. According to the Uganda Demographic and Health

Survey (UDHS) 2011, 28% of the women have ever experienced sexual

violence. 43% of women have ever experienced physical violence at the hands of

their husband or partner, 26% have ever experienced sexual violence, and 43

percent have experienced emotional violence. Overall, about three in five of ever-

married women (60%) have experienced any kind of violence (physical, sexual or

emotional) by a husband or other intimate partner. This is a reduction from 68%

reported during the 2006 UDHS. Physical violence among women aged 15-49

reduced slightly (by 3.8%) from 59.9% in 2006 to 56.1 in 2011 while sexual

violence reduced from 39.0% to 27.7% in the same period (UDHS 2011). Female

Genital Mutilation (FGM) is still being practiced in some communities.

Despite the active involvement of grassroots women in food and crop production,

most of them do not have control over the proceeds of their labour. Only 25.5%

of women control the land they cultivate and, the percentage of women holding

titled land is 20% (UNHS 2009/ 10).

Furthermore, women’s health indicators are still poor as reflected by the high

maternal mortality rate of 438 deaths per 100,000 live births (UDHS 2011).

Although there is a downward trend in maternal mortality rate, the improvement

is too small in comparison to the MDG target of 131 deaths per 100,000 live

births. This is due to many factors including early pregnancies, short intervals

between pregnancies, prevalence of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and TB in pregnancy,

among other factors. Besides, women’s health is in some cases compromised by

their inability to negotiate for safe sex as well as make critical decisions about

their sexuality. In some instances, women require permission from spouses in

order to get medical attention including family planning services.

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3.0 Opportunities for Grassroots Women Government of Uganda recognizes the empowerment of women and attainment

of equality. In this regard, Government has formulated and implemented gender

responsive policies with a view of attaining its commitment.

The Agriculture Sector has been prioritized for funding, focusing on transforming

subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. Through the National Agricultural

Advisory Services (NAADS), women are supported in agro processing and

marketing of their products. These initiatives have been successful and

contributed to improved production.

The “Prosperity for All” (PFA) programme supports grassroots community-led

development. Under this programme, the Savings and Credit Cooperatives

(SACCOs) are being promoted as the main mechanism through which financial

services are channeled to communities. At sub county level, community

members, including women are organized to join SACCOs through which they

are able to obtain loans. The interest rates are reasonable at about 13% for

agriculture and 17% per annum for commercial activities, as compared to up to

35% interest charged on loans from commercial banks. SACCO members also

have the benefit of acquiring new skills and knowledge from training which is a

major component for development of savings and credit cooperatives.

Protection of women’s land rights has been addressed through legal provisions

particularly the Land Act (1998) and the Mortgage Act (2009). Section 39 A of the

Land Amendment Act (2004) details security of occupancy on family land, while

section 40 prohibits the sale, transfer, exchange, pledge, mortgage or lease of

family land except with prior consent of the spouse (CEDAW Report 2009).

Affirmative action, as enshrined in Article 32 of the Constitution of Uganda has

encouraged more women to venture into areas of decision making. The provision

of one third representation of women at local government levels has brought

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grassroots women into decision making positions. Some have progressed to

higher levels. Consequently the proportion of women in Parliament has risen

from 19.2% in 1996 to 30.4% in 2006 up to the current 34% in the 9th Parliament.

In the Education Sector, the affirmative action for female entrants to public

tertiary institutions has enhanced gender equity in access to education, thus

increasing their opportunities to participate in development. The Universal

Primary Education (UPE) programme has increased overall enrollment of boys to

50.6% and girl’s enrollment to 49.4% (UNHS 2009/10). The introduction of

Universal Secondary Education (USE) in 2007 has improved school enrolment at

secondary level as reflected in the boy’s enrollment of 54.5% and girls’

enrollment of 45.5 %.( UNHS 2009/10). The Functional Adult Literacy

programme has over the years enrolled a total of 974,855 learners with women

being the main beneficiaries contributing over 70% of enrolled participants while

men form 30% of the beneficiaries.

Government has intensified the response to eliminate gender based violence

(GBV). Laws have been enacted such as the Domestic Violence Act (2010), the

Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act (2010) and the Prevention of

Trafficking in Persons Act, 2009. A national policy on elimination of GBV is in the

offing and mechanisms for effective coordination of stakeholders at national and

local government levels have been established.

As reflected above, the national gender agenda supports the effective

involvement of women, particularly grassroots women in the development

process. Significant gains have been made, but more is still to be done in order

to attain the global gender agenda.

4.0 Recommendations and Way Forward

• Promote women’s economic empowerment through mobilizing them to

participate in programmes such as NAADS and joining Savings and Credit

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Cooperatives (SACCOS). Support women to engage in income generating

activities through trade, commerce and access them to regional and

international markets.

• Prioritize grassroots women’s health and increase attention to non

communicable diseases, reproductive health services including family

planning, as well as HIV/AIDS prevention and response.

• All actors should endeavor to scale up interventions to prevent, respond and

end impunity to violence against women so as to cover the whole country.

• The Functional Adult Literacy Programme should be scaled up to target more

grassroots women. The curriculum should include business skills with specific

focus on entrepreneurial development, business planning, value addition,

marketing and pricing.

• Energy and time saving technologies should be promoted and availed to

households to enhance conservation of the environment as well as facilitate

improved wellbeing of families.

• Leadership skills development for women in political and decision making

positions should be prioritized to enhance their ability to effectively participate

in making decisions that lead to political, economic and social development.