By Brenda Namata, Communications and Advocacy Officer, UMWA
Dear reader,
The Uganda Media Women’s Association (UMWA) is thrilled to welcome you to the second edition of The Other Voice (TOV) e-paper!
The past two months have been a thoughtful endeavor to enhance coverage of women voices in society towards gender equality and social justice through TOV.
Contributing to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 – Promoting Gender Equality – TOV, through its two-monthly issuing, envisions equal representation and inclusion of women voices in decision-making processes and accountability mechanisms, without leaving any one behind.
In this issue, we offer a widened coverage and representation of women voices and Persons With Disabilities from both Central, Western and Northern parts of Uganda.
Insights into this edition’s stories reflect a clear urgency to strength advocacy on women rights as a core consideration to promote human rights and social justice. The stories also illuminate that economic vulnerabilities of women double their exposure to gender based violence.
This edition particularly highlights domestic violence, safety and security of female journalists, women’s fight for land rights, socio-economic gender gaps and mental health.
Whereas Uganda is a signatory to international instruments on women rights like the Convention on Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, and the stipulated principles therein are domesticated within Uganda’s constitution and policies, the country still grapples with women rights violations.
Article 33 of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda emphasizes rights of women and the demand for women to be accorded the same rights as men.
The visibility of these rights through equal participation in decision-making processes and development are underscored by the Beijing platform of Action. It emphasizes media as vital in women empowerment and seeks for enhancing women visibility in media through equal portrayal.
According to the 2022 Annual Criminal Report by Police, domestic violence and defilement were among the highest crimes registered. Similarly, in the media, female journalists continue to be soft targets for abuse, thus contributing to their newsroom exit and later, limited coverage of women in news media. The 2020 Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP) report revealed that women are only 24 per cent visible in news media as sources and subjects, a low representation that means least coverage of women issues and their voices in society amidst observed gender based violence in society.
Therefore, beyond representation and exposure of gender gaps that are hindering efforts of women empowerment, this second edition of TOV seeks to draw the attention of all responsible stakeholders to the urgency of addressing the gaps that fuel violence against women, girls and PWDs.
The Other Voice e-paper is being supported by the Royal Danish Embassy
