By Florence Alaro
For many African Women, the 1995 Beijing Platform of Action and the various International instruments on women rights signed by Uganda, are yet to translate into positive changes in their daily lives. Many women still remain at the bottom of the social hierarchy, with poor access to social resources such as; land, credit, health and education.
In Uganda, despite the positive steps that have been taken to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, the case is not any different. The position most women hold in society is still shaky and influenced by a number of challenges some of which include; cultural biases that unjustly stall women’s career progression in public spaces, lack of academic qualifications and skills (given the already marginalized position of women and training) and low self-esteem.
Empowering women is essential to the health and social development of families, communities and the country. When women are living safe, fulfilled and productive lives, they can reach their full potential, contributing their skills to the workforce and can raise happier and healthier children.
Meanwhile, a recent study by the Economic Policy Research Centre indicated that “in Uganda women and girls spend a lot more hours on unpaid care work, twice as much time as men and boys.”
This disproportion entrenches social gender norms that continue to disempower and impede them from gaining quality employment. Unpaid work absorbs a lot of women’s time and energy, reducing their competitiveness in the labor market. Consequently, women are more inclined to accept lower income and insecure jobs, often in the informal sector.
However, placing the women’s agenda at the forefront of budgeting and planning service delivery points, may effectively tackle the cycle of women’s economic disempowerment. Provision of government assisted low interest schemes, will help them in the informal sector to boost their businesses.
As women will be required to repay these loans, this will encourage hard work, as well as provide capital options for businesses that would otherwise need to close due to lack of funds.
Also on the agenda, publicly provide accessible alternatives to ensure that women can thrive sustainably, market funding initiatives, affordable health care access for women working in markets and better access to health services would allow women to focus on earning a living thereby, cutting the amount of time spent queuing to access medication. All these measures will enable Uganda to work towards achieving Agenda 2030 and ensuring that no one is left behind.
