DIVERSITY
IN THE WOMEN’S MOVEMENT IN UGANDA. By Susan Labwot
The growth of
the women’s movement can be traced back to the late 1950s and early 1960. The growth
of the movement was the emergence of individual women in positions of
responsibility in the public affairs.
When discussing diversity
in the women’s movement, culture is of the critical points of reference since
it determines the values of an individual and the community, in respect to how
we see ourselves and others, as well as our world outlook. Culture informs our
responses to social, political and economic relations in the environment. Our
identity is shaped by society’s beliefs, expectations and experiences which we
acquire through socialization at the family level, in schools, churches and
participating in community activities.
By the nature of
women’s gender socialization, many of them will try to avoid situations or
engagements that compromise their livelihood or put their families at risk and
therefore conform to societal expectation even they would personally wish to
defy. This explains why few women speak out against issues of domestic violence
and sexual rights simply because these are topics that they community has
viewed as ‘bedroom issues’ and they should not be discussed in the public
sphere. The ones who do so are given all sorts of names and some women do not
want to even associate with them. This can be clearly seen from the current
discussion on the Marriage and Divorce Bill that has gathered a lot of decision
both in parliament, media and the public.
It important to note
that in Uganda, much of the earlier sensitization and education, which
unfortunately has persisted in the women’s organizations and clubs, was geared
at transforming African women into better wives of ‘Westernized’ African men
and hence reproducing Western notions of gender, domesticity, morality and
household divisions of labour. This has given inadequate considerations of
women’s own realities, needs and priorities and has continued to promote
activities that have limited women’s engagement and kept them partially locked
in the private sphere, depoliticized, and passive such that the majority of
women fear or simply do not challenge the status quo.
The recent democratic processes in the
country under the reinstated multi-party politics and the global economic and
social networking trends, are also seen in some circles as weakening and
fragmenting the women’s voice and hence the urgency to critically discuss the
issue of individual identity and pluralism within the women’s movement.
“Most people are scared to stand up and
speak out their mind on political or what are regarded as ‘controversial’
social issues. If we desire to see pluralism in the women’s movement then we
need to get the women beyond the ‘bread and butter’ syndrome and economically
empower them so that they have the freedom and choice of engagement”, a
respondent said. Women therefore need to
have the right information and civic education, coupled with economic
empowerment, if they have to have the courage, perseverance and the time to
embrace pluralism and actively participate in political discussions and
activities.
As the nation
celebrates Women Day, it’s important that the contribution of women through
their movement should be given more work.
Power and decision making in the women’s movement should be
decentralized and shared to include women from all walks of life, rural and
urban, old and young and women from the formal and informal sector. This
deliberate effort of inclusion and active engagement will go a long way in erasing the current bias that has been created of an
elite urban-based women’s movement and help to strengthen an all-inclusive and
sustainable women’s movement.
The women in the
movement need to learn to strategically negotiate in order to convince those
people with alternative views and also promote critical and analytical thinking
within the movement. Women activists should try to build men’s capacity to
speak out on gender issues and attract them to the women’s movement.
