By Penlope Ashaba,
NATIONAL
Uganda continues to face gender inequality in economic empowerment and economic outcomes, despite closing gender gaps in rates of labor force participation and entrepreneurial activity.
The reality of gender inequality and especially gender-based violence is that it is as complex and multifaceted as its heart –breaking. The challenges to gender inequality ranges from explicit structural failings, such as ineffective law enforcement, to implicit social and cultural barriers. In Uganda, there are a number of cultural practices that perpetuate inequality between men and women yet continue to be practiced today.
In adulthood, women are still treated as second-class citizens both in the public and private spheres. Traditionally, housework is extremely gendered; wives are expected to care for the children, prepare meals, wash laundry, clean the house, and outside of the home for additional income, whereas men are not expected to take nearly as much responsibility for their children yet they are considered the primary financial providers and heads of the house hold. In other words, women are over worked and less appreciated.
In Uganda, many girls go through life without ever having opportunities to step into a classroom. For some of those who take the privilege of a quality education for granted, most Ugandan girls long for an Opportunity to go to school. In Uganda, girls and women have distinctly lower social status than men. This gender inequality often limits female participation in both formal and informal institutions such as marriage and family, also have little power to make their own decisions, acquire a profitable job, and be independent.
Although education may be a partial means of escape from the patriarchal system, the higher poverty levels have increasingly become a barrier to female education. Many girls are forced to drop out of school to pursue income-generating activities for the household or married off in exchange for a dowry. Parents in Uganda still prefer paying school fees for boys than girls and this inequality is widely supported.
Uganda women have been and are still victims of different forms of violence. In Uganda, Violence against women and girls remains particularly wide spread. According to the 2016 Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS), 51 percent of women aged 15-19 years have ever experienced physical violence. More than one in five (22 percent) have ever experienced sexual violence in their life time4s (UBOS & ICF, 2018)
In Uganda, as of February 2021, women held 34.9% of seats in parliament. However, a lot still needs to be done to achieve gender equality.
To promote gender equality, society should recognize that girls have equal potential and are no lesser than boys. Raise them to be stronger so that they can also bring laurels to the nation.
Gender inequality has life-long consequences for girls and sets them back in their communities.
We must transform gender norms that leave girls behind; this starts with all of us. We can all play a part in challenging harmful gender norms so every girl / woman can thrive.
