All over Uganda, women are
subordinated to men, despite the huge social and economic responsibilities that
women have in many rural Ugandan communities. Women started to engage in
politics in the years of independence, when they tried to obtain laws
concerning marriage, divorce and inheritance, especially in regard to property
rights and custody of children. But during the seventies and eighties, each small
progress was destroyed by the violence which raged in the country. Social and
economical degrade and the lapse of public services and infrastructures reduced
access to schools, hospitals and markets, making life conditions for women even
tougher than ever before.
In the last part of the
eighties, Museveni’s government worked to eliminate gender discriminations in
politics and official practices. The number of women in parliament has increased and since 1976 the
Ugandan Association of Women Lawyers is providing legal services to women
defending their rights in case of divorce, separation and widowhood.
However,
in rural communities with low access to education, very few progresses have
been made towards equal rights. Land is vital in the
culture of local communities as they get from it their entire livelihood. But
traditional roles have completed transformed in the last decades. Men have no
more bushes to clean nor huts to build. As a consequence, it is women who
interact with the land on a daily basis, while majority of men is unemployed
and not taking responsibility for the care of the children.
