Women’s Studies International Forum, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 435–439, 1999Copyright © 1999 Elsevier Science LtdPrinted in the USA. All rights reserved

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UGANDAN FEMINISM: POLITICAL RHETORIC OR REALITY?

Barbara Mbire-Barungi

Economics Department, Makerere University,P. O. Box 7062, Kampala, Uganda

Synopsis —

This article discusses the issues involved in constructing feminisms in a global context,while recognising women’s diverse cultural backgrounds and local priorities. The issues raised here in-clude whether there exists something which can be identified as “African feminism”; whether such aconcept could be said to span all African countries; whether there is a truly “African feminism” as dis-tinct form “western feminism”; and what lessons might be learnt from each other. Focusing on theUgandan context, the relationships between feminisms at local, national, and international levels are ex-plored. Although feminist concerns cannot be generalised, fundamental commonalities can be found bylooking beyond political rhetoric and focusing on the reality of women’s lived experiences. It is con-cluded that international feminist links need to be built in order to influence public policy makers inter-nationally, nationally, and locally to embrace the principle of “women’s rights as human rights”. © 1999Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

A major challenge facing global sisterhood inthe new millennium will be to create a morehighly integrated international stage for theadvancement of gender equality and empow-erment. As this century draws to an end, astriking paradox exists as to how to constructwomen’s rights globally, given the diverse cul-tural backgrounds which have important im-plications for the local embodiment of theirrights. This article seeks to create a deeper in-sight into the historical, cultural, economic, so-cial, and national feminist concerns of Uganda.Feminist concerns cannot be generalisedacross the African continent, but fundamentalcommonalties exist to justify the case for “Af-rican feminism”. Perhaps even more discon-certing is whether “African feminism” is dis-tinct from “western feminism”. This articleattempts to raise these issues. Most impor-tantly, the theoretical discourse of Africanfeminism must be succinctly articulated prima-rily by the African sisters. Secondly, in orderto have effective public policy aimed at pro-moting gender equity and empowerment, na-tional and local politics should embrace the in-ternational principle of women’s rights ashuman rights.

As we approach the 21st century, a majorchallenge for the International Women’s Move-ment is how to progress beyond political rheto-ric in the post-Beijing era. Can universal femi-nism become a global reality?

Over 20 years ago, in Mexico, the firstworld conference on women marked the be-ginning of international recognition of theneed to globalize the effort to reduce genderinequality. Since then, the relentless struggleagainst the subordination of women hasgained momentum from the national to the in-ternational arena. In Uganda, the politicianMahbub ul Haq has challenged the Beijingconference to mark a departure from the pastby initiating a number of concrete steps, em-phasising the fact that it was time eloquencegave way to action (United Nations Develop-ment Programme, 1995).

The urgent need for the advancement ofgender equality is indeed a global truism, butone beset by global contradictions that arisefrom the huge diversity of women. The polari-sation between women from the South andfrom the North is increasingly evident on theinternational stage. The bond that is necessaryfor a coalition to evolve within international

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feminism cannot be created from a romanti-cised sisterhood that assumes the common op-pression of all women. Rather, it can only oc-cur after women’s diverse historical, cultural,economic, social, and national priorities andinterests have been recognised, and the vari-ous barriers to this goal have been identified inthe global arena (see, e.g., Bahl, 1997, p. 11;hooks, 1984, pp. 43–65; Mani, 1992).

This article moves closer to home by focus-ing on the parallels that exist between westernfeminism and the “silent” feminism of the “Af-rican woman”. Would the emergence of amore conspicuous third world feminismchange the politics of feminism? Is there some-thing which can be identified as “African femi-nism” and can it be said to span all Africancountries? The issues at the heart of thewomen’s movement are examined at the locallevel in the face of a seemingly imposing globalfeminism. The final question being: what is therole of the International Women’s Movementand how best can the challenges of the 21stcentury be tackled?

WOMEN IN UGANDA

The complexities of advancing the commonal-ity of gender equality and global feminism inthe face of the parallels of perception in the in-ternational arena, and the existing local con-flicts, are best illustrated by this anonymousexample of a personal experience:

Feeling troubled by my thoughts about myunhappy marriage and the fact that I wasflirting with the idea of divorce, I sought theadvice of my favourite paternal aunt: the ma-triarch of the household, the clan, the village,Karongo in Hoima.

1

I quickly packed anovernight bag, grabbed some groceries,jumped into my car, and set off on the 4-hourjourney to my village home. As I approachedher rather modernised bungalow in the midstof the tall elephant grass, I wondered how Iwas going to relate and share my innermostfeelings and fears? What advice could shegive me? She who was so deeply steeped inour customary way of life, for she knew nobetter than the culture passed on by ourforefathers. I who was born and bred in thecity and had led a very westernised lifestyle.When we got round to speaking about mymarriage problems, my desire to set myself

free from what I perceived as unbearablesubordination, she listened to me gravely as Igrappled with the indigenous dialect, run-yoro.

2

Once I had unburdened my soul, sheresponded in the typical customary way. Shesaid to me: let us pray my child. Down on ourknees we went, she pulled out a bible, readto me the relevant verses. And then pro-ceeded to pray, asking the good lord to guideme, to help to drive away the demons in thehome and to unite the family. Clearly she re-jected the notion or even the thought of abreak up of my marriage, but I had nonethe-less appeased myself by seeking her adviceand granted her the respect due to her as theelder in our home. On my return to the city, Iwent to see my lawyer. I sat down facing himand said to him that I wanted to file for a di-vorce on the grounds of irreconcilable differ-ences. He went on to remind me of the Afri-can community, the extended family culturalco-existence, and how I owed society an ex-planation. How does one speak of a right todivorce under such circumstances? (I thoughtto myself); what are my rights as a woman inthis society? Do I have rights? (the angerand frustration seething inside). As weploughed through the legal nitty gritty I be-came numb with shock. Take this for start-ers: under the Ugandan law a man may seekdivorce on grounds of adultery. A womanhowever needs another reason, over andabove commitment of adultery by her part-ner, in order to file a divorce. Mine was do-mestic violence. I needed more than just cir-cumstantial evidence to prove my case. I wasalso told it would be a difficult one given thatI showed no real signs of having been deeplytraumatised. The scars were minor, therewas no record of emotional breakdown, noevidence of disjointed daily life pattern, nodisengagement from formal work. The finalnail in the coffin was that the verdict reject-ing my plea for divorce would probably bemade by a female judge in the magistratescourt. Alas, we were “women in conflict”,fully aware of the international recognitionof women’s rights as human rights, having re-turned from the Beijing conference, but un-able to locally practise what we globallypreached.

This illustration depicts the local conflicts andobstacles in the process of enhancing further

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the advancement and empowerment ofwomen in Uganda. It also shows that, whilstwestern and international feminist move-ments such as the Beijing declaration and planof action may have put women on the map po-litically, locally (as in this case of Uganda)there are specific and particular issues thatneed to be addressed. The illustrative piecealso reflects the complexity that arises out ofthe influences of customary ways as opposedto western feminism—depicted by the differ-ent positions held by the matriarch in the vil-lage, the female judge, and the city woman. Inthis case, the city woman sees nothing wrongwith demanding a divorce, whilst the womenwho uphold the traditional culture find it un-thinkable for a woman to want to end her mar-riage, however bad it may be.

Since assuming power in 1986, the nationalresistance movement, Government of Uganda,has pledged support to the emancipation andempowerment of women. This was a milestonein Ugandan history as it signified the first timeever that a Ugandan national government an-nounced its willingness to tackle the issue ofgender inequality directly. For the first time,women’s rights are enshrined in the constitu-tion. This New National Constitution was pro-mulgated on 10 October 1995 (Government ofUganda, 1995).

Prior to the above-mentioned develop-ments, there was no point of reference forwomen with regard to their rights. Mostwomen are still not aware of their legal rights.Therefore, where the customary law conflictswith the statutory laws, the women tend to behighly disadvantaged. This is especially so interms of property rights. For example, accord-ing to customary law, women cannot inheritand own land. In some cultures, upon thedeath of one’s husband, the relatives of the de-ceased inherit the property. The brother of thedeceased may inherit the deceased’s wife andchildren as well. The exclusion of women fromproperty rights is one of the most severe formsof gender discrimination in Ugandan society.

Discriminatory labour laws are another ex-ample. In some sectors, women are not paidequally with men for equal work done. It isalso very common that many employers do notpay married women housing and medical al-lowance, where their male counter-parts arepaid these allowances, because it is assumedthat their husbands receive them on their be-

half. The New National Constitution of 10 Oc-tober 1995, has many provisions to protect andpromote the rights of women (Government ofUganda, 1995). It is important to note that theconstitution-making process has been continu-ally used to put the demands of women ontothe national agendas of the democratisationprogrammes of many African nations duringthe 1990s.

The nature of the transformation inUganda’s case is three pronged. First, there isthe guarantee of equality as laid out in the con-stitution (Government of Uganda, 1995). Sec-ond, there is the promotion of women’s partic-ipation in decision-making from grassroots tonational levels through the quota systemswithin local governing councils (Michel, 1995,pp. 58–72). Thirdly, however, there are en-trenched cultural and religious rights and tra-ditional authorities (Bissio, 1995, p. 555) whichimplicitly discriminate against women. Theseinterwoven aspects are all meshed into the dy-namic fabric of the Ugandan society againstwhich the strong global feminist tide is foreverreceding and returning. The New Constitutionhas, on the whole, attempted to provide for af-firmative action to protect and promote therights of women. Affirmative action in favourof women is necessitated by the deep inequali-ties that exist between men and women due tohistorical, cultural, and economic reasons thatprevent women from asserting their rightswithout an enabling environment being delib-erately provided for them.

The most current and controversial debatein Uganda today concerns the existing discrim-inatory laws and the need to either repeal oramend them. The conflict is not merely onebetween men and women. Within the Ugan-dan women’s movement, in common withsome of the other women’s movements out-side the west, debates have arisen between tra-ditionalists and the more westernised feministsas to what is culturally valuable and whatshould be discarded (see, e.g., Bahl, 1997, p.11; Mohanty, Russo, & Torres, 1991). There isyet to develop a clear consensus on the percep-tion of “discriminatory practices”. An extremecase is what is “domestic violence”? In somecultures, if a man does not occasionally beat uphis wife then this may be interpreted as nega-tive: he does not love her enough. Somewomen are still culturally bound to this belief,and hence would not file a complaint of do-

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mestic violence. The domestic relations lawsare controversial in Uganda for customary andreligious reasons, and it is no wonder thatthere is a heated debate in Parliament onnew laws.

At the national and local levels, campaignsfor the recognition of women’s rights, and forthe empowerment and emancipation ofwomen from grassroots level to the upper ech-elons of Ugandan society, have been vigor-ously successful. Feminist activism, however, isstill shrouded within various organisational in-itiatives that suffer from a lack of co-ordina-tion in many instances (Michel, 1995, pp. 58–72). A feminist movement per se is yet to beborn. But, at present, addressing the more ex-plicit gender imbalances (such as the need forbetter education, legal rights, and equal accessto employment) is a common cause. NGOs;community-based organisations; women rep-resentatives in the local governing councils;women parliamentarians; and government ma-chinery spearheaded by the ministry of genderand community development, have beenspurred on by the highest ranking female pub-lic servant in Uganda—the Ugandan VicePresident, Dr Specioza Wandira Kazibwe.

THE FEMINIST DEBATE AT A GLANCE

What really sets Ugandan women (and someof the other non-western feminisms) apartfrom within the feminist movement, is theknowledge and acceptance of the cultural sub-tlety of feminism. For example, elderly mar-ried women have power, behind the scenes, inboth the household and the village. This can-not be merely dismissed as being similar to thesupport network by women to men in thewestern world as discussed in western culturalmythology. The subtle power and strength ofthe traditional “African woman” is drawnfrom her silent acceptance of the customaryway of life, and her resilience to the heavyworkload of her dual role. Yes, the duality ofroles is universal, but the magnitude of theburden distinguishes the woman of the southfrom her sister in the north, to the extent thatthe traditional male is, unconsciously, ex-tremely dependant upon the communal femalesupport—mother; wife; grandmother; sisters;and aunts, for his day-to-day existence. On av-erage, the majority of African women work 15to 18 hours a day, while men work less than 12

hours (varies with the agricultural farming cy-cle) (Mbire-Barungi, 1994). Ester Boserup(1970), in her analysis of male and femalefarming systems, draws out the heavily skewedworkload towards women in the Ugandan set-ting. The gender inequality is implicit in whathas been a culturally accepted norm over gen-erations. The nurturing of the family is the fullresponsibility of the woman—the health andnutritional status of the household, and the ed-ucation of the children. Much of the food pro-duction, processing, and marketing is done bywomen all year round; whereas the male-dom-inated activity of cash crop production andselling is seasonal. In many instances, the in-come earned from a marketable surplus by thewomen is handed over to the male householdhead. Land, animals, crops, and any otherproperty is male owned. The inequality stemsfrom the customary setting of male propertyowners and female labour.

Where does one draw the line between rel-ativism and women’s rights? Is it possible tospeed up the process of cultural evolution inthe face of the existing conflicts? Whilst themodern woman who has been influenced bywestern feminism questions the customaryway of life, the traditional woman in her ruralsetting accepts it as her destiny. There is a cul-tural dichotomy between the modern and tra-ditional woman. Yet one should note that thegender discriminations implicit in our male-dominated society cut across divisions be-tween the modern and traditional man. Per-haps the most complex obstacle of all is theconflict of interests and priorities within thewomen’s movement. This hampers the effec-tive implementation of forward looking strate-gies for the advancement of women.

The real challenge then is to raise the con-sciousness of women to a greater extent re-garding their rights, and to ignite a willingnesson their part to know and act on the variouspossible modes of ensuring these rights, withina “politically correct” environment. All theseissues (sensitisation of women about theirrights; creating a gender-balanced environ-ment; and preserving our cultural heritage)have to be addressed synonymously, particu-larly given the fragile nature of the nationalpolitics at hand, in many African countries.Women’s rights as human rights are shroudedin uncertainty and depend to a large extent onthe politics of the day. This is only part of the

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challenge to the African feminist movementsat the local and regional level. The other partis how to create a niche for African feminismin the international debate, without simplyadding it on as an “afterthought”.

In order to establish an all-encompassingtheoretical framework, African feminists mustnot only challenge the

status quo

, but lead thethematic debate from African perspectives.The women’s movement in Africa needs tocreate an international awareness of its localpeculiarities. It is only through this “self-awak-ening” process that true “decolonisation” ofany international debate (in this case the femi-nist debate) can occur.

CONCLUSION: BRIDGING THE GAP . . .

This article has attempted to highlight some ofthe local conflicts that exist within the nationalenvironment of women in their socio-culturalsetting as depicted by Uganda. The mainthrust has been that, although the interna-tional feminist movement has advanced thecause of women globally and created a globalenvironment and recognition of women’srights through the Beijing Declaration andPlan of Action; much still needs to be done onthe ground. It is imperative to recognise thatdiverse feminist movements are not all on thesame playing field. Ugandan women, for ex-ample, have not achieved the same status asScandinavian women, back home. “Women’srights are human rights” is the internationalfeminist slogan—however, can this truly beseen as the case in many African countries?No. It is not until we culturally evolve fromhistorical customary practices that upholdmale domination that we can fundamentallyand effectively influence policy aimed at em-powering women.

Lessons can be learnt from western feministmovements as to how women have been ableto uplift their status beyond tokenism (as is thecase in many African countries) in the moredeveloped countries. The more crucial role ofinternational feminism is to influence publicpolicy at the global level. Western feminism inparticular cannot simply be brushed aside as

imperialist. It must be commended for its sig-nificant role in propping up the stage for a glo-bal sisterhood dialogue. Women can no longerbe dismissed as inferior, and governments to-day are accountable at global levels (Taylor,1995). The challenge that remains is how tobridge the gap between women of the southand women of the north as we move towardsgender equity and empowerment.

The bargaining power of women can onlybe heightened by universality in the determi-nation to advance gender equality world-wide.The Beijing Declaration and Platform of Ac-tion have pitched the demand for genderequality right at the top of the internationalagenda for the 21st century.

ENDNOTES

1. Karongo is a village in Hoima Town, Western Uganda.2. Runyoro is one of the local languages of Bantu origin.

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