UGANDA: Women in Uganda Still Vulnerable, First Lady says

THE First Lady and Karamoja affairs state minister, Janet Museveni, has said although Ugandan women are proud of what the Movement Government has done to empower them, they are still vulnerable and not fully empowered yet.

She said Uganda's affirmative action policies had reduced the gender imbalances and resulted into tangible gender equality. But the First Lady added that women are discriminated against in earnings, employment, access to credit and capital accumulation, which, she said, affects their economic well-being and households.

Mrs. Museveni was speaking last week during the opening ceremony of the sixth meeting of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) women's advisory panel at Sheraton Hotel in Kampala.

A press release from her office stated that she said laws that prohibit gender discrimination are in the Constitution, the Land Act, Equal Opportunities Act, and Domestic Relations Act.

During the meeting, Mrs. Museveni requested IDB to build the capacity of women in business planning, marketing, pricing, microfinance and entrepreneurship since they find it difficult to do so from available financial institutions due to lack of collateral securities and high interest rates.

She also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Uganda and the IDB regarding the Member Country Partnership Strategy. Kampala is the first city, south of the Sahara, to host the advisory panel since its establishment in 2004.

The panel advises IDB how best to mainstream women's concerns and gender-related issues into its internal operations and activities. It also forms programmes to promote and encourage women's participation in social economic development processes.

During the meeting, finance minister Syda Bbumba, who is a member of the panel and governor of IDB Uganda, said since Uganda became a member of the bank 33 years ago, over 30 projects and trade finance worth $120m had been implemented for women and children in rural areas.

IDB group president Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali said the bank had assigned $300m to finance key strategic areas in line with the National Development Plan. They include agricultural value addition and enhancing the human resource base and institutional capacity for the next three years.