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meetings with their constituents. In addition, differentreligious groups want different laws, furtherexacerbating the process.Violence against women in Uganda is commonand perpetrators benefit from impunity, partly dueto social attitudes condoning such violence. Lawenforcement officials seldom intervene in domesticviolence cases. The 2006 Uganda Demographic andHealth Survey revealed that 68% of married womensuffer domestic violence. In light of this, the DomesticViolence Act was passed in 2009 – but it is a lawin name only.The DRB would empower courts of law todecide whether or not a marriage has irretrievablybroken down, on such grounds as adultery,“sexual perversion” on the part of the respondent,cruelty, whether mental or physical, desertion ofthe petitioner for a continuous period of at leasttwo years, incest, and change of religion, amongothers.There are many documented cases of spouseswho have been mistreated or even killed in badmarriages. Homes have broken up because of theactions of one person and the consequences haveaffected generations thereafter. Even while theprospect of legislating marriage and personal relationshipsgoes against the grain, these are realitiesthat Ugandans cannot run away from.The Marriage and Divorce Bill, as the current versionof the DRB is known, addresses, among other things,the different types of recognised marriages in Uganda,marital rights and duties, and recognition of cohabitationin relation to property rights. It also clarifies article33 (1) of the constitution, which accords women full andequal dignity of the person with men and spells out therights protected during marriage, which include theright to marry, give consent to marry, receive marriagegifts, and conjugal and property rights.The DRB has seen tempers flare in parliamentand sections of the media. It is important to educatethe public about the importance of the bill inUganda, since domestic violence arises from conflictsrelating to rights and responsibilities in thehome, and a failure to pass the DRB will affect therealisation of the Domestic Violence Act, renderingit redundant as it only justifies the prosecution ofoffences where there has been “cruelty”. Ugandanwomen will not have adequate access to justice dueto insufficient information on their rights and thelaws protecting them, social pressure, the cost oflegal procedures, and inadequate law enforcementof women’s rights.WOUGNET believes that there is a need to createawareness amongst the public through the use of socialmedia, other online platforms and mailing lists.Similarly, throughout the country, various women’sorganisations and members of parliament have endeavouredto include information and communicationstechnologies (ICTs) in their awareness-raising efforts.For example, the Uganda Women’s Parliamentary Associationhas run media campaigns and has postedupdates on their Parliament of Uganda Facebook accountto ensure that people understand that the billneeds to be passed. WOUGNET has run SMS campaignsand social media campaigns, and participated in radioand TV talk shows and debates. Various postings havebeen updated on the WOUGNET mailing list.ConclusionsFrom WOUGNET’s perspective, the DRB is a consolidatedlaw on domestic matters that upholds theinstitution of marriage, offers protection for marriedpeople, promotes fairness to achieve social justice,and provides for requirements of a valid marriage inline with the Constitution of Uganda. But not everyonesees it this way.Therefore, WOUGNET believes that on behalfof the women’s network and in order to strengthenadvocacy in relation to the DRB, there is a need toharmonise disparate messages to ensure that women’srights advocates speak as ONE. All availableplatforms and forums at our disposal, which includeSMS, email, phone calls and social media (Twitter,Facebook), should be used to spread this uniformmessage to the wider public.The failure to pass the DRB will be a hindranceto the development of women across the country.No matter how educated or economically emancipateda woman is, some of her rights as a wife,mother or daughter are capped because there is nolaw to protect her. This bill intends is to amend andharmonise legislation on marriage, separation, divorceand inheritance. Religion and culture shouldbe used to empower a woman and not to preventher from full self-actualisation and equal opportunities,since religion and culture are often used toprevent women from achieving their full rights.Action steps• Legislation on marriage, divorce, adultery andinheritance needs to be amended and approvedat the earliest opportunity. Both offline and onlineplatforms need to be used for advocacy andawareness raising.• There is a need to harmonise disparate messagesso that the women’s network speaks with one voice.• It is necessary to document the process of tryingto pass the bill, for future analysis and record. ■230 / Global Information Society Watch