UGANDA

COMPENDIUM OF CONFLICTS IN UGANDA
promoting changes in gender relations. In Nakasongola, both men and women
commented that affirmative action of women under President Museveni has led
to women disrespecting their husbands. It was said that women arrogantly tell their
husbands
“We have the right to do what we want. Museveni gave it
to us.”
Women with this attitude were referred to as ‘women of Museveni’. In Gulu the police
were blamed for automatically being on the side of women in cases of domestic violence,
even though women are also known to beat men.
In areas where displacement was widespread, power relations between men and women
were disrupted, particularly due to the fact that men were no longer able to provide
for women (for ample findings on this phenomenon see the section ‘Displacement’).
This shift was intensified by the intervention of human rights organisations that sought
to take advantage of transforming gender relationships and roles to empower women.
This made men feel ineffective and weak and want to assert their power over women
through violence. Many participants blamed NGOs and their ‘sensitisation’ of women on
women’s rights for an increase in violence in the household. In Nakapiripirit, women’s
rights were said to contradict traditional power relations, and thus to pit men and
women against each other. In Tororo, a man decried being treated like an automatic
enemy when he - with the best of intentions - approached an NGO for a household
related problem in his community.
Participants in this district pointed at one particular organisation, alleging it was
biased, one-sided, and fuelling domestic conflict. In particular they highlighted that
the organisation tought girls taekwondo for self-defence, a practice which participants
unanimously decried as inappropriate and in fact counterproductive in tackling violence
in the household. The perception that human rights organisations and the human rights
discourse had impacted negatively on gender relations was prominent in post-conflict,
post-displacement areas. However, even in areas where violent political conflict is
further in the past, human rights organisations were also criticized for spreading this
empowerment message.
In Nakasongola, for example, women were blamed for misinterpreting ‘rights’ as
providing the license to disrespect their husbands. Participants also viewed poverty as a
cross-cutting cause of conflict between men and women. In Luwero, economic hardship
was considered a main cause of aggression in the household, because “a family head
can’t afford some necessities in a home.”
Unemployment and idleness of men, throughout Uganda, was said to lead to alcoholism
and sometimes drug abuse, further instigating conflict and violence. In summary, it was
felt, predominantly by men but also by a number of women, that masculinity has come
under attack from various directions: from a changing society with changing norms, from
women, from Government, from NGOs and the human rights discourse, from police, et
cetera.
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