Gender and Constitution Building - Women for Women International

“Engendering” Rights in Uganda:
Women’s Struggle for Equality
CARA DILTS
Introduction
Uganda is often considered one of Africa’s modern
successes in terms of national economic development
strategies. In 1986, after years of war and political and
social turmoil, Uganda began to pick up the pieces of its
shattered nation and start down the path toward development.
1 Although the northern areas of the country
have had little rest from violent conflict over the last two
decades, Uganda has made admirable efforts to fight
poverty and increase the standard of living for many of
its nearly 25 million inhabitants. Uganda’s star status as a
leader in development and poverty reduction in Africa
makes the country a valuable case study in an analysis of
constitution-building in a post-conflict situation.
This paper focuses on how Uganda has addressed
the gender issues that emerged in the post-conflict reconstruction
era, specifically through reforming the 1967
Constitution to include equal rights for women. The paper
then examines how Ugandan women’s constitutional
rights often conflict with statutory law and customary
practices, particularly in the area of property rights, emphasizing
the discord between the letter of the law and
social practice.
Women’s Rights in the New Constitution
One of the first tasks of Uganda’s post-conflict reconstruction
process was for the government to regain
international legitimacy. In reinventing itself, Uganda
looked to international law, affirmatively recognizing international
human rights standards and integrating these
standards into the legal framework of the nation. As gender
was gaining increasing legitimacy in the international
arena as an essential component of development, 2 the
Ugandan government followed suit by demonstrating a
commitment to the advancement of women in its own
domestic law.
Since 1980, Uganda has ratified a number of international
laws and human rights instruments that proclaim
gender equality, most significantly the 1985 Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW). 3 In 1988, the government
passed the Constitutional Commission Act, which provided
guidelines for the drafting of the new Constitution
in 1995. 4 The revision of the Ugandan Constitution in
1995 provided the perfect opportunity to bring about
“equality of men and women in their national Constitution.”
5
As the national strategy for reconstruction began to
take shape, women’s organizations across the country
joined forces to bring women’s rights to the forefront of
the nation’s conscience and ensure that women would not
be ignored. First, the National Association of Women
Organizations in Uganda successfully lobbied for the appointment
of two women to the Constitutional Commission.
6 Women’s organizations such as the Forum for
Women in Democracy, Action for Development and the
Ministry of Gender and Community Development, then
backed the proposals of the women delegates and facilitated
the involvement of women in the constitution-building
process by holding “gender dialogues” and participating
in workshops organized by the Commission.
Women working on proposals for the new Constitution
referred to CEDAW’s concepts of equality to advocate
for the inclusion of gender-equality measures in the
Constitution. Today, CEDAW is reflected in a number of
important provisions of the Ugandan Constitution. 7
� Chapter Four of the Constitution addresses the
protection and promotion of human rights and
freedoms, guaranteeing all Ugandans, regardless of
gender, such rights as freedom from deprivation of
property, protection from slavery, due process,
education and freedom from discrimination.
� Article 32 instructs the state to undertake affirmative
action to redress imbalances that exist against
marginalized groups, including women.
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