By Margaret Nakazibwe.
Affirmative action initiatives and strategies for women’s empowerment have been critical in Uganda’s Journey of achieving Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. These have played a major role in determining the current status of education and positioning of Women in Leadership and politics. Affirmative Action was entrenched in the constitution of Uganda and has greatly influenced the gender agenda in the sectors.
According to the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, Affirmative Action Policy was intended to redress imbalances which existed among the marginalized groups. Twenty two years down the road and the question is, has the marginalization ended so that affirmative action can be dealt away with? Or were some or all objectives met?
According to the Uganda gender policy (2007), Affirmative Action is the ‘’preferential treatment measures for redressing inequalities or imbalances in accessing resources, power or opportunities. It is a commitment but of temporary nature.’’
In Uganda, Affirmative Action has been in place since the National Resistance Movement (NRM) came in power. The constitution of the republic of Uganda 1995 provides for gender balance and fair representation of men and women in al public sectors. Article 32:1 provides for affirmative action in favor of marginalized groups.
The government has put in place structures to ensure respect for human rights and equal participation of men and women. These are; The National Machinery for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social Development, the National Women’s Council and the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Education is one of the sectors that has had a long history of affirmative action. Makerere University, the oldest public university in Uganda, established in 1922 as a men’s technical college, first admitted women in 1945. They were very few and exempted from certain courses which were presumed to be for men. In order to increase their enrolment, in 1990, Makerere University passed new admission guideline that gave 1.5 on top of their individual examination scores. In an assessment carried out by the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in 2014, it was revealed that the 1.5 extra points that is now applied to all public universities in Uganda including Kyambogo, Mbarara, Busitema and Gulu has contributed to an increase in female enrolment from the then 24% (1989 – 1990) to 35% except the science based Busitema University which stands and 31%. This is above the initial target. On top of the 1.5 extra points, Makerere University has implemented female scholarship initiatives such as the Carnegie Scholarship scheme.
Despite the overall increase of female enrolment at universities, the challenge still remains in the courses offered as more females apply for humanities courses and a few go for the science courses. But this of course goes back to the number of girls doing science subjects at A – Level. A review conducted by Makerere University in 2004 revealed that the majority of the 1.5 policy beneficiaries (90%) came from more privileged families, most of whom would have accessed university education without the scheme. Thus, whereas affirmative action on admission has tended to enhance access for female students, attention to poverty eradication and economic empowerment is still needed in order to give all female students equal access to opportunities such as education ■
