No shortcuts to power: constraints on women's political effectiveness in Uganda

Numbers of women in public representative office have increased dramatically in Uganda since the introduction of the National Resistance Movement's ‘no party’ system, because affirmative action measures have been taken to reserve seats for them in Parliament and local government. This article o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of modern African studies 2002-12, Vol.40 (4), p.549-575
Main Author: Goetz, Anne Marie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affirmative action
African studies
Councils
Effectiveness
Equality
Females
Gender equity
Legislators
Local government
Parliaments
Patronage
Policy Making
Political candidates
Political elections
Political Movements
Political parties
Political power
Political Representation
Political Systems
Politics
Power
Regional studies
Resistance
Sex discrimination
Uganda
Women
Womens rights
Womens rights movements
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Summary:Numbers of women in public representative office have increased dramatically in Uganda since the introduction of the National Resistance Movement's ‘no party’ system, because affirmative action measures have been taken to reserve seats for them in Parliament and local government. This article offers an assessment of the impact of these measures on women's political effectiveness, examining how far women in Parliament have been able to advance gender equity concerns in key new legislation. The article suggests that the political value of specially created new seats has been eroded by their exploitation as currency for the NRM's patronage system, undermining women's effectiveness as representatives of women's interests once in office. This is because the gate-keepers of access to reserved political space are not the women's movement, or even women voters, but Movement elites. The women's movement in Uganda, though a beneficiary of the NRM's patronage, has become increasingly critical of the deepening authoritarianism of the NRM, pointing out that the lack of internal democracy in the Movement accounts for its failure to follow constitutional commitments to gender equity through to changes in key new pieces of legislation affecting women's rights.
ISSN:0022-278X
1469-7777
DOI:10.1017/S0022278X02004032