The Women's Movement in Uganda: History, Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

Aili Mari Tripp and Joy C. Kwesiga, eds. The Women's Movement in Uganda: History, Challenges and Prospects. Kampala: Fountain Publishers Ltd., 2002. Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd., The Jam Factory, 27 Park End St., Oxford 0X1 1HU UK. xiii + 235 pp. Photographs. Bibliographies. Appendixes. Index. $27.95. Paper. In its thirteen thematic chapters, this book discusses the challenges and successes of the women's movement in Uganda. Most of the authors are Ugandan women scholars who draw on their own extensive research and on literature not available outside of the country to analyze the impact of the movement in various spheres. The work serves as an excellent contribution to the literature on African women, providing readers with a new and exciting body of information regarding women in Uganda today, both rural and urban. The individual authors examine the roles of various women's organizations and their impact on the themes under discussion. At the same time, they successfully balance the often opposing themes of Ugandan women as victims and as active agents of change. The first two chapters provide an overview and history of women's activism throughout Uganda, the variety of organizational structures, and women's efforts to overcome archaic and patriarchal practices as they make their voices heard from the household to the national level. Chapters 3-11 then focus on specific areas in which the women's movement has played a powerful role in advocating for change: education, health care, women with disabilities, the economy, agriculture, conflict resolution, land issues, religious institutions, the media, and literature. Perhaps the most dynamic chapters are the three that address themselves to economic empowerment, agricultural production, and efforts to guarantee women's ownership of land. The final chapter of the book is a very helpful summary of research on women in Uganda compiled by Margaret Snyder. all chapters conclude with excellent bibliographies that will be useful for historical and contemporary research alike. This volume does not an attempt to be comprehensive, but the editors are to be commended for selecting topics that are relevant not only to the situation of women in Uganda in the twenty-first century but also the situation of women throughout the continent. The book would be highly appropriate for courses on current African issues, on women in international development, or on the history and status of women in Africa generally. …