Uganda President opens conference for women in Common Wealth Countries

‘Education for all’ was crucial in eliminating gender inequality in the Commonwealth countries, said President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni. “In Uganda we have tackled one of the factors affecting women, which is education. To emancipate the women completely requires equal access to education,”

He said all this while opening the eighth meeting of Commonwealth ministers responsible for women’s affairs attended by government officials of 38 nations belonging to this organisation.

The president noted that education alone was not enough to educate people while we remain under developed since this means that you train them for other continents, therefore, we need commonwealth of middle-class women and men.

“We do not want a Commonwealth of peasants but of men and women in the middle class and skilled working class. We want harmonisation of the Commonwealth society, not only speaking English but living affluent lives, all of us.” He mentioned the introduction of quotas for women in Parliament and local council structures as an achievement on gender equality by the Uganda Government.

“Every district in Uganda elects a woman representative in Parliament, while at least one-third of the local council seats are reserved for women. We also established a ministry in charge of women affairs headed by a cabinet minister. To date, women in Parliament comprise almost 30% and in local councils about 40%,” the President told the representatives of 38 nations.

He mentioned, amidst an applause, the fact that a few years ago, the country had a woman vice-president as a signal was to inform Ugandan parents that the daughters they don’t want to send to school, have the potential to get to the highest offices.

Museveni said that half of the 7.7m children enrolled in primary schools were now girls, with the help of Universal Primary Education and that 80% of learners in the government adult literacy scheme were women. The ‘wealth for all’ programme, “a financial scheme to ensure that the poor, especially women, can access affordable financial services”, will also contribute to development.

During the opening of the women conference, Joanita Kawalya Muganga, a Ugandan teacher and artist, launched the conference’s song together with other female artists. “Women and men, we are all just alike. Women, do learn to believe in yourselves and take charge of our own destiny,” the song went.