Makerere lecturer rallies men to embrace stewardship in gender equity

KAMPALA - A Makerere University lecturer has urged men in positions of power to move beyond supporting women and take on active stewardship roles in transforming institutions to advance gender equity in higher education and workplaces across Africa.

Presenting a keynote paper titled: From Male Support to Male Stewardship during a virtual conference held on May 11, 2026, Prof. John David Kabasa said gender equity is not only about representation, but also institutional quality, social justice and Africa’s development.

The online conference, which attracted participants from East and Central Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom and Asia, was organised by Higher Education Resource Services (HERS) under the theme “Engaging Men as Allies in Advancing Gender Equity in Transformative Higher Education, Research and Service in Africa”.

Kabasa, a professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine Animal Resource Services and Biosecurity, said institutions that underuse women’s leadership weaken their own teaching, research, governance, innovation and societal impact.

“Gender equity is not a favour that men extend to women. It is a question of fairness, institutional excellence, national development and human progress,” he said.

Kabasa, who is also the principal investigator and chairperson of the Central Laboratory and Animal Facility System, said many women are not absent from leadership because they lack capacity, but because institutional systems often fail to convert their abilities into opportunities.

Kabasa noted that women frequently face narrow promotion pathways, limited sponsorship, biased appointment processes, unequal care burdens and workplace cultures that still associate leadership with men.

“The deeper question is whether institutions are ready to be led by women,” he said.

Male stewardship

He proposed a shift from “male support” to “male stewardship”, explaining that support may involve encouraging women and participating in symbolic activities, while stewardship requires men to use institutional authority responsibly to improve systems, policies, leadership pathways and workplace cultures.

According to Kabasa, male stewardship includes reviewing appointment procedures, strengthening promotion systems, supporting gender-balanced committees, improving research funding access and creating safe reporting mechanisms for harassment and discrimination.

Drawing lessons from his experience in higher education, research, institutional leadership and the one health approach, Kabasa said no society can fully transform while underutilising women’s leadership and talent.

He said universities should not only admit and train women, but also trust, promote, fund and protect them.

Kabasa also highlighted the role of HERS in developing women leaders through mentorship, networking, institutional development and leadership training.

Established in 2014 and affiliated with HERS in the United States, HERS seeks to increase women’s representation in leadership and management positions in higher education institutions in East Africa to at least 50%.

Kabasa said the next phase of gender equity should combine women’s leadership development with institutional reform and constructive male stewardship.

He proposed several initiatives, including a HERS Male Stewardship Programme to prepare male leaders to support gender equity through measurable actions such as sponsorship, policy reform and workplace safety improvements.

Kabasa suggested the creation of a Regional Women Leadership Observatory to track women’s representation in universities across East Africa and an Institutional Equity Scorecard to help institutions assess progress in leadership, policy, safety and workplace culture.

Integrating gender equity

He urged universities and workplaces to integrate gender equity into governance, human resource management, research administration and community engagement instead of treating it as a small unit-level activity.

Kabasa further called for gender-disaggregated reporting on leadership composition, recruitment, promotion, research grants and workplace safety to help institutions measure progress.

Addressing senior male leaders, Kabasa challenged them to reflect on whether they were “gatekeepers of old privilege or builders of new fairness”.

“The constructive male ally is measured by what he helps to change, the women who rose because he opened a pathway, and the unfair practices he helped improve,” he said.
Kabasa observed that Africa’s higher education transformation depends on building fair institutions capable of mobilising the intelligence and talent of society.

“The task is not to prepare women for broken institutions. The task is to improve institutions so that women can lead without being broken,” he said.