I was once a victim of gender bias at Makerere
Oct 08, 2007
SHE is the only female professor at Makerere University. Prof. Ruth Mukama, who has lectured at the Institute of Languages and served in different capacities for 28 years, was due to retire last year, but was given a two-year contract to wind up her activities. Before she came to Makerere University
By Francis Kagolo
SHE is the only female professor at Makerere University. Prof. Ruth Mukama, who has lectured at the Institute of Languages and served in different capacities for 28 years, was due to retire last year, but was given a two-year contract to wind up her activities. Before she came to Makerere University, Mukama turned down the university job offer two times.
After getting a bachelor’s degree from Makerere University in 1970, this specialist in linguistics joined the University of York, England in 1971. At York, Mukama exhibited an extraordinary skills in grammar and was allowed to directly write her PhD without first doing a Master’s degree as per requirement.
“Linguistics is not easy, so I had to work extra hard. After three years, I got my PhD,†she says.
Mukama was then appointed lecturer in Makerere University in 1973, a post she declined, but instead she applied to the University of Zambia, Lusaka where she lectured in Linguistics and English Language up to 1976.
From Zambia, Mukama became the coordinator of the Joint Graduate Programme for the departments of Foreign Languages and Kiswahili at the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania up to 1978. In 1978, Makerere University appointed her for the second time and she turned down the offer again because of the political situation in the country then (it was during Iddi Amin’s regime. This time, Mukama joined the University College of Botswana, Gaberone, where she served as the head of the graduate programme of English Language and Linguistics from 1978 to 1979.
“When Amin was overthrown in 1979, I came back to serve and develop my home country. I came back disguised as a peasant who had just crossed from Kenya to buy some tomatoes in Uganda,†Mukama recalls.
This time, Makerere University appointed her as a lecturer in Linguistics, English Language Studies and Kiswahili. Since 1979, Mukama has gone through the ranks to become a professor of Linguistics.
She served as the chairperson of the Joint Board of Graduate studies for the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences from 1986 to 1989. From June 1986 to June 1991, Mukama was the head of the Department of Languages in the Faculty of Arts.
In addition to the 11 conference proceedings, reports and books she has written and edited, Mukama has published chapters in 10 books in the fields of the media, gender and languages. She has also published 15 papers in international journals and 44 other conference/seminar papers.
She became the first female dean in Makerere University when she was appointed to head the Faculty of Arts in 1991.
“When people blame the university for becoming a market place as Prof. Mamdani put it, I doubt their knowledge about the university’s history. By 1993, Makerere University had become bankrupt. We had no money to sustain lecturers and many of them used to make ends meet elsewhere in town. As a faculty dean, I could send a requisition for chalk, pens and books from the central stores and the only answer would be, ‘there is no money’. Makerere had reached a dead end,†Mukama recalls her days as a dean.
Mukama has been at the front in the campaigns to bring women aboard the central management level of the university.
“In 2002, together with my colleagues, Joy Kwesiga, Sylvia Tamale and Consolanta Kabonesa, we started brainstorming on how we could bring more women into management positions,†she says.
With Prof. John Ssebuwufu as vice-chancellor, Mukama and her colleagues started the Gender Mainstreaming Division, through which they submitted a paper to the University Council proposing that at least one out of the three top posts be held by a woman.
“The paper was discussed and a policy passed. Today, the first deputy vice-chancellor (Academics) is a woman. I am happy about this,†Mukama says.
After Joy Kwesiga retired, Mukama became the head of the Gender Mainstreaming Division in November 2005, a post she still holds.
As head of Gender, Mukama, and colleagues, last year drafted a Makerere University Sexual Harassment Policy (MASHP) that sought to penalise members of staff found guilty of sexually harassing students or fellow staff members.
The University Council approved the policy and Mukama is hopeful that in the next academic year, after sensitising students and members of staff, the policy will be implemented.
“My struggle for gender equality at Makerere came after I had been frustrated on gender basis.â€
She says when the then academic registrar, Bernard Onyango retired in 1992, she applied but was denied the post on gender basis.
“I was the first candidate to apply for the post and no one else was willing to compete with me. However, the University Appointments Board shelved my application for a year. They did not want to promote a lady to central management. After one year, Prof. Hyuha Mukwanason came from Dar-es-Salaam and applied for the same post. His application was processed in one week and he was appointed the academic registrar,†Mukama says.
“That is when I realised gender bias was real at Makerere and the ceiling for women was very low. A woman could serve the university, but not at the central management level.â€
Mukama was born in December 1946 in Budaka, Pallisa district. Her father, Yokonea Mukama (RIP), was a primary school teacher. Her mother, Agnes Baluka, was a staunch Christian.
She attended Budaka Primary School, Busia SS and Gayaza High School. She graduated from Makerere University with an honours degree in English Literature, History and French and later attained a PhD in General Linguistics from the University of York, England. From September 2005 to July 2006, Mukama chaired the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the tribal conflicts in Bunyoro.
“Being a woman does not mean that you are weak. You just need to believe that you can do something and you will achieve it. My desire has always been to help women rise to higher management levels at Makerere,†Mukama said.
Mukama is one of the founders of Action For Development (ACFODE), an NGO that spearheads the struggle for women’s rights and gender equality in Uganda.
She, together with Dr Kabonesa, wrote and defended a proposal for Gender Mainstreaming at the university, which attracted $610,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She was also one of the people behind the start of the Department of Women and Gender Studies in 2002.
Despite all these achievements, Mukama is not a very happy woman. After spending most of her life working to maintain the Institute of Languages, she has failed to get successors yet African languages at the institute are dying.
“These days students do not want to read and this has affecteded quality at the university. Many of them have failed to complete their master’s degree courses. It is really frightening that when we go, we shall leave half-baked teaching assistants teaching half-baked students,â€she says.
Mukama hopes that “the Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy and the recently launched University Quality Assurance Programme, where lecturers are evaluated will help to improve quality.â€
SHE is the only female professor at Makerere University. Prof. Ruth Mukama, who has lectured at the Institute of Languages and served in different capacities for 28 years, was due to retire last year, but was given a two-year contract to wind up her activities. Before she came to Makerere University, Mukama turned down the university job offer two times.
After getting a bachelor’s degree from Makerere University in 1970, this specialist in linguistics joined the University of York, England in 1971. At York, Mukama exhibited an extraordinary skills in grammar and was allowed to directly write her PhD without first doing a Master’s degree as per requirement.
“Linguistics is not easy, so I had to work extra hard. After three years, I got my PhD,†she says.
Mukama was then appointed lecturer in Makerere University in 1973, a post she declined, but instead she applied to the University of Zambia, Lusaka where she lectured in Linguistics and English Language up to 1976.
From Zambia, Mukama became the coordinator of the Joint Graduate Programme for the departments of Foreign Languages and Kiswahili at the University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania up to 1978. In 1978, Makerere University appointed her for the second time and she turned down the offer again because of the political situation in the country then (it was during Iddi Amin’s regime. This time, Mukama joined the University College of Botswana, Gaberone, where she served as the head of the graduate programme of English Language and Linguistics from 1978 to 1979.
“When Amin was overthrown in 1979, I came back to serve and develop my home country. I came back disguised as a peasant who had just crossed from Kenya to buy some tomatoes in Uganda,†Mukama recalls.
This time, Makerere University appointed her as a lecturer in Linguistics, English Language Studies and Kiswahili. Since 1979, Mukama has gone through the ranks to become a professor of Linguistics.
She served as the chairperson of the Joint Board of Graduate studies for the Faculties of Arts and Social Sciences from 1986 to 1989. From June 1986 to June 1991, Mukama was the head of the Department of Languages in the Faculty of Arts.
In addition to the 11 conference proceedings, reports and books she has written and edited, Mukama has published chapters in 10 books in the fields of the media, gender and languages. She has also published 15 papers in international journals and 44 other conference/seminar papers.
She became the first female dean in Makerere University when she was appointed to head the Faculty of Arts in 1991.
“When people blame the university for becoming a market place as Prof. Mamdani put it, I doubt their knowledge about the university’s history. By 1993, Makerere University had become bankrupt. We had no money to sustain lecturers and many of them used to make ends meet elsewhere in town. As a faculty dean, I could send a requisition for chalk, pens and books from the central stores and the only answer would be, ‘there is no money’. Makerere had reached a dead end,†Mukama recalls her days as a dean.
Mukama has been at the front in the campaigns to bring women aboard the central management level of the university.
“In 2002, together with my colleagues, Joy Kwesiga, Sylvia Tamale and Consolanta Kabonesa, we started brainstorming on how we could bring more women into management positions,†she says.
With Prof. John Ssebuwufu as vice-chancellor, Mukama and her colleagues started the Gender Mainstreaming Division, through which they submitted a paper to the University Council proposing that at least one out of the three top posts be held by a woman.
“The paper was discussed and a policy passed. Today, the first deputy vice-chancellor (Academics) is a woman. I am happy about this,†Mukama says.
After Joy Kwesiga retired, Mukama became the head of the Gender Mainstreaming Division in November 2005, a post she still holds.
As head of Gender, Mukama, and colleagues, last year drafted a Makerere University Sexual Harassment Policy (MASHP) that sought to penalise members of staff found guilty of sexually harassing students or fellow staff members.
The University Council approved the policy and Mukama is hopeful that in the next academic year, after sensitising students and members of staff, the policy will be implemented.
“My struggle for gender equality at Makerere came after I had been frustrated on gender basis.â€
She says when the then academic registrar, Bernard Onyango retired in 1992, she applied but was denied the post on gender basis.
“I was the first candidate to apply for the post and no one else was willing to compete with me. However, the University Appointments Board shelved my application for a year. They did not want to promote a lady to central management. After one year, Prof. Hyuha Mukwanason came from Dar-es-Salaam and applied for the same post. His application was processed in one week and he was appointed the academic registrar,†Mukama says.
“That is when I realised gender bias was real at Makerere and the ceiling for women was very low. A woman could serve the university, but not at the central management level.â€
Mukama was born in December 1946 in Budaka, Pallisa district. Her father, Yokonea Mukama (RIP), was a primary school teacher. Her mother, Agnes Baluka, was a staunch Christian.
She attended Budaka Primary School, Busia SS and Gayaza High School. She graduated from Makerere University with an honours degree in English Literature, History and French and later attained a PhD in General Linguistics from the University of York, England. From September 2005 to July 2006, Mukama chaired the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the tribal conflicts in Bunyoro.
“Being a woman does not mean that you are weak. You just need to believe that you can do something and you will achieve it. My desire has always been to help women rise to higher management levels at Makerere,†Mukama said.
Mukama is one of the founders of Action For Development (ACFODE), an NGO that spearheads the struggle for women’s rights and gender equality in Uganda.
She, together with Dr Kabonesa, wrote and defended a proposal for Gender Mainstreaming at the university, which attracted $610,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. She was also one of the people behind the start of the Department of Women and Gender Studies in 2002.
Despite all these achievements, Mukama is not a very happy woman. After spending most of her life working to maintain the Institute of Languages, she has failed to get successors yet African languages at the institute are dying.
“These days students do not want to read and this has affecteded quality at the university. Many of them have failed to complete their master’s degree courses. It is really frightening that when we go, we shall leave half-baked teaching assistants teaching half-baked students,â€she says.
Mukama hopes that “the Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy and the recently launched University Quality Assurance Programme, where lecturers are evaluated will help to improve quality.â€