Fifty years later: Counting losses,gains of the Ugandan woman

The empowerment and quality achieved by the current generation has been misunderstood by highly educated women. I was brought up to believe that men and women may be equal, but they are different in some ways. No level of development can change that natural difference. Yes, women empowerment is earned through schools because education is the key to development. However, informal education helps to empower women with domestic skills. This generation cannot achieve what we achieved. This education system has dropped subjects like needle work, home economics and domestic science, which equipped us with skills for managing homes. In fact during my time, home economics was a subject done at Ordinary Level and it equipped girls with necessary skills, which would add a lot to their abilities. For example, in 1941 when I was in Primary Six, I won a needle work prize at King’s College Buddo Junior school. The Government should review the education system and encourage informal education for all women so that they are able to balance what society requires of them.

 

We have misunderstood women empowerment. I partly blame our education sector and our home backgrounds for this.

 

Today, for instance, a student completes university, but they cannot express themselves. Then, our homes have forgotten the value of child upbringing.

 

Today’s homes do not teach the child skills of how to make it in life. As a result, we still have women who are both poor in mind and materially. They depend on their husbands for just about everything. I grew up in a financially challenged home.

 

It was a big family, and dad did not have money — he was a policeman. The only thing we were assured of was food. But we made it because our parents taught us what children needed to learn.

 

Dad always told us that we would make it, that we were beautiful and smart. We got inspired when we saw how he much he was sacrificing to provide us with the best.

 

After Gayaza High School and Makerere University, life was still very hard for me. But I struggled on. Then I got work in a bank. I have never looked back.Now, I do not understand this thing about women empowerment where women abandon their homes. A woman is the pillar of a home.

 

When she is not available, everything goes wrong. She has to instil discipline in her children for the good of the home and the country. She has to act as their motivation. You may make all the money there is to make in the world, but if your home fails, then as a woman you have failed too.

 

I managed to juggle work and family by working hard and making sacrifices. Sometimes I would even work at night.

 

I disagree with women who always put their homes and families first and perform poorly at work. With the advanced technology, I recommend that women adopt home appliances and reduce the usage of housemaids.

 

I also do not think that women empowerment only comes through education. There are many illiterate women in rural areas who have been empowered. Many experienced people who interact with these rural women impart knowledge in them.

 

I think what has made women empowerment lag behind are conservative cultural ideas and taboos.

 

For example, long ago, there was a belief that women were not supposed to eat chicken or eggs. Fortunately, some ideas are phasing out. I was lucky that my parents sent all of us to school. 

 

I attended St. Theresa Mitala Maria, Trinity College Nabbingo and later Makerere University.

 

I advise all women to strive and get education.

They should also send their daughters to school since education is free and it is the first step towards achieving empowerment

 

A woman is empowered when she has social and economic security.

 

This is when she is able to contribute the same amount of finances in a home as a man. She should be able to benefit the home morally and socially. An empowered woman should be a good leader in society.

 

One who leads by example and empowers other women that she leads to showcase their abilities and talents.

 

Women empowerment does not mean a woman has to be big-headed or not sustain a relationship.

 

It is all about insuring the aspect of importance and equal rights in society.

 

Empowerment has no boundaries of any kind.

 

Adele of Delight Supplies did not go to school, but employs many and has made a positive impact on society.

In our days, there was nothing like women empowerment. Women did not have much opportunity like the men did.

 

Actually, we even started celebrating Women’s Day in 1985. But we worked hard to make it in life. I was lucky to have a father who defied tradition and took me to school — Gayaza High School.

 

I was the only girl to graduate in my class at Makerere University. However, I am disappointed with this issue of women empowerment today. It has been misunderstood. When I see young women abandon their role as women in the name of working, I am beaten.

 

Culture has evolved. Now, it is the house help who runs the home. This is wrong! When I was growing up, I learnt a lot from my parents, especially my mother.

 

As a girl child there are certain values you are expected to uphold and you can only learn them from your parents. My mother would tell me to ‘cover up’ my legs whenever I sat down. She would tell me ‘girls do not do that, they do this’.

She taught us how to respond whenever someone older greeted us.

 

She taught us how to cook, and generally everything that was expected of us as girls. The boys had their lessons with their father. However, today, everyone does what pleases them. They have abandoned their homes. You even hear of women who spent nights in a bar. This is not empowerment.

 

You can have that well-paying job, but your primary role as a woman is to take care of your family. I do not know why today’s woman is forgetting this. You are emancipated not to become a man, but rather, a better woman. 

 

Women empowerment has given women courage to build their selfesteem.

 

With this generation, if a woman is faced with domestic violence, there are organisations like FIDA, which are willing to help.

 

During my time, men had all the powers. A man would throw a woman out of the home and bring other women at any time he pleases. 

 

A woman is a home maker. During my time at Gayaza High School, we were taught to make mats and bags, among others.

 

These skills helped me to sew my children’s sweaters and socks.

 

I also passed on this knowledge to my children.

 

Parents should train and pass on vocational knowledge and skills to girls right from childhood in order to achieve what we achieved during our time

 

 

Women empowerment is when a woman has a platform to be the best she can be. Uganda has come a long way.

 

Today, we have female legislators because they are empowered, because they have gone to school. Although some people say women empowerment has destroyed homes, this is not true.

Women empowerment is good for both the welfare of the woman, her husband, children, and even the nation.

 

In today’s society, a woman has a much bigger role to play. However, the problem comes when some of these empowered women, because they perhaps earn more than their husbands do, forget their role as women.

 

If you abandon your home, you are doing yourself, your children, and your husband a disfavour.

 

For instance, children develop confidence as they grow up, but who will teach them to believe in themselves when mum is never around? The maid? No. A personal treat once in a while is not bad, just do not go overboard. Make time for your family.

 

God created a man to control a woman and created a woman to obey, respect and be submissive towards her husband. During my generation, I was trained that a woman should keep secrets of her home and also take care of her husband like a baby. I was also trained right from childhood to learn skills like baking cakes, sewing clothes, among others.

 

But with this generation, many women contribute to the breakdown of their marriages because they think that they are highly educated and superiors in their homes.

 

They neglect their responsibilities as mothers. I think being a highly educated woman or having a big position does not necessarily make you superior over your husband who might be less educated. Women should learn to respect their husbands and also fulfil their responsibilities in order to effectively achieve what we achieved during our time. The Government should also revive the education system and include vocational subjects alongside academics for the benefit of the future woman.