Establish more female halls of residence at Makerere University: Kadaga

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda’s first deputy prime minister and minister for East African affairs Rebecca Kadaga, has called upon relevant authorities to increase the number of female halls of residence at Makerere University.

Kadaga made the call in Kasangati where women rights activists from Uganda and Kenya had gathered to lay the foundation for the construction of the Imara women’s center, a place to meet and push the emancipation of the female gender.

For a longest time, out of the nine halls of residence at Uganda’s oldest university that is celebrating its centenary this year, six of the nine halls  are for male students. These are Lumumba Hall, Mitchell Hall, Livingstone Hall, Nsibirwa Hall, Nkrumah Hall, and University Hall. Only three halls namely Mary Stuart Hall, Africa Hall, and Complex Hall are for females.

Ahead of today’s Women’s day celebrations, Kadaga said that her efforts to fight this injustice have not yet yielded any fruits, and as activists for women’s emancipation, they have to fight on in order to end this.

“This injustice is not exclusive for Makerere but also in other tertiary institutions as well, and this is a clear indicator of the thinking that females are still not expected to be there, these barriers still have not been broken” she narrated.

A number of other women emancipation activists who graced the occasion recommitted to the fight and vowed not to tire down until the female gender is fully emancipated.

Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of UNAIDS and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations who also attended the event, said that as women feminists, they are not interested in the power to dominate others, rather share and build it within themselves.

Byanyima added that as they are doing their work of fighting for women’s rights, the patriarchal mentality is fighting back, and there is a need for them to take a stand, especially for the woman at the base

Martha Karua, a renowned social rights activist from Kenya called upon activists to keep continuous vigilance and stay prepared to keep pushing since there is no society civilized enough not to witness setbacks and recessions over any movement.

Karua says that though activists have achieved things like gender quotas in the political space, this is just the start and the barest minimum, and for those who can, there is the time to continue leading the fight on behalf of others.

The Imara Center is a proposed facility where women rights activists will reflect, refresh and empower themselves to fight on and continue to pursue their cause and serve for training, retreating, reflection, networking, and also act as space and home for those aspiring for women emancipation from all diversity across Uganda and abroad.

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