Women MPs accuse female colleagues of not supporting gender-related bills

Women legislators under their umbrella body Uganda Women Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) are concerned that some of their colleagues in Parliament have refused to support the four gender related bills that are before the House.

The legislators who were speaking at a women conference held at Parliament said the issues of culture and religion of some women legislators has made it hard to have the four bills get the blessing of the House.

The four gender related bills that are still stuck in Parliament are: the Divorce and Marriage Bill that was tabled in 1966, the Employment Amendment Bill of 2019, the Sexual Offences Bill 2019 and the Succession Amendment Bill of 2018.

But to the dismay of some women legislators, it’s unfortunate that some of the female MPs are against these four gender related bills citing issues of culture, faith and politics.

In the same vein these women legislators are concerned that the number of women representing the directly elected constituencies in the 11th Parliament has gone down from 20 to 16 MPs in spite of the creation of more constituencies ahead of the 2021 polls.

The MPs attributed the reduction to the recent violence that was exhibited in the general election.

In the same conference, women activists also discussed how Covid-19 had impacted on the emancipation of women in the country.