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 at 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 the 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 while 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.
Winnie Byanyima, the Executive Director of UNAIDS and an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations who also attended the event, said that as women feminists, 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
