Gender equality – DDRN

What does Maize have to do with Politics? Agroecology as a Tool for Political Participation

Iraide Arcos Fabrega — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 16:13:54 +0000

In Guatemala’s Zona Reina, Q’eqchi’ peasant women are transforming maize fields into platforms for political participation. This is thanks to the initiative of the NGO PRODESSA to undertake (initiate) agroecology projects. This practice combines ecological, social, cultural and economic principles in the management of sustainable agricultural systems. Initially, agroecology projects aimed to serve as a means for achieving food sovereignty through ancestral Mayan practices. However, they have also proven to be a tool for increasing Indigenous women’s involvement and voice in decision-making spaces. Nevertheless, this is a very singular case that addresses a wider problem related to land management, structural marginalisation and gender inequalities of Indigenous women in many countries of the world.

While Indigenous women play a central role in natural resource management and community support, their participation in politics remains limited by structural discrimination affecting indigenous peoples. The inequalities regarding ethnicity and gender intersect, restricting Indigenous women’s access to resources and silencing their voices in institutions. Focusing on the specific case of Guatemala, the exclusion from politics and institutions is the reality for most indigenous women in the country. Even though the Mayan-descendant Indigenous communities represent more than 40% of the overall population, 72,9% live in poverty compared to a 46,6% of poverty rate among non-Indigenous people. This is mainly due to the historical discrimination, inequality and exclusion towards Indigenous people, which has limited the full recognition of their rights and perpetuated conditions of structural poverty. These structural inequalities hit women especially hard, with alarming levels of violence. In 2024, more than 10.000 sexual assaults were reported, and nearly 53.000 births among girls and teenagers between the ages of 10 and 19 were registered. In addition, at the start of the 21st century, around 90% of adult Indigenous women were illiterate, a stark reminder of the long-standing denial of basic rights such as education. This situation of social and political vulnerability makes communities that are more dependent on natural resources less resilient to increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as droughts or sudden torrential rains. This is the case of the Q’eqchi people, an Indigenous Mayan group primarily from the highlands of Guatemala.

Yet, agroecology is the weapon that many NGOs, communities and other stakeholders use to reverse this situation. Beyond a production technique, it is conceived as an alternative model to the current agro-industrial system. Agroecology has been used in several contexts to promote spaces of change and cooperation, and researchers have explored its social benefits. On the one hand, it has been explored how this practice promotes political activism, among other social benefits, through shared critical spaces within urban contexts in countries such as the USA and Australia. On the other hand, in rural contexts focused on the Global South, such as in Malawi, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil and the Andes or India, researchers found out that Agroecology empowers communities, improves cooperation, resilience to climate change and challenges traditional gender roles. Additionally, it generates Social Capital, which is the resources, benefits and opportunities generated by networks and interactions within the groups that share social norms and certain values. Previous studies have highlighted the potential of agroecology as a transformative social practice that strengthens community life and political engagement; few have examined its direct political impact.

This article draws on my master’s thesis research, which covers this gap in the literature. By using participatory visual research methods, such as drawing workshops and photography elicitation, I examine how agroecology influences the political participation of Indigenous women, a group that remains largely marginalised and underrepresented in existing studies.

The Particular Case of Zona Reina and its Agroecology Workshops

Zona Reina, located in the municipality of Uspantán, in the Guatemalan department of Quiché, is a remote region comprising 92 communities, most of which belong to the Q’eqchi’ Maya people. Despite its difficult access and lack of infrastructure, it is home to more than 40% of the population of the municipality of Uspantán. The region’s economic activity is mainly based on agriculture. Its semi-tropical climate favours the cultivation of maize, beans, bananas and cardamom, although recurrent droughts have severely affected agricultural production in recent decades.

Land ownership has historically been a source of conflict in Zona Reina. Historically inhabited by the Q’eqchi’ people, these lands were subject to state agricultural colonisation programmes in the 1960s, which transferred the land to external settlers. During Guatemala’s internal armed conflict (1960–1996), the region was the scene of extreme violence and forced displacement. Today, much of the territory is occupied by monoculture plantations with precarious working conditions, while indigenous communities continue to fight for their emancipation and fair representation in institutions. Nevertheless, communities do have sovereignty at a local level, as community organisation is structured around Community Deliberative Assemblies, the main instrument of local government. Authorities are democratically elected in these assemblies, which address issues such as education, resource management and municipal projects. However, women continue to be underrepresented in these decision-making spaces.

To address these inequalities, but mainly to promote food sovereignty, PRODESSA’s agroecology projects train Q’eqchi’ women in sustainable agriculture, food sovereignty and solidarity economy. Participants receive theoretical and practical training and replicate it in their communities, generating a multiplier effect that strengthens leadership and income generation. This methodology, known as “farmer to farmer”, is based on the transmission of knowledge from peer to peer, without marked hierarchical structures that perpetuate inequalities, and it is increasingly common in Latin America.

Analysing the Impact of Agroecology on Political Participation

To identify how agroecology impacts Indigenous women’s political participation, the case of Zona Reina was analysed through a qualitative study. The research was based on Social Capital Theory and Empowerment Theory. Both were used to identify mechanisms that emerged in the workshops and had a positive impact on the participation of Q’eqchi women in the community assemblies. Thus, elements such as leadership, resources, agency and cooperation were expected to emerge from agroecology workshops. The methodology consisted of a combination of semi-structured interviews and ethnographic participatory methods, in which the participants, who were merely Q’eqchi’ peasant women, generated their own data following methodological decolonisation principles. Over five weeks of fieldwork, including drawing workshops, photo elicitation, and conceptual discussions, the research revealed several mechanisms that make agroecology a powerful driver of political participation. The data also uncovered additional dynamics not previously identified in the literature that positively influence Indigenous women’s engagement.

The study finds that women’s ability to act and shape their own lives, their capabilities, is one of the strongest drivers of participation, along with access to social and economic resources. As Anita, a participant, claims: “Now that I am participating here, (agroecology projects) when I go out to the street, I think I am a brave, hard-working and experienced woman”. Cooperation, solidarity, and leadership within the women’s groups also played a vital role, strengthened by their connections with outside organisations. Finally, out of the theory, ancestral knowledge emerged as a powerful source of confidence and agency, helping women see themselves as changemakers within their communities: “… we have to value, to come back to our practices […] reject all that agro-industrial companies bring”, Ana María Santos explains.

Nonetheless, the findings also revealed certain barriers to participation, both in agroecology and in politics, which mainly involve domestic violence and paternalistic attitudes by men in the communities. Although few, these cases show how deeply rooted structures of gender inequality are in the area.

From Maize to Power: Lessons from Zona Reina

The findings of the research have multiple implications. Not only does it identify the relationship between agroecology and political participation, but it also points out the mechanisms that explain this relationship in this particular case of Guatemala. Furthermore, it reinforces the findings of previous literature on agroecology and further strengthens the applied theory, giving rise to new insights that were not previously considered. Despite the research limitations, mostly related to ethical considerations and logistical constraints, the study effectively showcases emerging models of production that stand apart from the prevailing global system.

One of the main takeaways from this study is the importance of investing resources in similar research that focuses on resilient initiatives and encourages participatory research in the global south. Firstly, it gives a voice and visibility to marginalised groups, such as indigenous women in Guatemala, who often lack formal channels for engaging in decision-making spaces. Furthermore, it highlights the value of local, resilient and sustainable practices. It offers useful guidelines for other actors, such as municipalities, NGOs or community-based organisations that wish to implement similar practices. By focusing on the local in a globalised world, this approach challenges conventional systems and explores alternative ways of living.

From the fields of maize to the local assemblies, agroecology is enabling women to claim their voice and transform their communities.

Iraide Arcos Fabrega is a Master’s student in Political Science with a minor in Environmental Governance and Behavior at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Forskningens Døgn 2024: Fattige, udsatte, udstødte i Nord og Syd

Arne Wangel — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 14:40:26 +0000

Torsdag den 25.april 2024, kl. 19.00-21.15, GRATIS ADGANG Sted: Maskinhallen, Sundholmsvej 28A, 2300 Kbh. S. Klik for kort!

Tilmelding: Send e-mail med navn til info@ddrn.dk

Arrangør: Danish Development Research Network (DDRN.dk)

Program
19.00 – 19.05	Velkomst v/ Danish Development Research Network – DDRN.dk
19.05 – 19.30	Redaktør Knud Vilby: Fattigdom Globalt og i Danmark
	Forfatter til bl.a. ’Fattig i Danmark’ i samarbejde med Kjeld Sørensen, om 50 års forsorg og fattigdom; ’Global vækst – globale kriser’; ‘Fattigdomstruslen’ og senest ’Civilsamfundet mellem stat og marked’ med fokus på social- og udviklingspolitikken
19.30 – 19.55	Arkitekt Henrik Valeur: Fredens Havn/Pirathavnen – aktionsforskning i et flydende bofællesskab for outsidere
	Forfatter til bl.a. bøgerne ’The Floating Community’ og ‘An-other City’, og har arbejdet gennem en årrække i Indien og Kina
19.55 – 20.05	Pause med forfriskninger
20.05 – 20.30	Seniorforsker Marie Kolling, Dansk Institut for Internationale Studier (DIIS): Gæld og fattigdom på kredit i Latinamerika
	Forfatter til bl.a. ’Selling hope on credit – women’s livelihoods, debt and the production of urban informality in Brazil’; ‘Who’s Cashing In?’; og bogen ‘Latinamerika Nu’.
20.30 – 20.55	Videnskabsjournalist Lise Josefsen Hermann, Quito, Ecuador præsenterer tre fotografers værker fra sine artikler om sex arbejdere i Ecuador (Andre Yepez), om klimakrisen der oversvømmer verdens tættest befolkede ø i Colombia (Charlie Cordeo), om kvinder, moderskab og videnskab i Colombia (Charlie Cordeo), om kviksølv forurening blandt guldgravere i Bolivia (Wara Vargas), og om klimakrisens trussel mod én af Latinamerikas ældste indianske kulturer (Wara Vargas).
20.55 – 21.15	Spørgsmål og diskussion

The Middle East: Uganda’s New Garden Where ‘Everyone Wants to Try Their Luck’ (2:2)

William Odinga Balikuddembe — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 11:27:02 +0000

Joanna Ndagire, who was trafficked to the Middle East in 2017, and worked there as a maid, is now an activist against human trafficking. She says that the main push factor for young women into the Middle East is the [economic] “situation” in Uganda. “Most of the women or girls who go there to work have no option – the only option is to move [away from Uganda]. You reach a point of no return, whereby you have done everything. You have worked hard. You have not been paid. Life is hard, very hard. Then you decide, ‘let me go there and suffer, after all, there, they will pay me’”, says Ndagire who volunteers with the John Paul II Justice and Peace Centre. She creates awareness on human trafficking and provides support to its victims.

The new head of the household

Obika says some women are finding ‘a kind of strength and independence, and livelihood’ from migrating to the Middle East. “Someone will say ‘what’s the difference, suffering there and the suffering I am going through at home?’ Some of them are coming from abusive relationships. They are coming from homes where they are seeing brothers, sisters and mothers struggling to a point where they are not sure where their next meal is coming from,” says Obika.

Through their Middle East exploits, some women have gone as far as buying and owning land. They have built houses where typically, their mothers, siblings and children live. They send back home money to look after them. In this case, they are clear heads of the family, challenging the long-held notion, which is still being taught in schools in Uganda, that the man is the head of the household.

In some circumstances, spouses agree that the woman goes to the Middle East to work and support the family.“We are finding a lot of women becoming breadwinners. They get support from their partners. The partner says: ‘okay, it is two years. You can go. I will look after the home. Go, send money for children to go to school, because my job brings little income’, or, ‘I don’t have anything.’ So, that is an option,” Obika says.

“For me, what is really impressive is that agency that women begin getting when they make the choice to go, that ability to choose this path. This is a different time in history. Some have started businesses, and then one year, two years, they collapse – but it is not like they’re giving up totally now. That is more reason to go back, get capital and come and invest again. They seem to have the idea so they want a second chance, to do it right,” Obika adds.

“The New Garden”

Traditionally in Uganda, women till the land and grow food to feed the family. Today, with increased education, population, socialization, urbanization, globalization and other factors, there are certainly more work and life options for them to consider.

“It is a comparison. You can have a garden and till it, get food and then feed your children. The era seems to be a bit different, the context is different. Now, with the Middle East being close – close in a way that people can afford an air ticket, that you can get a job where the boss pays for the ticket for you to go and work for two or three years – it seems to open up possibilities.

“They know about the slavery, but that bravery to think that maybe for me it will turn out okay, I think it is really something that we should also begin to understand – that these young women have this ability to choose their life path, what they want to do with their lives, because something doesn’t seem to be working at home. Maybe their education level is an issue, the jobs are not there, there’s too much competition, but they also want to see nice things, they want to step on a plane, we may take those things for granted”, says Obika.

Stepping on a plane

Stepping on a plane will look like a simple thing in some societies or families, especially in the developed world, but for some people it is the motivation to leave home, to have an experience away from home.

“The Middle East has made it possible, because it seems so close and more open than the dream of going to the US or Europe. That possibility to go and see the beauty somewhere else, to be close to wealth and say, ’yeah!’ Then you call people and say, ‘I am abroad’, and take pictures. The world is now more open. It is open to many people. Domestic work [in the Middle East] is one way that can close that gap, that aspiration, and then you now begin to look at the livelihoods. It’s a completely different era. So, we can look at it in this context where the Middle East opens up a lot of possibilities for us, for women, to do a lot of things, and achieve” Obika says.

Who uses the money?

While some are happy that the money they earn from the Middle East has taken them a step ahead in life, they have built houses, educated their children, and even started businesses, there are also disappointments for many.

“We have found many who have been disappointed that the money they were sending never actually reached its target. You send it through a friend and the friend diverts it. You send it through a brother, the brother uses it to build his own house. That just breaks them down” Obika says. “You have gone to do something, but you are trying to stay connected. You are telling them ‘let my money go towards this’ but you really have no control. You still have to trust and depend on somebody to help you achieve that, and then you are disappointed.”

The researchers also state that the expenditure for those women can sometimes be inevitably high, as they try to support their needy relatives back home. “There are a lot of demands from a lot of relatives, and therefore often the money is gone much faster than expected. It is difficult to start a business that survives for very long. I would say that the problem is not just about the job, but it is also a problem that their salaries are not high for the work that they do”, says Mogensen.

More men happier than women

There are suggestions, as the study continues, that more men are happier with the outcome of their Middle East work than women. Many of the men we have spoken to seem to have positive stories about their going to the Middle East. Once I asked a gentleman whom I have been following since 2019 “how come I have not found a man saying negative things about their experience?” and he told me”‘it is because men know what is taking them there. They go, they work, they send money to their wives. You know you have a target, you achieve it, and then you come back home, and that’s it”.

“A number of women go when they are actually girls, very young, with a lot of excitement. They have not done this before. They get money which they think is a lot. Sometimes they spend it on relatives, other times they spend it on things that don’t build them, financially. One woman said that some girls don’t plan. They get boyfriends through social media who promise to marry them and then they eat up all their money. All of a sudden they are broke and they are planning their next trip back to the Middle East,” Obika says.

Women: The new champions

Overall though, there is a changing trend, with women becoming champions of families and heroines of their communities in Uganda.

“You find that the way the household is set up, it is run by the woman – rented or built by the woman. She has put her relatives there – her mother, sisters, and then children. They may be her children, sisters’ children. There are many people there. The household head is that woman in the Middle East. She is sending the money. She’s making the decisions. There is no man there!

“Women are taking charge of a lot of extended family issues: burial arrangements, you see that it is women sending contributions; marriage, you see that it is women sending contributions,” says Obika.

Why the women’s journey to the Middle East will continue

When I ask Fatuma if she is not worried about her marriage since she stays away for long she says that she worries, but asks rhetorically, “What is the importance of being together when you are failing to make ends meet?”

“I talk to my man and reassure him of the goals we are looking at. If you understand each other, things work out.” Fatuma says. “There are no jobs [in Uganda]. If you get a job the wage is very small, compared to what we earn here. With our economy and all its challenges, you fear for your future and that of your kids. You see time running out and you have gained nothing year in year out. You compare yourself with your friends who have been successful and you of course will want to go back [to the Middle East]. That is why you see many girls are dying in the hands of the Arabs but many more girls are coming in. Everyone wants to try their luck.”

Unemployment is the biggest challenge, says human rights activist Mariam Mwiza, the Executive Director of Overseas Workers Voice (OWV).

“They have to find a way of putting something on the table. Those who return home, especially those trafficked out of the country, sometimes find themselves at a level worse than they were before they left. The environment is harsh. People are expecting you to be better than them, to help them. You think that maybe when I go back, I can make things work,” says Mwiza.

William Odinga Balikuddembe is a science journalist based in Kampala, Uganda

The Middle East: Uganda’s New Garden Where ‘Everyone Wants to Try Their Luck’ (1:2)

William Odinga Balikuddembe — Tue, 28 Mar 2023 10:32:32 +0000

Ugandan women continue to flock to the Middle East mainly to work as maids, despite harrowing tales of enslavement, torture and discrimination. In fact, many go back for a second and third stint, even after they have spoken very badly about the way they were treated while they worked in homes there.

Researchers Dr. Julaina Obika of Gulu University and Prof. Hanne Overgaard Mogensen of the University of Copenhagen are interested in finding out why these women are choosing that path despite such working conditions. Their study seeks to establish the impact of labor migrations from Uganda to the Middle East on gender relations and livelihoods in Uganda. So far, their findings show that while there are plenty of negative stories, the livelihood influence of Middle East labor on some families in Uganda is significant, and women are increasingly taking on the role of head of the family in a society that is traditionally patriarchal.

A typical experience

Fatuma [not her real name], 29, describes her first attempt to work in the Middle East as “a nightmare”. Her ‘escape’ in 2018 from a house in Dubai, after serving 10 months on her two-year contract, was movie-like:

“One day she [the boss] forgot the keys in the kitchen lock. It was in the morning and most of the family members were still asleep. I pulled out the keys, ran to the basement where my room was, picked up my bag which was always packed, returned to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. I went to the living room where she was and I told her ‘if you want peace let me go peacefully. Take me back to the office [labor agency] or else I will be forced to use this knife on you’.”

After making her point, and with the keys in her hands, Fatuma ran out of the house, leaving her employer in shock.

“I think because of the fear of what I could do next, they called the office and they quickly took me there. The office already knew about our issues because I had complained many times but they were not helping me,” she tells me.

Fatuma, known to her relatives and friends as a very humble and friendly person, had left behind her partner and a baby of fourteen months to join the ever-increasing number of young Ugandan women going to the Middle East to do domestic work.

Immediately when she entered the house to start her new job her phone was taken away from her, so she could have very limited communication with her people, through her employers’ phone.

“That made me feel so lonely in that house to the extent that I developed suicidal thoughts. She [the boss] had eight grandchildren whom I was forced to take care of, but I was not allowed quality time [phone calls] with my own child. It was tormenting!” Fatuma says.

Her plight over those months included verbal abuses related to her race, being given little food, working for abnormal hours and, although her contract indicated that she was to work in one house, she would be forced by her employer to work in three other houses where her employers’ daughters were married.

Fatuma’s employer had not paid her for three months by the time of the knife incident. The agency told her to use that money to buy Fatuma a flight ticket.

“I returned home. I had planned my escape months earlier. It reached a point where I had become rebellious. If they told me to do something that was not in my contract I wouldn’t do it. So, they started to lock me in the house and my boss would keep the keys on herself,” she says.

In 2021, however, Fatuma returned to Dubai, again as a laborer. This time she was working for a cleaning company. Again, she left behind her partner and their baby of only eight months.

Researchers’ questions

“How come they are choosing this [work in the Middle East] as an alternative or a pathway for livelihood? Why is domestic work in the Middle East becoming a very attractive choice for a lot of women?”, asks Dr. Obika. Those are some of the questions in the researchers’ probe. It is important to note that the young women I interviewed for this article are not among the researchers’ respondents.

Between 2016 and mid-2022, over 220,000 Ugandans left for work in the Middle East. 85 percent were domestic workers, with women taking up the larger share of 75%. Those figures do not include workers who left the country illegally.

The labor export sector has become an important revenue source for Uganda with the country’s tax body receiving 30 US Dollars per worker requested by a foreign agency while local labor companies pay 2m Ugandan shillings (approx. 535 US Dollars) each for a license. By May 2022, Uganda had licensed more than 230 labor export companies and over 400 foreign recruitment agencies.

Annual remittances from Ugandans working abroad amount to 1.3bn US Dollars – more than half of that (700m US Dollars) comes from those working in the Middle East. The sector is estimated to annually generate for the country tax revenue of 4.5t Ugandan shillings (approx. 1.2bn US Dollars).

Context of the study

Dr. Obika and Prof. Mogensen began their research in 2018 and it should have ended in 2022, but due to Covid-19 disruptions, they received an extension to 2024. Their study is part of a wider DANIDA-funded project, Imagining Gender Futures in Uganda (IMAGENU), which is looking at marriage, partnerships and changing gender relations in Uganda. Different studies are going on under four subthemes: Livelihoods, Education, Child filiation and Health (reproductive and mental).

“Hanne and I are looking at the work package on livelihoods and we zeroed down on this growing trend of women, especially young women, going to the Middle East in search of jobs,” Obika says. “We are following the two components about this decline in marriage and then our sub study about migration.”

Between them, the researchers have interviewed over 50 men and women who have made the journey to the Middle East and they have closely been following the stories of 11 of them for more than three years.

“It is important to say that we look for themes recurring in these people’s lives, but not for statistical significance. We primarily look at how they manage to continue life once back in Uganda – what has this experience in the Middle East done for their livelihood options also after they return”, says Mogensen.

Geographically, they are focusing on northern Uganda, specifically the districts of Gulu and Pader, but they also bring in comparison with Eastern Uganda – Tororo and Jinja districts – as well as Kampala, which is the hub for the women in transition to the Middle East. They began their study focusing on women, but later included men for accuracy.

Obika says: “When you talk to a Ugandan about work in the Middle East it is like a synonym for slavery, torture, discrimination, racism, you name it. We talk to people all the time and they tell us exactly these kinds of fears that they have. What we have found is that despite negative press and the stories that are so much on social media, some of the young women we have spoken to have gone, come back and then are trying to go back again. And our question is why?”

The answers could be diverse. But livelihood is, certainly, at the center of this journey from Uganda to the Middle East.

William Odinga Balikuddembe is a science journalist based in Kampala, Uganda

The Danger of Being a Woman in Ecuador

Lise Josefsen Hermann — Sat, 11 Feb 2023 16:26:20 +0000

Every 28 hours a woman is killed in Ecuador, for the simple reason of being a woman in this patriarchal system we live in. So-called femicide. But in 2022, one particular femicide has shocked the country and brought hundreds of people out to protest in the streets. The murder of the lawyer Maria Belen Bernal on the 11^th of September, at the police school in the country’s capital Quito. Her husband German Caseres, a police officer and teacher at the school is the main suspect and he is still missing to this date.

”The case of María Belén Bernal has become an aberration. A woman dies at the hands of her husband who is a policeman, within a police facility, when it is the police who have the legal duty to protect people from being killed. So this is what provokes an accumulation of indignation. The feeling that there is no more protection, that if a woman is killed in the police force, there is nowhere else to turn, then what can we expect? But the most serious thing is all this behavior to cover up,” says Susy Garbay, a feminist lawyer and professor at the public Central University in Ecuador.

The cover-up, that the lawyer is referring to, has been questioned from many sides. How are the police supposed to investigate a crime amongst themselves? Just after Maria Belen went missing, her husband was interviewed by colleagues but released afterwards. Also, the main suspect didn’t allow the police investigators to enter his room to make the investigation. Soon after, he went missing, supposedly leaving the country. Did someone from within the police institution help him to escape?

Maria Belen’s body was found ten days after her murder. Also the circumstances around the findings of the body, the search, and the many days it took to locate it has been questioned by women’s organizations, the family, and the lawyers of the victim.

The case of Maria Belen has gotten a lot of attention, because of the involvement of the police school and institution. But unfortunately, she is just one out of many victims of femicide in Ecuador and in Latin America. 332 girls and women have been killed in Ecuador in 2022 according to the ALDEA Foundation.

Maria Belen died at 34 years old and left behind a 13-year-old son. The aggravating circumstances made it a cause many Ecuadorians claimed and were indignant about.

During the months that have passed since the death of Maria Belen in September, there have been several demonstrations in Quito and elsewhere in the country. ”Señor, señora, no sean indiferentes. Nos matan y nos violan en la cara de la gente” – would the mass yell, at one of those events in the streets of Quito, meaning: ”Sir, madam, don’t be indifferent. We are being killed and raped in people’s faces.

Obviously, the loss and the whole case is really hard on Maria Belen’s mother, Elizabeth Otavalo: ”She was a fighter, a woman full of love with clear visions and objectives, and with ambitions and an appetite for life, a will to live and it was all taken away from her. ”She would have done the same thing I am doing for her; to fight for the truth,” says Elizabeth from the leather couch in what used to be her daughter’s lawyer’s office in Quito.

Let’s have a look at the relatively recent incorporation of the concept of femicide in Ecuadorian legislation. Femicide in Ecuador was only criminalized in 2014.

”But there have always been deaths of women, it’s like a patriarchal policy. So, in fact, the death of women has been covered up by the law itself until the late 1980s, there were even penal figures that exempted the men from the house when they punished women even to death, that is, for example, an adulterous woman who was found with her lover, so to speak, could die at the hands of her husband and the husband had no criminal sanction. This was the case until 1983, and until 1989 there was even another criminal law in force, which said that the father, brother, or grandfather could also kill a daughter, granddaughter, or sister who was found to be carnal and legitimate, there was even legal permission to kill women. These norms that protected impunity in the face of the death of women were declared unconstitutional in the ’80s and ’90s with the debate of the human rights discourses, women’s organizations also demanding greater rights, but obviously, the cultural element of that symbolic universe that was in these norms has not been overcome, for example, the sense of ownership of the man over the woman’s body has not been modified,” says Susy.

”In Ecuador, there was not much interest, let’s say, there was no record of the cases of women’s deaths. Femicides were all prosecuted under the figure of homicide-murder and it was not really possible to show the register of women killed by their partners or in these contexts of power relations,” says Susy.

It is not until 2011, that the first study is made in Ecuador about femicide – women murdered because of their sex. The study was done by an Ecuadorian and Costa Rican lawyer. Femicide is in the actual Ecuadorian legislation described as, when a person who, as a result of power relations manifested in any type of violence, kills a woman because she is a woman or because of her gender. But that doesn’t mean that all gender-based killings of women are registered as so.

”That is the formal dimension of law, but there is more to it. Law has to be seen as a much more complex phenomenon, it is a legal phenomenon that has not only a formal dimension, It has a cultural dimension, it has a structural dimension, so the interpretation made by the justice operators who have the possibility of raising the legal discourse in concrete cases has distorted the penal type. In several cases they do not understand this when they naturalize, for example, instead of placing an act in the pedagogical type of femicide they place it in the penal type of homicide, that is to say without putting into evidence these power relations that characterize femicide.

Another newer (2015 ) study from Ecuador made by the Ecumenical Commission on Human Rights shows how there is too much attention paid to the victim’s behavior, to what the victim did to provoke the death.

Now, let us go back to the recent events in Ecuador. How could femicide happen inside a police school? Several circumstances afterward have risen criticism internationally, for instance from The Inter-American Commission of Human Rights: ”In light of the disappearance and femicide of Maria Belén Bernal in Quito, IACHR urges the State to investigate with enhanced due diligence; to prosecute and punish those responsible; to combat tolerance of gender-based violence in the country.”

The commission wrote in a statement that was sent out shortly after her body was found: ”Given the context of violence against women in the country, the State must prioritize the adoption of prevention measures that address the structural causes, guarantee access to justice with a gender perspective and comprehensive reparation for victims and their families.”

The UN has also commented on the case: ”The United Nations System in Ecuador deeply regrets the femicide of María Belén Bernal. The events that allegedly took place within a police institution need to be investigated in an expeditious and independent manner and punished in accordance with the Constitution and the law. The rights of the victims must also be comprehensively redressed, including measures of non-repetition. This femicide is part of a serious situation of violence against women,” said part of the statement.

Maria Belen’s mother is really disappointed with how the Government and the police have been handling the whole case: ”On the part of the government, there has never been any institutional support. The only thing they wanted to do is to look after the image of the institutions, but not to respond to the basic issue, which is how she could get murdered inside a higher education institution, a police academy, where people are supposed to be trained to provide security for us people. And now come these slow and tedious legal processes of searching, which is even more painful, because I will always have to re-victimize myself, and remembering is hard,” says Elizabeth Otavalo.

And the case has already had high political costs – for instance when president Guillermo Lasso dismissed the Minister of the interior, Carillo. Also, the head of the police Academy was replaced, and 12 police officers were suspended.

On the other hand, on the 29th of November 2022, Lasso made the symbolic name-change of the Human Rights Secretary to The Ministry of Women and Human Rights appointing Paola Flores as the new Minister.

But it is important not to forget the State’s responsibility in the case, Elizabeth Otavalo’s lawyer, Jesús Alberto López points out: ”Let’s not forget that we also have State responsibility here because the State is responsible for the actions committed by its officials in the exercise of their duties. Here Germán Cáceres was an official of the State National Police and was on duty, therefore there exists State responsibility as established in the Constitution of Ecuador and also within the scope of justice. The Ecuadorian State will have to compensate for the rights of María Belén Bernal, especially her son she left behind who is only 13 years old,” says the lawyer.

On one of the last days of the year Germán Cáceres was arrested in the Colombian town Palomino and on the 3rd of January he was extradited to Ecuador and transferred to the maximum security prison in the city of Guayaquil. Days after he was transferred to Quito to take part in expert examinations and on the 12th of January, he confessed to having killed his wife Maria Belen Bernal.

Lise Josefsen Hermann – a freelance journalist based in Latin America for more than a decade. She is a Pulitzer Grantee, works for the investigative media Danwatch and has published in media like Al Jazeera, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, El Pais, New York Times, and Undark Magazine. Photos: Verónica Almeida & Andrés Yépez

Women’s voice in media still missing

Anna Pokorná — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 07:32:40 +0000

“Women and girls are half of humanity. Giving equal time and weight to their stories is an important part of creating a better, freer world for all of us.”– Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director.

Gender stereotyping in the media is still very present. The media gender gap is widely open and misses the women’s perspective. Women continue to be denied their right to be heard or to take up leadership. The study of Missing Perspectives of Women in News (MPWN) published by the International Women’s Media Foundation in 2020 found that men are the vast majority of quoted experts and sources in news coverage. Between 2005 and 2015, women were fewer than one in five experts in global news. Top positions in the newsroom remain largely reserved for the men only, which makes almost all of the decision-making process absent of female voices. The study examined four following indicators: women as sources and as figures in news stories, diversity in the workplace, newsroom leadership and coverage of gender equality issues in six couriers: India, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Britain and the U.S. and analysed more than 2,000 articles, 12,000 publications and more than 56 million stories including news content and academic articles. Workplace diversity, for instance, failed heavily in all of those countries.

Today, according to the study, men are quoted in online news five times more often than women in Nigeria, and six times more in India. The researchers found that women have the best coverage in lifestyle stories and least in articles linked to policymaking or current affairs. Women also tend to cover topics like education, environment, and issues of poverty and development. But quite fewer women investigative reporting on the economy or politics. MPWN study also found that in each of those six countries except for India, gender representation in political news coverage is lagging behind women’s actual position in political life especially in Kenya, the U.S., South Africa, and the UK.

Another research The Global Gender Monitoring Project (GGMP) in 2020 found that only 24% of expert voices in the news are women. GGMP study, released the percentage of experts commenting on foreign policy, global affairs, national security, war, development, human rights, global trade and commerce, bilateral and multilateral issues in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times, across three one-year periods: 1996, 2006, and 2016. This study reveals that women remain shockingly underrepresented in these themes in the news coverage.

Still prevalent gender stereotypes

The United Nations Development Programme in their Gender Social Norm Index revealed highly prevalent prejudice against women, showing that 91% of men and 86% of women across 75 countries covering 80% of the world’s population hold at least one bias against women. Raquel Lagunas, acting director of United Nations Development Programme’s gender team: “UNDP is very conscious of the backlash against women’s rights. We are aware and we are concerned.”

The media can play a crucial role by addressing and recognizing gender stereotypes. However, they often portray women only as victims or simply as homemakers. What the GGMP study says is that even in stories that affected women such as gender-based violence, the man’s voice still prevailed. Women in news are most likely cited in a position of “ordinary people”. But not as experts or figures of authority.

Traditionally, areas such as banking, cyber, defence, economics, engineering, entrepreneurship, finance, investing, national security, nuclear war, science and technology are staying male-dominated. The lack of involvement of women in media and the imbalance of using women’s perspectives in news is linked with a higher percentage of men in positions of power and authority, lack of women’s leadership across industries and still heavily persistent gender and cultural bias.

Media worldwide and the participation of women

The Gender Equality in the News Media Index (GEM Index or GEM-I) calculates the average gender equality gap based on six indicators: people in the news (subjects and sources), participation as reporters, voice as experts and as spokespersons, and presence in economic and political news. Transnational media perform poorly concerning the inclusion of women as subjects and sources. Women were only 13% of subjects and sources in the television newscast monitored and 21% in the digital news stories and tweets from Al Jazeera, BBC News -World, CNN International, France 24, Reuters, RT News, TeleSur and The New York Times. While some women’s involvement has improved over time, women’s invisibility remains still very low in influential international media. If all conditions remain the same, it will take at least a further 67 years according to the GMMP research to close the average gender equality gap in traditional news media.

From a historical point of view, there has been some progress in women’s engagement, especially in European news media and North American media. However, we can see a different picture in Africa’s media when they largely failed to address the presence of women’s voices over time. Asia and the Middle East is largely lacking women’s perspectives, especially in print and broadcast news. The only region and topic where gender parity in subjects and sources has been attained are in North American digital social legal news.

Voices of minority and historically marginalised women

Teams in 81% of the participating countries of the GMMP study collected data on indicators of interest in the national context to understand news media treatment of subjects and sources based on their other identities such as race, religion, class/caste, immigration and disability status. The finding shows that women are underrepresented across all the identity groups. In Latin America only 3% of the people in the news are from Indigenous or tribal groups and of these only one in five is a woman. Although indigenous peoples are estimated to be at least 8% of the region’s population, and women at least one half of the indigenous population.

Call for change: why is the women’s voice essential ?

Excluding women from the media has various consequences. First of all, women are being devalued and not recognized for their work, practice and expertise in public. Secondly, prioritising men means that the transparency of information in the media is missing and that most of the world media are labelled as being biassed and not fully objective if they need to prioritise their sources as experts.

Women can bring unique and insightful expertise which is rarely reflected in global news. Hearing and seeing more women’s voices in the news in the role of experts, leaders or authorities is crucial for breaking down and pushing against gender stereotyping.

Twenty years ago, 189 UN Member States recognized the central role of media in shifting the gender stereotypes that influence how we think and act. They made women and media one of 12 critical areas of the Beijing Platform for Action. It was agreed that the number of women in the media must increase, including in decision-making. There has been some progress since the Beijing Conference but we still have a long way to go.

By repressing women’s perspectives journalism tends to perpetuate the existing biases in societies that universalize men’s perspectives. There is an urge for change in journalistic values. There is a call to action for journalists to not let women’s voices remain marginalised and to produce news that empowers girls and women to believe that their voice is valued. The failure to represent the diversity of people and opinion in society influences public discourse and decision-making and also plays a big role in a name of trust in news journalism. Full gender equality is insufficient without the improvement of journalism from a gender perspective.

Anna Pokorná is a MSc student in Development Studies at Lund University, Sweden

Women, motherhood, and science in Colombia

Lise Josefsen Hermann — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 14:40:44 +0000

Efforts to reverse trends of disengagement with studies, normalize motherhood in universities, and counteract gender disparities. Four stories, like cardinal points, to better understand the current map of Colombian women and science.

In many parts of society, there are still strong gender gaps. One of these is in science, where women around the world generally receive smaller scholarships than their male peers and tend to have shorter and lower-paid careers, according to the report “Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) in Latin America and the Caribbean”, published by UN Women and UNESCO. Colombia does not escape the statistics: according to a study by the Development Bank of Latin America, CAF, about a third of the cases of dismissal from women’s studies can be attributed to pregnancy or motherhood.

We visit the campus of the National University of Colombia in La Paz, Cesar – a region with almost no University presence earlier. Most of the students are the first member of their family to enter a university, according to surveys made by the institution. There are almost 30 women with children – several of them single mothers. This University is making a great effort out of these women to stay studying.

Angie Paola Simanca Rodríguez, 21, is studying Biology. And she is a mother to Ezequiel, 11 months old. A great dilemma she reckons. “Many times, I do not manage to complete all the tasks of the University because I must not disregard my son. Then everything becomes so difficult but so necessary. Because now that I have my son I feel with more desire the need to improve myself and get ahead, become someone in life,” says Angie. “As I am now a mother, I feel the need to give my son a better tomorrow. So, I feel the need to make the sacrifice of being a mother and studying at the same time. To respond with my university and with my maternity at the same time”. “And both being a mother and studying are difficult. This University is demanding. I have never had to read so much, have had to stay up so long reading as I do now at this university. It’s really difficult. And good at the same time.”

11 month old Ezequiel is accompanying us at the interview. Sometimes coughing or creating loud noises, making it difficult for us to continue our conversations. It makes me think of how it must be for Angie, when she must study while literally doing her mother tasks at the same time. She is alone with her son. They are living with Angie’s mother. Sometimes her aunt helps her with Ezequiel as well. ”I dedicate myself to my son – more than studying. When he is asleep, I try to do a lot of work. My son has gotten sick, I’ve had bad nights with him. And all these bad nights that I have spent with my son, I have been able to fulfil the tasks of the University. My mind doesn’t allow me to be aware of my son and having to complete the university. Sometimes, many times I have no one to take care of him. Then I won’t even come to the university because if I come, I waste my time. If I leave him to my cousin, I come to the university to call her by video call to see if she has bathed him, if she gave him food, changed his diaper. So, all these things distract me too much in University. If I’m at home with my son, he doesn’t let me receive a virtual class well either. I must watch the recorded classes when my son falls asleep so I can understand what the professor says. Because at the moment they are giving the virtual class and explaining – Ezequiel put a pen in his mouth, Ezequiel is going to fall out of bed, he is going to hurt himself. So, all of this means that suddenly I cannot comply with all my university activities because if you are a mother – the first priority will always be the well-being of your son. So, this is my dilemma,” tells Angie.

Also, to way for Angie to enter the University has not been easy. First, she did the entrance exam four times at another University in Valledupar, she tried both Nursing and also Opencast Mining – she didn’t pass. Her mother suggested her to try this new campus from the National University of Colombia in the region. But Angie had little hope after the failure times four – and she didn’t really know the careers neither– like for instance Biology. “I told my mother, I don’t know, what this career is good for. Biology I don’t know what that is for. I don’t know what a biologist is. So, I grabbed my smartphone and googled. It said Biology is the science about the living beings. Oh, that’s interesting I said to my mum. I will give it a try with Biology…. So, it is not my life project or anything. But it was the opportunity that was given to me, and I took it”.

“I planned to study, prepare myself and then have my child. But sometimes we are irresponsible. And also, the lack of communication, of orientation. It makes us make bad decisions. Here is the small sample of that,” says Angie pointing with her eyes towards small Ezequiel. She is living alone with her son and her mom. Her aunt and mom sometimes help her with the baby. “Being a mother and studying at the same time is very difficult for me. The most difficult thing is suddenly to think that I am denying my son the time that he deserves. And that I am neglecting my duty to study. I feel like I don’t have enough time to fulfil the two tasks as I would like”. But becoming mother has also been an important lesson for the 21yearold: “My son has also become a goal of my life. Since I have Ezequiel, I am more organized both with the money and everything. Today I must wash her clothes, today I must… every task has a day, it has a time, and it has an hour. Because I don’t have the time to waste it anymore. Now I must be more focused on what I must do. I have practically everything with schedules because in reality I don’t have time”. Our talk ends with Ezequiel crying as if he also participates underlining that point from his mother.

According to UNESCO, globally 29.3% of researchers are women.

Yency Cardozo Vazquez is physiotherapist and part of the health team of the university. ”The region has a very complex story with paramilitarism, with the armed conflict in Colombia. There is an attempt to rebuild from the peace process and new ways of living and inhabiting the territory. We have five different indigenous peoples in the area. According to our surveys some 75% have a great amount of vulnerability! It may be low income they are not guaranteed basic services such as drinking water. We have a population of single mother families, doing on informal work in the region – that does not allow them constant income – which could transform their daily lives and their social mobility. So, these students who arrive are, for the most part, the first members of the family to enter higher education”.

The first challenge is the multiplicity of roles – mothers-students-partners – and some caregivers of older adults. Their workday is doubled or tripled. Some tasks – as is installed in the feminine, housework, childcare, generally take place in a private space – are raised in the feminine. That is a challenge for those women. Those are women with a lot of courage, to be able to transform their realities. Being some of the first of their families to go to a public university, either with those who belong to an indigenous or ethnic group, or who are Afro-Colombians. That is also a challenge to be able to transform within your Genealogy of your family, new ways of living, new challenges, to enter the university, to be able to graduate. Because it can also be a scenario that motherhood is a burden. They are very brave because the situation is difficult – but if I build and share what I learned from everyday life, then motherhood can also get a not meaning within the academy as an achievement and not something that people have to endure, but something that builds them that enriches them a lot,” says Yency.

The recent University Camp in La Paz has a beautiful view of two mountain ranges. There live five different indigenous peoples, who often have lived isolated from the rest of society and in various senses far from the academic world of the University. Claudia Patricia Vallejo, 26, is one of those women who is changing that picture. She belongs to the Arhuaco people, her home community is Jewrwa, some 5 hours’ drive from here. She recalls when she got pregnant as a 20 yearold and the challenges coming with that in her indigenous community.“As an indigenous person, when we find a partner or get pregnant, the family leaves everything for us to take over. Then – at that time – there were not really study opportunities. I mean, I continued with the dream that one day I would continue studying. I wanted to. But – this opportunity did not present itself. I could go to Bogota – but if I did not have any type of support – what were my son and I supposed to live from?”

At the time she had finished high school and wanted to study Maths. But five years passed as Claudia and her partner were occupied taking working and care of their child. During that time, they never even read a book or repeated something from their studies, Claudia tells. “I always had the dream to continue studying. I always said, the day will come when I will be able to continue”. Then one night, around 7 her phone rang. The following day, first thing in the morning, a teacher would be in the city Valledupar in charge of giving Pins to the indigenous people – so that they could then present the entrance exam to the university. Claudia had no money, but she borrowed to be able to travel to Valledupar. Next day, at 3 in the morning she left with her partner on a motorcycle. It’s a 5 hours’ drive. And they managed to get there early and get the pin.

But then, to present the university admission test was also another complication because they had been 5 years without reading a book. And again, regarding being parents. Claudia recalls how they had to leave her 3yearold daughter with the guard outside the university, while they were doing the admission exam. They had nowhere else to leave here – and were not allowed to bring her inside. But both passed – and now they’re studying Statistics together. “From then on it got very complicated. We had to be here at 7 in the morning. I had to bring my daughter, wake her up early, bathe her, dress her, we had to bring her – because she was very small, and we have no relatives here. We have nowhere to leave her. But then I managed to put it in a Kindergarten at least.There are moments when one does manage to concentrate on what you’re doing because – for instance I make her colour for a while. But then she comes – mom, look what I drew. Then oh nice yes, yes – and you disconnect. Also doing group work, sometimes I can’t participate, because I must take care of my daughter. It’s difficult. And my career, math, is very applied, I must study hard all the time,” says Claudia.

Mentioning all these challenges – remembering her life in the indigenous community five hours away, I wonder, if she’s ever thought of giving up on the studies, dropping out…“There are moments of despair. For example, when my daughter was in the kindergarten. Since she is the only one dressed in traditional clothes – and the other companions do not, she felt bad. She didn’t want to use traditional clothes. She wanted to wear the uniform. It was very difficult for me. I was already feeling that she was disconnecting from our culture. Children are getting used to what they see more. That worried me a lot – I felt – could it be that the classmates see her as different, so she would feel bad, strange, alone…? There were even days when I had to put a normal dress on her. But tomorrow you go with traditional clothes, I would tell her. We can’t take this away, it’s tradition – I tell her all this. But because she is so small – she doesn’t understand. Even me – I feel that I disconnect with my culture. This worries me. The own cultural education in this case. So, in the end, by being here, I’m making her lose this. It’s difficult. But giving up – no. After so much effort. I am also thinking about my daughter’s future, about how can I help my daughter. Otherwise, she will be the same or worse than me”, says Claudia.

For Colombia, of the total number of researchers in engineering and technology, only 26% are women.

At the recently opened campus of the National University of Colombia, there is being made an effort to include part of the population, which has not before participated in the academic world. Lina Caballero, 37, is leader of the organization Parent in Science, Colombia, which works for improving work-life balance and equal opportunities for women in science. She is also a biologist, PhD in genetics and director of wellbeing of this University Campus in La Paz, Cesar. And then she is a mother. And that is a great important part. Because the gender gap in STEM is still broad. In Colombia it is estimated that, if trends continue so far this century, it could take 150 years to achieve gender parity in, for example, engineering, according to research on women in science in Latin America. This situation worries Lina Caballero:

“We are working to make this situation visible. To create strategies, to normalize motherhood and fatherhood in the universities and in science,” tells Lina Caballero. She left her homeland Colombia a decade ago, because of lack of opportunities for her with an academic career. She studied first in Brazil then in Germany, now she reached her doctor degree. And decided to return to Colombia, to work for improving these issues.

Another challenge is the lack of data on the area, the founder of Parent in Science Colombia insists: “There is still a lack of data on the differential impact of care roles in scientific careers. Also about the unequal impact of motherhood on scientific productivity, and especially these data are required in order to generate actions and policies at the institutional level in order to support many academic women who are mothers”.

In Latin America, Parent in Science is a Movement led by researchers who work with research projects to evaluate and measure the impact of children on careers. From these data they hope to contribute to the discussion of strategies that allow the empowerment of women who are currently studying or working in STEM areas. Data is the first step towards desired change, sustains the movement: “This is important of etic reasons, to include everyone in science. We miss a lot of talents if we only see male researchers. Also, if there are no women conducting research – it is difficult that gender issues will be part of those investigations too,” explains Lina.

Lise Josefsen Hermann – a freelance journalist based in Latin America for more than a decade. She is a Pulitzer Grantee and has published in media like Al Jazeera, BBC, Deutsche Welle, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Danish Development Research Network, El Pais, New York Times, and Undark Magazine. Photo: Charlie Cordero, El Cesar, Colombia

Angie Paola Simanca (21) with her son Ezequiel (11 months)

Claudia Vallejo (26) with her daughter Dwiney (6)

Lina Caballero with her daughter

Land ownership rights: A barrier to gender equality and economic empowerment of Ugandan women

Dragica Dimova — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 12:39:13 +0000

Gender and economic inequalities are still very pervasive within countries across the world. Despite the considerable progress made on promoting women’s economic empowerment and reducing gender inequalities through strategies, programs, and interventions, many countries are still struggling to provide and ensure equal social, economic, and political participation and inclusion of women.

Uganda is one of the countries where gender inequalities are a crucial barrier to economic growth. For most Ugandans, the land is a sensitive issue but also a valuable resource of wealth and a significant part of their identity. According to an article published in 2018 by The World Bank, 70 percent of the population in Uganda is employed in agriculture, making agriculture the main and most important resource for livelihood for Ugandans. Even though the natural resources and agriculture is substantial, women in this country face numerous cultural and legal barriers that affect their rights and prevent them from fully enjoying their property and land ownership rights. To understand Ugandan women’s role in society and their reality better, I have talked to Sarah Kusiima, a lawyer and a women’s rights advocate living and working in Uganda. Sarah has obtained her master’s degree in Land Management from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, and has vast experience in land-related matters. Her Master’s thesis was on “Computerisation of Land Registry: Challenges and Implications for the Mailo Tenure Security and Rights”. Currently, in Uganda, there are four land tenure systems with the Mailo land tenure system being the most complex one. In the country, the land market is growing at a high rate, especially in the Central region of Uganda where the Mailo tenure system is mainly present, and land registration is impeded by many barriers.

According to Sarah’s research, there is a low efficiency regarding the Mailo land registration because of using an out-of-date system that prevents many people to register, follow up or process their land titles. The citizens are not educated on how to register their land and Uganda’s Ministry of Land, Housing and Urban Development lacks adequate policy and procedures on land information and registration. Throughout her master’s thesis, Sarah has sought to assess the land rights status in Mailo land areas and how the analog and computerized systems of storing land records at the central registry would improve information storage and land rights accessibility. In her thesis, she aimed at answering two research questions: “Will reforming the central land registry system of land record keeping improve the land tenure status of Ugandans?” and “What factors inherent in the land registry constrain land rights transfer for Mailo land tenants?”. According to Sarah, the security of tenure is critical for settlement and economic reasons as the Mailo tenure system covers the most densely populated and highly developed region of the country. Her research findings indicated that the tracing of the documents in the land registers requires considerable time and effort which has resulted in duplication of information within registers or mixing up of land registration documents due to the manual handling of the cases. Other findings indicated that despite being very vital, the daily case handling processes within the land registers lacked documented procedures and controls for improving the effectiveness within the process. Sarah has concluded that land registers in Uganda have been overused, old, and in a poor state which posed a risk for the land information in the registers to be lost if the Ministry failed to secure the registers and strengthen the methods of information capture and storage.

Sarah’s Master’s thesis deals with an important issue that indicates Uganda’s institutional constraints and is correlated to the issue discussed in this article. Aside from land tenure and property law, Sarah’s area of expertise includes human rights, especially women’s rights to land, economic empowerment, food security, and poverty reduction. She has worked on legislation to advocate for equitable land rights in rural settings and has worked with the African Union’s Peace and Security Council on a project focusing on transitional justice and post-conflict land tenure relations regarding women and children’s rights to land. “Uganda as a country has made significant strides in the advancement of women’s rights. To reduce gender-based discrimination, the government has stepped up in their attempts to incorporate and integrate gender into policymaking,” says Sarah. Despite the efforts and slow progress, the unequal distribution of land and structural inequalities still prevail and pose a barrier to social, economic, and political development and a threat to the advancement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Uganda.

The issues at stake

Equal property rights have been a long-running issue, limiting women’s economic opportunities, security, and productive potential. The Ugandan women make up the majority of the agricultural labor force, meaning their contribution to the economic development of the country is essential and yet, women’s role as crucial contributors is greatly disregarded. The Uganda Bureau of Statistics’ (UBOS) statistical abstract [PDF] published in 2020 indicates that while the majority of the working population from 2009 to 2017 engaged in the agricultural industry were females, women were also paid less than men with notable differences between their monthly earnings. Moreover, the Uganda Economic Update report published by the World Bank Group in 2021 states that even though women constitute 75 percent of the country’s population, in the Lango sub-region in Uganda, 70 percent of the land is owned by men while only 5 percent is owned by women. As the inequalities, vulnerability, and inequity have increased due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this report emphasizes the importance of women’s access, control, and ownership of land, as well as empowerment and inclusion of women in economic activities and decision-making processes.

According to the statistical abstract by UBOS and the report published by the World Bank Group, it is apparent that the trend of women’s economic disempowerment in Uganda is persistent. This issue is also acknowledged and thoroughly addressed by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) as their main objective in the Denmark-Uganda Partnership 2018-2022 Country Programme Document. Through financial support DANIDA has been a major contributor to Uganda’s development, aligning their program’s objectives with the SDGs and the Uganda Vision 2040. Due to Uganda’s economic decline, it is essential for the issues of economic inclusion and empowerment to be addressed and requires a multifaceted approach. As Uganda’s key partner, DANIDA has been supporting the agricultural development of the country, with particular attention to economic empowerment and inclusion of the marginalized group of women and youth. DANIDA’s Uganda Programme for Sustainable and Inclusive Development of the Economy (UPSIDE) prioritizes women and youth as its key target group with the goal to support and increase their social and economic empowerment.

Ugandan legislation proclaims gender equality and equal opportunities and rights for men and women but, there is a gap between policies and practice, and the complex land issue is not completely regulated by law. Despite the progressive legal framework and the fact that the Constitution of Uganda, Uganda’s Land Act, and the National Land Policy all recognize and guarantee women’s land ownership rights and equal payment, other discriminatory laws such as the Succession Act and the Divorce Act negatively affect women’s empowerment and contribute to further widening the gap in land ownership. The current Uganda’s Succession Act – a law regulating the property of a deceased person through a will – discriminates and denies widows from inheriting land as the land is passed to the closest male relative to the deceased person. This law prevents women from exercising their rights and deepens the already existing gender inequalities, therefore making women a particularly vulnerable group. Traditionally, in Uganda, men are considered to have the right to land and resource ownership, while women are expected to be economically dependent and are excluded from having control or ownership of land. “You cannot resolve historical injustice and deeply-rooted discriminatory systems simply by legislative reforms to provide for a gender-neutral law. You need deliberate economic and social reforms which will target the empowerment and transformation of the disadvantaged groups,” explains Sarah.

Culture as a barrier to economic equality

Another barrier towards the economic empowerment of women is the persistent cultural practices and deeply entrenched gender biases that prevent women from equally participating in society and having equal control and ownership of land as men. The laws which fail to protect women from discrimination combined with harmful practices and norms negatively affect women’s livelihoods and reinforce their oppression in the Ugandan society. According to Sarah, different roles are given to people in Uganda from a very young age. The young boys have the role of authority, while the girls have a subordinate role and are responsible mainly for the domestic work. “The issue of patriarchy is quite an intricate aspect of our day-to-day life events,” Sarah states.

The inability of women to own land creates a series of issues in Uganda’s patriarchal society. The patriarchal practices affect the economic growth and development of the country, negatively impact the health, education, food security, and overall well-being of women and their children as well.

“There are serious significant obstacles to access education for women and girls in Uganda. The boys are favored to continue with their education over girls and girls have higher drop-out rates, in part due to early marriage and pregnancy,” explains Sarah. Being less educated than men, women are often not aware of their rights and are not informed of how to take legal action to protect their rights. “Cultural and religious norms tend to dictate access and use of their rights even for educated women,” she continues. As a result of these cultural practices, women are not seen worthy of owning land and their socio-economic responsibilities and contribution are often underappreciated, limiting women to provide for themselves and their children. “Women continue to face severe legal and cultural obstacles to ownership of property, including land and inheritance,” says Sarah.

New legislation: A light at the end of the tunnel?

With the effort to fight against discrimination and promote gender equality concerning land ownership, in March 2021, the Ugandan Parliament passed two Bills. The new Succession Amendment Bill and the Employment Amendment Bill were passed in order for the country to ensure equality of women regarding land ownership and to legally protect women from sexual violence and harassment in the workplace. The Succession Amendment Bill provides the right for widows to be able to inherit the land after the death of the spouse and ensures equality of the distribution of property between men and women.

The removal of the legal constraints regarding women’s land rights is a big step towards safeguarding and enhancing the rights of vulnerable groups. However, the Succession Bill is not a law yet and according to Sarah, it cannot be speculated whether or not this will help the widows and regulate their land ownership rights. Even though Uganda does not have any laws that explicitly prohibit women to access or own land, the state’s institutional structures struggle with the implementation and enforcement of its pro-gender policies and regulations. The efforts made by the government to improve women’s land rights and their role in society could go overlooked if they fail to address the issue by applying an integral and multi-sectoral approach in order to tackle the prevailing gender inequalities and social biases.

“A change of mindset is critical in order to achieve the set targets and we still have a long way to go,” states Sarah.

The future of Ugandan women depends on the measures taken by the government to close the policy-practice gap and implement effective national policies, but also on the women’s attitude towards gender equality because according to Sarah, “Some of the women are still so much ingrained into cultural and religious beliefs that any legislation outside of those beliefs is considered as unacceptable and therefore, a no-go zone”. Moreover, effective implementation of the policies to ensure closing of the gender and pay gap in the country is needed to accelerate the progress towards the 2030 Agenda and improve the socio-economic development of the country.

Conclusion

In Uganda, the number of problems concerning land ownership and rights is significant and land injustice is persistent. From traditional gender roles, patriarchal practices, economic and opportunity inequalities to legal limitations, inefficiency of the land registry, and lack of accountability of the land sector, the obstacles blocking women’s advancement are far too many. Despite the international support and development cooperation, the issue of land ownership and economic empowerment of women in Uganda needs a much deeper national approach, effective strategies, and reforms. The intertwined systemic issues create numerous barriers for women and the harmful social practices prevent them from thriving and unlocking their full potential. What the future holds for the women of Uganda, and whether the long-awaited new legislation will bring transformative changes to successfully lift women out of poverty and strengthen their role in society, remains to be seen.

Dragica Dimova is a MSC student in Development and International Relations at Aalborg University

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Sarah Kusiima, a lawyer and women’s rights activist from Uganda

Woman farming cassava in Siera Leone- Annie Spratt via Unsplash

“It is a lonely space”

William Odinga Balikuddembe — Sat, 13 Nov 2021 14:02:22 +0000

Twenty-year old chef Amina (not real name) is as beautiful as they come. She speaks with melodic intonations and when she smiles, she bears the look of a happy girl. Behind that, however, is a life of emotional ruptures that, until recently, often resulted in self-inflicted injuries and suicidal thoughts under the cover of dark solitary nights.

Having lost her mother at the age of three and father at five, she was picked up by one of her late father’s friends. He was rich and he enrolled her in one of Kampala’s high-end primary schools. She was, however, to endure an abusive childhood which included physical and mental torture as she changed from one family to another, and from one school to another.

In 2017, at just 16, while she lived and studied in a town in western Uganda, she was one evening thrown out of the house by her auntie and dumped at the roadside bus stop. Darkness fell. Stranded, with no idea where to go, she later fell asleep. In the middle of the night, three men subdued her into forced intercourse.

“It is a whole ball of emotions from then to now. It is like ‘does my life make sense? It doesn’t. Does it make sense? It doesn’t make sense’. That is where I am. Sometimes I am OK, sometimes I am not. Sometimes I don’t know what is right or what is wrong. I am just there”, she tells me during a lengthy conversations. At one moment, as she narrates her story, she breakdown in tears.

Amina was able to complete Senior Four a few months after that fateful night. She was supported by an uncle through a catering institute and she was able to get a job at a posh restaurant in Kampala but all through that time, she was struggling mentally. Those around her could hardly understand it. If they did, none of them bothered about it.

“From 2018 to 2019 my mental health was at another level. I was crumbling down in my own thoughts. It was getting worse every day. I became so reckless; I had wounds everywhere, self-inflicted. Then the drinking began.”

In March 2020, a COVID-19 induced lockdown took her to one of the worst levels of her mental problems.

“Things got terrible. People were laid off. I wasn’t but then my salary was cut. We came from 14 chefs to three in a very busy kitchen. I was doing work of, like, six people. I had issues with the head chef and I nearly stubbed him. My mental health was degenerating every day.” Eventually, in August, she resigned her job. But that led to a new lifestyle which included smoking, massive drinking and sleeping with men for money.

In March 2021, Amina’s new employer noticed that she had a mental problem and hired a therapist for her. She completed her therapy at the beginning of October and she says she is now in a much better mental shape.

“It has been a whole journey since March. It could be worthless if you don’t put in the effort. I wanted to stop the crying, the self-pity, I was always feeling worthless because of the rape. I wanted all that to stop. During this period, I have met people, a few good people. They have made me appreciate the person that I am. Every single morning is about praying and trying to be better. I am still on medication because I have sleeping problems, I have illusions, panic attacks – though I have not had a panic attack in two month. Other than that I have learned to manage the situations in a good way. Back then I would just get drunk, smoke it out, go home, drawn in self pity and hate the world for my problems,” she says.

The ignored killer

Mental illness is one of the most ignored, if not least understood illnesses in Uganda. Mild and moderate levels are hardly noticed as illnesses. At extreme levels, it is surrounded by deeply rooted cultural myths – with most people seeing it as social-cultural phenomenon other than a health issue.

Amina is among the very few who get professional attention in a country where up to 40 percent of the population is estimated to suffer a mental disorder.

“Our society has a lot of stigma and I think this is because mental health has not been prioritized in terms of human resource and funding. Fifteen years ago when I told people that I wanted to become a psychiatrist they said ‘you will become mad’. Even now it is the same perception,” says Marjorie Mukisa, a medical doctor and passionate mental health advocate. Mukisa works with the NGO Servir Foundation and she is the Central Region representative of Uganda’s national youth coalition for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“We have a lot of misconceptions about mental health. People don’t know that mental health has a spectrum. There are people that are mentally healthy. Then mild, moderate, and other people may have severely mental illness. Many of us are on that spectrum but we don’t even know,” she adds.

Uganda’s delivery of mental health services has been described as inadequate. An estimated 90 percent of the mentally ill in Uganda do not receive treatment. Only one percent of Uganda’s expenditure on health goes towards mental health. And in a country of over 42 million people, there are only 50 psychiatrists with most of them based in Kampala, at the country’s only mental health national referral hospital, Butabika.

Access to treatment is more in urban centres than the rural, and it is mainly for a few who are in elite settings and also have the financial ability. Butabika handles far beyond its capacity, up to 1000 inpatients for a 550-bed capacity facility.

Private psychologists or therapists are extremely expensive. “They charge between UGX 80,000 (USD 22.5) and 100,000 (USD27.8) per hour. That is a lot of money. Patients can only do one visit and they don’t return,” says Moses Ssemakula, Executive Director, Mental Health Focus Uganda.

Most extreme cases of mental illness, if not ignored and left to loiter on the streets and in villages, are taken to traditional healers or churches for spiritual rituals.

“Urban people can easily access Butabika, the few who can, but of course its capacity is limited. The urban people also understand mental health better. When you go to the rural areas it is tragic. You still have people being tied up, being locked in rooms, people being beaten to death because they believe they are demon possessed – that is still there in urban areas but it is worse in the rural settings,” Mukisa says.

Uganda in 2018 repealed the colonial Mental Treatment Act to now the Mental Health Act 2018. The act among others provides for mental health treatment at primary healthcare centres. When the provision of other health services is inadequate, as it is, however, mental health will certainly not go above the prevailing standards.

Covid-19 and mental health in Uganda

The onset of COVID-19 in early 2020 came with new challenges. First of all, in April 2020, the Ministry of Health directed 14 regional referral hospitals to convert their mental health units into Covid-19 Treatment Units (CTUs). While ministry was responding to a crisis, its directive could be interpreted as low prioritisation of mental health.

Indeed, as reported by the local media, there was confusion in a hospital in northern Uganda with mental health patients forcing their way back to their former place and mixing up with COVID-19 admissions. Another hospital in the same region, according to the press report, did not heed the ministry’s directive as it has for long been battling with a lot of mental health issues as a result of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) conflict.

Secondly, a number of the mentally ill already undergoing treatment also contracted COVID-19. They had to be isolated from the rest, yet they could not be taken to CTUs. Space constraints are enormous even at the national referral hospital.

Thirdly, COVID-19 and measures to control its spread including extended lockdowns since March 2020 have thrown more people into mental health problems. Many have lost jobs, businesses have collapsed, gender-based violence has increased, schools remained closed and more young girls are getting pregnant. At the same time, more youth are getting involved in drug and alcohol abuse as a result of staying out of school.

There is no report on the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in Uganda as yet – the last survey on the prevalence of mental health in Uganda was done 20 years ago – but mental health practitioners fear mental health illnesses have gone to unprecedented levels.

“All age groups have been affected by COVID-19, apart from may be those who are three years and below because those ones are yet to get to realities of life. From the school going age to the very aged there are so many cases. The youth are the most affected – many are not working and they are not studying. They indulge in drug and alcohol abuse. I normally go to Butabika and I can tell you most of the cases that are coming in now are as a result of Covid-19,” Ssemakula says. “The government has put in a lot of effort to handle physical wounds of individuals. But when it comes to mental health, with all the budgets that were passed for Covid, mental health was not given priority. Many people have committed suicide because they don’t see any future ahead of them. There is nothing to give them hope”

Mental Health and SDGs

Mukisa has another way to stress the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in Uganda, and it is through the SDGs.

“Among the SDGs we have Zero Hunger, No Poverty, Gender Equality, Quality Education, and Good Health and Wellbeing: Learners are not going to school. Their parents are not working; many of them have lost their jobs, their income. Girls are getting pregnant at 15 and below, that is before they are physically or mentally ready to bear children. There is no money. People are frustrated. There’s a lot of gender based violence going on right now in our society and it is more against the women. A woman who is being abused is not okay, mentally, and she’s raising children in that abusive home. There is a whole generation of mental health problems that are coming on top of the ones that already exist. All these issues – the education, the unemployment, the poverty, the hunger – go to mental health in the long run, if you look at it.”

It’s a lonely space

Mental health in Uganda is highly stigmatised and this is not only against the victims but also those seeking to give them help. While many families may treat mental health problems, especially severe and genetic ones, as a curse, it is common for the public to scorn those who fail to cope with daily life pressures and eventually fall to mental illness.

Scarcity of reports and statistics on mental health in Uganda indicates that this is an area which is under-researched. “It is still a virgin area for research. That means it is not being prioritized in terms of funding, so there’s no research, and therefore there’s no information to appropriately inform policy,” Mukisa says.

“As an individual in the mental health space in Uganda, you get drained. It’s a lonely space. You find that there are so many people you have to reach but you have very little time or even the funding is not there,” she adds. “I think, all this goes back to lack of information, stigma, and bias which might go hand in hand with stigma.”

There is hope

The government’s review in 2018 of the mental health law means that there is recognition of the country’s mental health challenges. The number of NGOs involved in mental health is increasing, so there is increased awareness about mental health, as well as increased support to victims. But, until there is enough investment in public awareness about mental health, most cases of mental health in Uganda will still go untreated.

William Odinga Balikuddembe is a science journalist based in Kampala, Uganda
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Visiting homes to interact with mentally ill patients

Mental Health Focus Uganda team interact with caretaker at Masaka Hospital

Mental Health Focus Uganda

Vulnerable Women Became even more Vulnerable During the Pandemic

Asger Roejle Christensen — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 14:22:11 +0000

Women in Denmark have been more vulnerable than men during the Covid-19 pandemic. It is true for employees at the forefront in the health and elderly sectors, and it is just as true for very vulnerable sex workers who lost their entire income for many months.

”A crisis like Covid-19 is having a skewed effect”, as Hilda Rømer Christensen, Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen, put it at a webinar organized by Danish Development Research Network (DDRN) in April 2021.

“Gender inequality is increasing. We have seen an increase in gender-based violence, abuse and human trafficking. Both in Denmark and globally,” she said.

Hilda Rømer Christensen is head of the Coordination for Gender Studies at the Department for Sociology, and she took together with her colleagues initiative to gather and publish a small online folder with an overview about ”Gendered effects of the Corona crisis”, already in May 2020, a few months after the outbreak of the pandemic.

The content of the folder is a so-called ”litterature review”. It doesn’t contain own research by the writers, but instead a comprehensive presentation of what was known at that time, based on ”substantial and evidence-based knowledge and expertise among health researchers, doctors, pharmacists and other experts on gender and the body”, as it is presented in the introduction.

More women in working age infected

Firstly, the report points at women’s greater caring and household responsibilities in “normal” times, also in a modern country like Denmark. This burden has hardly been less during a time with social distancing where everybody were supposed to stay home and not go out.

Then the report focuses more specifically among other things on the greater infection risk for women employed as ”primary care staff, such as nurses and social and health workers” and the ”increase in family violence” that has become an issue that is tending to affect women disproportionately”.

If we look at the statistics about the numbers of people who were hospitalized and dead during the first weeks and months, there were more men than women.

But if we look at the number of registered Covid-19 infection cases among people in their working age, there were clearly more women than men. Of course, these women were more likely than the general population to get tested, and compared with men, women are generally more likely to be aware of the signals from their body, and they tend to go to the doctor earlier than men when they feel symptoms.

Anyhow the differences in the numbers are significant. For people in the thirties, 679 women were tested positive for Covid-19 in the weeks from the beginning of the pandemic until April 23 last year, compared with 416 men. For people in the forties, 895 women were tested positive, compared with 617 men. And finally, among people in the fifties, the numbers were 919 for women and 646 for men.

(Please check the graphics in the sidebar)

”When we look at the corona infections, some sectors are especially exposed”, according to Research Assistant Stine Pedersen, who were the main person in gathering the information for the folder.

Among staff at hospitals, nursing homes, doctors’ and dentists’ cliniques in Denmark, almost 82 percent are women. So this is definitely a group who is especially exposed to infection.

Partner violence

The report raised concerns that partner violence would increase during the Corona lockdown, as both UN Women and the World Health Organization have documented increased partner violence during times of crisis around the globe.

This increase took actually place in Denmark during the Corona lockdown according to a research report from August 2020 with the title ”Live Without Violence” (“Lev Uden Vold”), written by Nathalie Weih og Marie Nymand Frederiksen.

There can be several reasons for increased partner violence, e.g., that the families are isolated at home, that families experience more stress due to sudden economic problems or an increased care burden at home, a worsening because of decreased access to health services and counselling, and that the practiced social distancing can shield the victim of violence from the support which would normally be available.

”The latest years, we have seen a development in the understanding of violence in Denmark”, Stine Pedersen argues referring to the criminalization of psychological violence in 2019, and the legislation of consent-based rape in 2021. ”It though does not seem that this development taps into the institutionalized offers”.

During the pandemic women’s and later men’s crisis centres have been given some support politically, but other treatment offers such as treatment directed towards the abuser have been neglected despite broad support among involved organizations.

”The political narrow focus on immediate help offers conflict with the knowledge on partner violence as a social issue. At worst this means that the persons who needs help do not receive it because they do not consider the acute help offers as relevant for them or because they are worried if the violence, they experience is serious enough”.

More offers on specialized counselling have been closed or have had changed opening hours during the corona lockdown which have made it more difficult to receive help.

Many sex workers lost their livelihood

One group of very vulnerable women in Denmark who were actually counted and surveyed during the first year of the pandemic is the sex workers.

A group of researchers at VIVE, the National Research and Analysis Center for Welfare, had prepared a large project in order to get an overview over the scope of the market for sex for money in Denmark. And even though the pandemic broke out, they decided to proceed with their research as planned, creating a broad database which made a more detailed mapping than before of this otherwise hidden sector in Denmark possible.

Sex workers are very hard to count. But the research group concluded that a total of 4500 persons had sold sex for money during the year from March 2020 until March 2021.

The project manager, sociologist Theresa Dyrvig Henriksen, considers this number fairly accurate, and one of the reasons that it was possible to reach such a precise number was actually the outbreak of the Covid-19-pandemic, exactly as the project were started.

”Probably we were able to achieve more accurate numbers because there weren’t so much trafic of sex workers in and out of the country as there would have been during normal times”, Theresa Dyrvig Henriksen explains.

Not all the 4500 sex workers are necessarily vulnerable, but many of them are indeed, especially the foreigners without a network in Denmark. When the lockdown forced most people, including their prospective costumers, to stay at home, many of them lost their livelihood entirely, especially when keeping the brothels open became illegal during the second lockdown in the autumn of 2020.

Most of them closed their shop for months, while some of them continued to work on a limited scale while advertising on the internet, often limited to regular costumers. After som time, gradually the most desperate of those who were dependent on the income tried to begin again, also based on contacts made on the internet. Some shifted to telephone sex or advertising through sugerdating websites.

But a considerable number of the foreigners among the sex workers were caught in Denmark. They couldn’t get out of the country, and some of those who got out lost the opportunity to come back to Denmark for a long time.

”The costumers stayed away. Their basis of existence was removed”, as Theresa Dyrvig Henriksen explains. ”In most cases, they didn’t have any safety net, and for many of them they couldn’t do anything but simply wait. They were helped by assistance from Danish NGO’s, but the foreigners among them didn’t have any money to send home to the family abroad as they used to do”.

Also read: The lost teenagers – Mary Mutesi and

“My story is embarrassing but I am giving myself another chance, after I messed up” and

Vulnerable Women Became even more Vulnerable During the Pandemic

More women than men in working age infected
Number of confirmed Covid-19-cases in Denmark, distributed by sex and age group. Statens Serum Institut

Read the reports from Uganda:

Read the report from Ecuador:

Asger Roejle Christensen