Women Working Outside the Home Challenge Gender Roles in Uganda

KAMPALA, UGANDA – As a senior social development officer in Uganda’s Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Caroline Benda has traveled to villages throughout the country, advocating for the rights of women and children.

“Some women are emotionally tortured by their spouses,” she says. “They work hard in the fields and give the produce to the men, who sell the produce and utilize the money for their own benefit.”

But she says she has seen an increase in women working outside the home, which empowers them in their relationships. They gain financial independence, acquire a sense of pride, and realize their spouses can no longer take them for granted.

“When these women are able to earn their own money, they become stronger,” Benda says.

But many men, and some women as well, are reluctant to uproot traditional gender roles, Benda says.

“Our fathers and grandfathers took care of women,” Benda says. “However, today most of the women who work outside the home have become breadwinners in the home.”

Nearly 80 percent of women participate in Uganda’s labor force, according to 2009 data from the United Nations.

This high percentage is partly thanks to new policies that have equipped women to reach their full potential in the workforce, Benda says. In particular, she cites the 2007 Uganda Gender Policy’s emphasis on the importance of including women in all sectors of the economy. Its goal is to “achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment as an integral part of Uganda’s socio-economic development,” according to the policy.

But high workforce participation does not translate to wide community acceptance.

Deeply ingrained gender norms continue to influence women’s roles in Uganda, including a woman’s ability to work outside her marital home, according to a 2011 brief published by the Economic Policy Research Centre at Makerere University.

Some men say that they are uneasy with the independence that working outside the home affords women.

Sunday Opoka, a security supervisor at the Infectious Diseases Institute in Kampala, the capital, is married with children, and his wife works outside the home. He says that a wife who brings in her own money also brings tension to marriages.

“A woman may not even ask you about going out because she is able to provide for herself,” he says. “When a woman does whatever she feels like, you feel like you do not have power.”

The Rev. John Awodi, minister of St. Luke’s Church in Kampala, says he sees tension in his parish when women pursue careers that take them outside the home.

“Men come to me and complain about women not being available during the week,” he says. “People are married but apart. Sometimes this increases tension.”

Women suffer from this tension as well, he says.

“I know a lady who was working away from her husband,” Awodi says. “When she would come home on the weekends, she would immediately check her husband’s phone. She was always suspicious of her husband, and this nearly wrecked their relationship.”

Awodi encourages partners to communicate better.

But not all couples are comfortable speaking openly. 

One Kampala resident, who asked to remain anonymous to preserve his marriage, says that his wife’s income has stabilized their family. He even relies on her financially.

“She gets me out of trouble when I am in trouble,” he says. “She also takes care of herself.”

Still, he says, he would prefer that she did not have to work.

“If I was able to provide everything, I would be happy for my wife to stay at home to raise the children,” he says.

Her financial independence makes him uncomfortable.

“A working woman is not easy to tame because she has all she needs,” he says. “Whether you are there or not, she can survive.”

But working outside the home is not synonymous with empowerment, says Lyn Turyatemba, who works in Kampala as a legal counsel for International Alert, an organization that promotes peace and security.

“Some women work in an office but are in violent relationships,” Turyatemba says. “To her, the man remains superior.”

Children may also suffer when a woman works outside the home, she says.

“Many more children are born fatherless and motherless because mothers are building careers that are so demanding,” says Turyatemba, who does not have children.

Opoka says that mothers should prioritize their families, as household help may not provide children with adequate care.

“A woman is supposed to be loyal to her husband, whether she earns big or earns small,” he says. “She should also have enough time for the children.”

Some women even agree that a woman’s primary role is care for children.

Natasha Kabogoza says that she and her husband agreed before their marriage that she would stay at home with their children, partly to avoid relying on household help and partly because this is what her female mentors did. Although she studied business at Makerere University in Kampala, she chose to stay home with her children, ages 4 and 2, rather than pursue a career.

“No other person can impact good values for you,” Kabogoza says of mothers. “I would like to develop relationships with my young children now that can be sustained when they grow older.”

Still, Kabogoza admits that maintaining a traditional role at home has its challenges.

“It is hard to sustain relationships with your friends in full-time jobs,” she says. “You also become obsolete in as far as what is happening around you. You have to make a deliberate effort to stay abreast with events. I am such a BBC freak.”

But other women in Uganda say it is possible to combine motherhood and a profession. In addition to raising her four children, Jessica Nanjala runs a small fruit and charcoal business on the side of a busy city road. She is in a relationship, and her partner supports her work.

“Women have to work because you never know what can come in the future,” she says.

Although her hands are dark and rough from selling charcoal to customers, she says that she does not struggle because her work reaps financial and personal independence. 

“Sinyigirizibwa,” Nanjala says, a Luganda phrase meaning that she is not oppressed or stepped on.

To achieve gender equality in the workforce, the Uganda Gender Policy states that the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development must promote community dialogue and address gender issues at the household level.

Local leaders in other sectors are already doing so. Awodi says he manages tension in his congregation by counseling members of the church to handle their individual roles appropriately, regardless of their gender.

He organizes and oversees groups such as the Mothers Union, a church group that counsels women on marriage and family life. He also organizes couples’ retreats and takes advantages of teaching opportunities.

“Wedding celebrations are opportunities I use to teach and share on how to maintain and make relationships thrive,” he says.

Women in Uganda must learn to balance traditional domestic roles with the responsibilities of a career, he says.

“Yes, some women work outside the home,” he says, “but because they know their roles, they make time for the children. I know someone who works three days a week. It is important for women to balance their time.”