Elections Seats Women Women% 2008 2009 --- --- ---
26 10 54 --- --- ---
2004 2007 --- --- --- ---
2008 --- --- --- --- --- ---
2011
26 7 33 --- --- --- ---
16 --- --- ---
10 --- --- --- ---
30 12 --- --- --- --- --- ---
109 4
--- --- --- --- --- ---
38.5 29.6 --- --- ---
26.9 30.3 --- --- --- ---
40.0 --- --- --- --- --- --- 3.7
because when the Chairpersons were appointed, the male Members of Parliament took 85 per cent of the places. This was also because the Whips of the parties, who are responsible for designating the Chairpersons of Committees, were all men. There is one woman Whip of a small party. I expect to solve the problem when the Rules of Procedure of the Ugandan Parliament are amended to provide for parity when designating committee Chairpersons. At the level of the caucuses, the public interest requires that our views merge on common issues. Can we have an all-party Women’s Caucus? In Uganda, the Uganda Women’s Parliamentary Association (UWOPA) is an all- party caucus, currently headed by a Member of a small opposition party. But this caucus also has male Members of Parliament who are subscribing Members. They pay annual fees, attend all the meetings and have been very useful in sponsoring important Bills such as the Bill Against Female Genital Mutilation which was sponsored in my Parliament by one
of the male Members of Parliament who is a Member of the Women’s Parliamentary Caucus.
Constitutional roles and the gender lens The constitutional responsibilities of Members of Parliament cover our legislative, representative and oversight roles.
In legislation, Members of
Parliament must always keep in mind that they represent the entire population – men, women, children, workers, miners, young and old. Their interests must be viewed with a gender lens. One should always ask himself or herself how any proposed piece of legislation will affect both genders. For instance, just for the sake of argument, supposing there were riots relating to the economy, as has happened in many countries all over the world, and suppose Parliament was required to enact a law that imposes a curfew at 5:00 p.m. each day. One should use a gender lens to see, first, how this curfew would affect school-going children. Would classes have to be cut short to meet the curfew? How would it impact on a poor worker who has
296 | The Parliamentarian | 2011: Issue Four
to walk 10 miles from his or her workplace to reach home? What would be the impact of the curfew on a woman in the market, or a trader who is trying to eke out a living and who by 4:45 p.m. has not sold anything but needs money to
“On representation, Members of Parliament find time to relate with the entirety of their electorate through constituency consultations and outreach programmes.”
buy food for her home? The curfew may be a good law to enforce security in a country; but it has far reaching effects on the population. I want to give an example from the Uganda Parliament. At a time in the past we had a lot of financial
institutions collapsing and leaving depositors with no fall-back position. The government brought a Bill to Parliament aimed at addressing the problem. The Parliament enacted a new law on financial institutions that set the minimum threshold of capital of Uganda Shillings 4,000,000,000 or at that time U.S.$4,000,000. Later on after reflection, we realized that, at the stroke of a pen, we had by law locked out 51 per cent of the population from setting up a financial institution because there was no woman in Uganda who could raise the minimum capital. We also realized that no young person could marshal those funds. It became clear that it was probably only the foreigners who would be able to meet those conditions. We had not employed the gender and equity lens in making that law. On oversight of Parliaments, the budget process is the key tool of parliamentary oversight over the executive. How are we distributing the budget? Take, for example, the defence budget: how much of it goes to the women and the youth of the country? The army is a