SUMMARY:
• The number of female academia has equally soared from 5 percent to 35 percent. Additionally, three of 9 college principals are women.
The endless struggle to embrace girl child education has recently seen a silver lining, as the recent reports have revealed girls outnumbering boys in the grandest public university, Makerere.
As revealed by the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, the number that was at 15 per cent 25 years ago is now an impressive 51 percent today.
Scholars, activists and gender experts were also ecstatic to discover that the number of female academia has equally soared from 5 percent to 35 percent. Additionally, three of 9 college principals are women.
The vice chancellor revealed this at a three-day International Conference on Gender Studies in Africa held at the university last week. The conference was themed, ‘Africa and Gender Studies; Celebrating 30 years of Transformation and Re-imagining the Future.’
“We must be the example that society needs by promoting the needs and aspirations of girls and boys, women and men. I congratulate the School of Women and Gender Studies for its tireless efforts towards achieving gender equality,” he said.
According to activists, sexual crimes like rape and defilement being the dominant social vices, cause early pregnancies, making it almost impossible for girls to access university education.
As stressed by at the opening of the conference by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Ms Janet Museveni, issues of gender inequality and poverty still need to be addressed in a more sustainable way.
Ms Museveni also commended the government for championing gender mainstreaming at all levels, also Makerere University for mainstreaming several gender sensitive reforms such as gender budgeting and affirmative action, among others.
Prof Amina Mama from the Institute of African Studies at University of Ghana, said colonialism equally robbed men and women of all humanity.
She added that Makerere University’s first motto, which was ‘Let us All be Men,’ was colonial and did not consider African men as men.
“African men were not seen as men. They were seen as animals by white people. Now that men are men, women should also be women,” she said.