User:Mtovsen/sandbox

= Women's Enfranchisement in Uganda =

Global Poverty & Practice 105 Sandbox

I will be completing my PE with the organization, International Volunteer HQ, specifically with the Volunteers 2 Uganda program. There I will be working near the capitol, Kampala, with childcare as well as assisting women in developing their autonomy through education and access to the market. I may have to help them with their bartering skills, assisting in finalizing their products or simply watch their children to allow them the freedom to do what is necessary.

Wikipedia Article Selection

Area

Education in Uganda

I am looking into this article as I am focusing on women's education while completing my program. This is focusing on all education in Uganda, but does have a subsection about females.

Article Evaluation

Education in Uganda

Evaluating Content

The lead section is clear and concise, but may benefit from added information as it is pretty basic. Under the primary education section I do feel as if some information is repeated and simply removing the sentence would fix this issue. A decent amount of data referenced is from 2004, which is a bit outdated in my opinion. It also references changes meant to be implemented by past years- addressing whether these have been put in place is possible. The Northern Uganda section seems sparse and to be redundant. I think the female education section is also a little lacking but very straightforward.

Evaluating Tone

The article comes off as very neutral while reading it. I think the tone of it is good for a Wikipedia article.

Evaluating Sources

A decent amount of sources aren't scholarly but rather from sources such as the World Bank or the UN. However, there are still scholarly articles that are peer-reviewed and of the links I checked almost all worked. One of them however, brought me to a page stating the domain was for sale. Another brought me to a listing about a college, but I couldn't find any specific information. Some also used in-text citations but I don't see any links and there is also a note stating "citation needed."

Checking the Talk Page

The article is rated as Start-Class but is of High-importance and apart of WikiProject Education. Furthermore, it is part of WikiProject Africa, with a rating of Start-Class again and of Top-importance. It is also backed by WikiProject Uganda with Top-importance.

There is discussion about external links, but honestly I'm not sure exactly what it means but I think once I start messing around with it it'll make more sense. Another student has edited the article in the fall of 2017 and she left updates about her planned revisions. Most have been updates about external link modifications.

Scholarly Sources

Area

Kazuya Masuda & Chikako Yamauchi, 2017. "The Effects of Female Education on Adolescent Pregnancy and Child Health: Evidence from Uganda fs Universal Primary Education for Fully Treated Cohorts," GRIPS Discussion Papers 17-01, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

I am using this article to look at how teenage pregnancy, which is very common in Uganda, effects the education of the girl and thus the ripple effects.

Nishimura, Mikiko, et al. “Impacts of the Universal Primary Education Policy on Educational Attainment and Private Costs in Rural Uganda.” International Journal of Educational Development, vol. 28, Jan. 2008, pp. 161–175. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2006.09.017.

While there has been an increase in access to schooling, specifically among poor girls, there are still flaws in the system; namely, internal inefficiency, mandating further policy, improved quality of the education, and finally, there needs to be an incentive or advantages that outweigh the higher cost of school beyond primary education. This article highlights the benefits of the UPE more than other articles I have found, making it valuable to a more complete overview of the whole system. As I said this is relevant in a different outlook on the program; further, the authors argue that there need to be adjustments to the program, pragmatic in their critique of it. It is also relevant that the UPE is more impactful for girls than boys, however, this finding should be taken with a grain of salt as girls were highly more disadvantaged than boys.  Further, it points out that the system may even have incentives to keep children in primary education longer, pointing out some other potential flaws in data. This is all relevant to the female education section as it does show an overall improvement in the primary education of girls when looked at broadly, but under closer speculation, it may not be as big of a success. This is also related to my PE in that they target young women, attempting to give them an education to allow them to further their own autonomy and provide for their families.

Ndidde, Alice N. “Meeting the Needs of the Marginalised in Uganda.” Adult Education in Uganda: Growth, Development, Prospects and Challenges, edited by Anthony Okech, Fountain Publ., 2004, pp. 210–224.

This chapter goes into detail about how the marginalized of Uganda, specifically women, have been failed by the adult education policy. It also argues that the success of a child’s education is reliant upon their mothers; this argument is profound to me and extremely important for the civil society of Uganda and protecting girls access to education. This section discusses how there have been some improvements for the adults who have access to this education, however, it has ultimately been a failure. This is due to women’s inability to consistently attend, or continue attending classes if there is even access; unfortunately, in rural Uganda, access for women is extremely limited. The Universal Primary Education (UPE) system’s success is dependent upon women’s literacy rates as this will affect their children's performance in the program. Therefore, there is a dire need for the empowerment of women to not only support themselves and their families but also to help the success of the younger generation’s education. This is relevant as I will be talking about the disconnect in women’s education, and as my PE targets education for the young, single mothers.

Jones, Shelley Kathleen. “Girls’ Secondary Education in Uganda: Assessing Policy within the Women’s Empowerment Framework.” Gender & Education, vol. 23, no. 4, July 2011, pp. 385–413. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/09540253.2010.499854.

This article argues that the National Strategy for Girls’ Education in Uganda (NSGE), through the Women’s Empowerment Framework (WEF), isn’t effective in overcoming the barriers to empowering girls, but rather is better as simply identifying the various blockades. Further, it has not been fully implemented into the statewide education programs and girls empowerment cannot be achieved simply through the creation of legislation, but rather they need a myriad of supporting factors. I have not heard of the WEF prior to this article, which looks at a compilation of factors, namely the stratification of female empowerment, to assess program success. This article focuses on only a third of the barriers identified, but they are very pertinent to the disadvantage girls face in trying to obtain an education. They may not have the proper funding, they are expected to perform domestic duties especially in the absence of their parents for any reason, and the inherent subordination of women to men in society seeps through into their education, disadvantaging them from the start. This is relevant to the female education section as it gives background to the attempts to remedy the dichotomy, but how it is an issue requiring more than just creation of policy. Further, as aforementioned, my PE organization targets young women’s education to allow them the background to further their careers.

Sector

Hasaba, Sarah. “Women and Poverty Eradication Efforts in Uganda: Why Is Ending Gendered Poverty Still Far-Fetched?” Education, Creativity, and Economic Empowerment in Africa, edited by Toyin Falola and Jamaine Abidogun, Palgrave Macmillan, 2014, pp. 43–59.

This chapter argues that despite efforts by the Ugandan government to eliminate gendered poverty, they are not sufficient. Greater knowledge is required to truly reverse the causes in addition to changes in social norms, institutions, and strengthening of policy enforcement.This chapter is important in that it outlines specific policies which have attempted to better the lives of women, and theoretically should, but still come up short. This chapter gives me the background to the attempted policies of the government in order to bridge the gap between men and women, showing just how complex an issue it is. It discusses the ineffectiveness of the Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) program, the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), the Poverty Action Fund (PAF), and the Poverty Reduction Strategic Plans (PRSPs). I can use this information in my sector article when talking about the gender gap that continues to plague Uganda, as with much of the rest of the world. This is relevant to the PE organization as they are trying to empower women in a country that is inherently suppressing their autonomy.

Snyder, Margaret. Women in African Economies: from Burning Sun to Boardroom. Fountain Publishers, 2000.

Women comprise roughly 40% of GDP working in the informal sector, yet are not accredited nearly the same way men are in the economy of Uganda, partly because they dominate the informal sector and what they do isn’t always measurable. Further, the success of women in the informal economy is highly dependent upon their startup capital, education level, and her domestic responsibilities. This book looks at the value of women in the market yet their lack of recognition, coinciding with the culture of women being subordinate to men; however, it shows the success of women in various cases, representing their resilience. This is extremely valuable to the background of their political representation and thus their inclusion in the economy. While they are still not equal to that of their male counterparts, they are gaining more recognition than previously. Moreover, when these women are successful enough to gain capital, they reinvent their money towards things such as land to provide for their families or to allow their children to gain an education further than their experience. This reinvestment human development is relevant in allowing for a better starting point for girls from a young age as well as the benefits of allowing women to partake in the economy. Directly related to the gap between genders, this again, reflects the work of IVHQ to allow women to provide for themselves and their children, by boosting themselves, specifically within the realm of education and markets.

Ellis, Amanda, et al. Gender and Economic Growth in Uganda. [Electronic Resource] : Unleashing the Power of Women. Washington, D.C. : World Bank, 2005., 2005. EBSCOhost, libproxy.berkeley.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dcat04202a%26AN%3ducb.b13641498%26site%3deds-live.

Women are at a disadvantage from the beginning due to dated laws, cultural attitudes, even though this is directly contradictory of the Ugandan constitution. While there are certain laws that have been addressed, and at the time of the book's publishing were under review, there is still need for a change in the attitudes of the people to allow for the bridging of the dichotomy between genders. This book argues that this inequality has a strong relationship with impaired economic development, with specific examples such as companies with the most women had roughly a 35% larger return on equity and 34% higher reimbursement to shareholders when compared to companies with the least amount of women employed. This is relevant in that it shows the importance of closing the gender gap, especially in monetary terms for companies. While my PE won’t necessarily be working with the private sector, it is still aiming to integrate women into the market in order to provide for themselves. This coincides with women’s rights across the board- whether it be in the private or public sector, etc. I can use this in the article to further comment on interventions and their success or failure, and how the society isn’t necessarily receptive of these changes.

Andrea M. Brown (2006) WID and GAD in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: Reappraising Gender Planning Approaches in Theory and Practice, Journal of Women, Politics & Policy, 28:2, 57-83, DOI: 10.1300/J501v28n02_03

MLA: Razavi, Shahra, and Carol Miller. From WID to GAD : Conceptual Shifts in the Women and Development Discourse. Geneva : United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 1995., 1995. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat04202a&AN=ucb.b14147040&site=eds-live.

Shows the dilution of GAD programs, in the same way WID analysis was reduced. This explores how WID has persisted although the language surrounding GAD approaches have been enlisted, by large international organizations as well. While microfinance often leaves women with more debt, the act of just engaging within a group allows for women's empowerment.

Summarizing and Synthesizing

Area

Uganda implemented the National Strategy for Girls' Education in Uganda (NSGE) with the goal of providing girls with education access, as boys do. However, this has shown in practice when critiqued how little success has been made. Educational obstacles still limit girls access and completion of their schooling. Unfortunately it seems as if the NSGE simply reveals some, but not all, of the barriers and fails to offer potential routes to support the girls. Furthermore, in order to seriously affect girls education it will require more than what the NSGE lays out.

There has been progress in attempting to educate not only adults but children, with an emphasis on girls/women, however, I have learned that there is a strong disconnect between reality and the legislation. There is the success in higher enrollment of girls through the UPE, but there is a steep drop-off following primary education, as well as the lack of access still for rural, poor girls. Furthermore, when women are not properly educated it affects their children as well, and disproportionately daughters. Without proper social progress in terms of women’s equality, there will not be overall success in the educational programs. Ultimately, ineffective implementation of these policies is also further marginalizing women in Ugandan society. While the NSGE is a nice idea, in theory, it is not addressing the problems and trying to remedy them, but rather simply identifies issues.

Sector

I am seeing how certain aspects of the life, particularly affecting women, are depoliticized leaving the oversight of the situation to the individuals involved. There is clear gendered poverty at play in Uganda, as is common throughout the world, but there are certain institutions reinforcing the old status quo. Women are unable to complete certain programs as they are first and foremost dedicated to their families, and moreover, the rural areas are not as closely implemented.

Similarly to my area research, while there have been policies targeting the inequality of women in Ugandan society, implementation is a different story. Yet again, culture and social attitudes towards women need to progress in order for women to attain equality, or at least advance their status in comparison to men. There have been policies such as FAL, PEAP, PAF, and PRSPs targeting impoverished women, but with little success as women are still seen as subordinate. They have largely taken over the informal sector of the economy, yet still lack the credit for their success, even in their own households. There has also been an increase in political representation, but still, there is a disconnect in reality, especially in the rural parts of Uganda. It is shown that if women were allowed to access their full potential the entire economy and country would benefit, yet they are still repressed. There is a drastic need for continued updates to dated laws, but that is not to take away from the advances made thus far.

Drafting

Bolded font is my addition/edit while regular text is the Wiki article

Area

Introduction

The system of education in Uganda has a structure of 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education (divided into 4 years of lower secondary and 2 years of upper secondary school), and 3 to 5 years of post-secondary education. The government of Uganda recognizes education as a basic human right and continues to strive to provide free primary education to all children in the country. However, issues with funding, teacher training, rural populations, and inadequate facilities continue to hinder the progress of educational development in Uganda.^[1] Girls in Uganda are disproportionately discriminated against in terms of education; they face harsher barriers when trying to gain an education and it has left the female population disenfranchised, despite government efforts to close the gap.

Female Education

Literacy discrepancies and educational inequity are a serious factor in the propagation of gender inequality. Female school attendance at all levels of society in Uganda is lower than that of men. This can be attributed to poverty, inadequate infrastructure, social pressures, and early maternity. These barriers continue throughout a woman’s life, as one cited challenge to adult females' participation in literacy education in Uganda is home life. A World Bank report found that a significant force in preventing attendance at adult literacy classes was husbands stopping their wives from attending. According to United Nations' Girls Education Initiative statistics, literacy rates for young females still lag behind that of young boys by five percent, and nearly half of all girls in Uganda are married before the age of 18. Studies have shown that marriage and pregnancy rates prior to the age of 18 is decreased by roughly 7% when girls receive an extra year of education.

Since 1997, UPE has aimed to bring equality of education to all the children of the country, specifically to those in the rural, impoverished areas. It has had controversial results, but overall the UPE program has successfully allowed for higher enrollment, specifically among young girls. However, there is no clarity over whether there are true gender discrimination factors affecting whether the children go to school; it is noted that girls enrollment is dependent upon their age and their mother's level of schooling. Boys, on the other hand, are not affected by their father or mother's education. Uganda received a score of .517 on the UN Development Programme Gender Equality index as reported in the Human Development Report. This measure evaluates the respective equality of women in various dimensions including: health, empowerment, and access to labor market.

Uganda implemented the National Strategy for Girls' Education (NSGE) in order to bring equality in the education system for both women and girls and indicates some of the various impediments to them obtaining an education, and particularly secondary education. Ultimately, the NSGE framework is more inclined to identify these barriers rather than offer insight to help overcome these obstacles such as location, menstruation, home responsibilities and overall attitudes within the school domain.

In 2007 the government implemented Universal Secondary Education (USE) with research showing that girls secondary public education enrollment rates increased approximately 49%. This policy is most beneficial to girls of poor households who otherwise would not have had the opportunity to attend due to fees and the general belief that boys secondary education yields more benefits than a girls. There are a few explanations for the increased enrollment aside from the USE policy such as poor or inaccurate reporting of student enrollment, the growing population, and new schools being built or included in the USE policy. Further, the overall performance since the USE has been utilized has decreased in the schools, as teachers are working in worse conditions and students are not as motivated, especially as their parents have now seen education as completely in the realm of the government whereas the policy meant to involve a plethora of actors to support children's education.

The government has attempted various policies targeted at adult education, with inconsistent results. These include: the Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) Programme, Women's Empowerment Programme (WEP), and the National Adult Literacy Strategic Investment Plan (NALSIP). Some results prove that these programmes have bettered the living conditions of women, as they have increased influence in decision making, greater economic accumulation, better self-esteem, and knowledge of their rights in society. However, these results are not widespread; many women do not register for these programmes, especially those in the rural parts of Uganda. The women who do choose to enroll often have low attendance rates or high drop-out rates.

Gender and development (GAD)[edit]

Theoretical approach

The Gender and Development (GAD) approach focuses on the socially constructed differences between men and women, the need to challenge existing gender roles and relations, and the creation and effects of class differences on development. This approach was majorly influenced by the writings of academic scholars such as Oakley (1972) and Rubin (1975), who argue the social relationship between men and women have systematically subordinated women, along with economist scholars Lourdes Benería and Amartya Sen (1981), who assess the impact of colonialism on development and gender inequality. They state that colonialism imposed more than a 'value system' upon developing nations, it introduced a system of economics 'designed to promote capital accumulation which caused class differentiation'.

GAD departs from WID, which discussed women's subordination and lack of inclusion in discussions of international development without examining broader systems of gender relations. Influenced by this work, by the late 1970s, some practitioners working in the development field questioned focusing on women in isolation. GAD challenged the WID focus on women as an important ‘target group’ and ‘untapped resources’ for development. GAD marked a shift in thinking about the need to understand how women and men are socially constructed and how ‘those constructions are powerfully reinforced by the social activities that both define and are defined by them.’

GAD focuses primarily on the gendered division of labor and gender as a relation of power embedded in institutions. Consequently, two major frameworks ‘Gender roles’ and ‘social relations analysis’ are used in this approach. 'Gender roles' focuses on the social construction of identities within the household; it also reveals the expectations from ‘maleness and femaleness’ in their relative access to resources. 'Social relations analysis' exposes the social dimensions of hierarchical power relations embedded in social institutions, as well as its determining influence on ‘the relative position of men and women in society.’ This relative positioning tends to discriminate against women.

Unlike WID, the GAD approach is not concerned specifically with women, but with the way in which a society assigns roles, responsibilities and expectations to both women and men. GAD applies gender analysis to uncover the ways in which men and women work together, presenting results in neutral terms of economics and efficiency. In an attempt to create gender equality, (denoting women having same opportunities as men, including ability to participate in the public sphere), GAD policies aims to redefine traditional gender role expectations. Women are expected to fulfill household management tasks, home based production as well as bearing and raising children and caring for family members. The role of a wife is largely interpreted as 'the responsibilities of motherhood.' Men however, are expected to be breadwinners, associated with paid work, and market production. In the labor market, women tend to earn less than men. For instance, 'a study by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found massive pay inequities in some United Kingdom's top finance companies, women received around 80 percent less performance-related pay than their male colleagues.' In response to pervasive gender inequalities, Beijing Platform for Action established gender mainstreaming in 1995 as a strategy across all policy areas at all levels of governance for achieving gender equality.

GAD has been largely utilized in debates regarding development but this trend is not seen in the actual practice of developmental agencies and plans for development. Caroline Moser claims WID persists due to the challenging nature of GAD, but Shirin M. Rai counters this claim noting that the real issue lies in the tendency to overlap WID and GAD in policy. Therefore, it would only be possible if development agencies fully adopted GAD language exclusively.

Moser developed the Moser Gender Planning Framework for GAD-oriented development planning in the 1980s while working at the Development Planning Unit of the University of London. Working with Caren Levy, she expanded it into a methodology for gender policy and planning. The Moser framework follows the Gender and Development approach in emphasizing the importance of gender relations. As with the WID-based Harvard Analytical Framework, it includes a collection of quantitative empirical facts. Going further, it investigates the reasons and processes that lead to conventions of access and control. The Moser Framework includes gender roles identification, gender needs assessment, disaggregating control of resources and decision making within the household, planning for balancing work and household responsibilities, distinguishing between different aims in interventions and involving women and gender-aware organizations in planning.

Criticism

GAD has been criticized for emphasizing the social differences between men and women while neglecting the bonds between them and also the potential for changes in roles. Another criticism is that GAD does not dig deeply enough into social relations and so may not explain how these relations can undermine programs directed at women. It also does not uncover the types of trade-offs that women are prepared to make for the sake of achieving their ideals of marriage or motherhood.^[35] Another criticism is that the GAD perspective is theoretically distinct from WID, but in practice, programs seem to have elements of both. Whilst many development agencies are now committed to a gender approach, in practice, the primary institutional perspective remain focused on a WID approach.^[41] Specifically, the language of GAD has been incorporated into WID programs. There is a slippage in reality where gender mainstreaming is often based in a single normative perspective as synonymous to women.^[42] Development agencies still advance gender transformation to mean economic betterment for women.^[41]

Further criticisms of GAD is it's insufficient attention to culture, with a new framework being offered instead: Women, Culture and Development (WCD). This framework, unlike GAD, wouldn't look at women as victims but would rather evaluate the Third World life of women through the context of the language and practice of gender, the Global South, and culture.

Gender and microfinance[edit]

Women have been identified by some development institutions as a key to successful development, for example through financial inclusion. Microcredit is giving small loans to people in poverty without collateral. This was first started by Muhammad Yunus, who formed the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Studies have showed that women are more likely to repay their debt than men, and the Grameen Bank focuses on aiding women. This financial opportunity allows women to start their own businesses for a steady income. Women have been the focus of microcredit for their subsequent increased status as well as the overall well-being of the home being improved when given to women rather than men.

There were numerous case studies done in Tanzania about the correlation of the role of SACCoS (savings and credit cooperative organization) and the economic development of the country. The research showed that the microfinance policies were not being carried out in the most efficient ways due to exploitation. However, there was evidence that reform could possibly enrich the overall economy. One case study went a step further to claim that this financial service could provide a more equal society for women in Tanzania.

While there are such cases in which women were able to lift themselves out of poverty, there are also cases in which women fell into a poverty trap as they were unable to repay their loans. It is even said that microcredit is actually an "anti-developmental" approach. There is little evidence of significant development for these women within the 30 years that the microfinance has been around. In South Africa, unemployment is high due to the introduction of microfinance, more so than it was under apartheid. Microcredit intensified poverty in Johannesburg, South Africa as poor communities, mostly women, who needed to repay debt were forced to work in the informal sector.

Some arguments that microcredit is not effective insist that the structure of the economy, with large informal and agriculture sectors, do not provide a system in which borrowers can be successful. In Nigeria, where the informal economy is approximately 45-60% of economy, women working within it could not attain access to microcredit because of the high demand for loans triggered by high unemployment rates in the formal sector. This study found Nigerian woman are forced into “the hustle” and enhanced risk of the informal economy, which is unpredictable and contributes to women’s inability to repay the loans.  Another example from a study conducted in Arampur, Bangladesh, found that microcredit programs within the agrarian community do not effectively help the borrower pay their loan because the terms of the loan are not compatible with farm work. If was found that MFIs force borrowers to repay before the harvesting season starts and in some cases endure the struggles of sharecropping work that is funded by the loan.

Although there is debate on how effective microcredit is in alleviating poverty in general, there is an argument that microcredit enables women to participate and fulfill their capabilities in society. For example, a study conducted in Malayasia showed that their version of microcredit, AIM, had a positive effect on Muslim women's empowerment in terms of allowing them to have more control over family planning and over decisions that were made in the home.

In contrast, out of a study conducted on 205 different MFIs, they concluded that there is still gender discrimination within microfinance institutions and microcredit, which impact the existing discrimination within communities as well. In Bangladesh, another outcome seen for some of the Grameen recipients was that they faced domestic abuse as a result of their husbands feeling threatened about women bringing in more income. A study in Uganda also noted that men felt threatened through increased female financial dominance, increasing women’s vulnerability at home.

Through the “constructivist feminist standpoint,” women can understand that the limitations they face are not inherent and in fact, are “constructed” by traditional gender roles, which they have the ability to challenge through owning their own small business. Through this focus, a study focused on the Foundation for International Community Assistance’s (FINCA) involvement and impact in Peru, where women are made aware of the “machismo” patriarchal culture in which they live through their experiences with building small enterprises. In Rajasthan, India, another study found mixed results for women participating in a microlending program. Though many women were not able to pay back their loans, many were still eager to take on debt because their microfinance participation created a platform to address other inequities within the community.

Another example is the Women's Development Business (WDB) in South Africa, a Grameen Bank microfinance replicator. According to WDB, the goal is to ensure “[…] that rural women are given the tools to free themselves from the chains of poverty […]” through allocation of financial resources directly to women including enterprise development programs. The idea is to use microfinance as a market-oriented tool to ensure access to financial services for disadvantaged and low-income people and therefore fostering economic development through financial inclusion.

As a reaction, a current topic in the feminist literature on economic development is the ‘gendering’ of microfinance, as women have increasingly become the target borrowers for rural microcredit lending. This, in turn, creates the assumption of a “rational economic woman” which can exacerbate existing social hierarchies. Therefore, the critique is that the assumption of economic development through microfinance does not take into account all possible outcomes, especially the ones affecting women.

The impact of programs of the Bretton Woods Institutions and other similar organizations on gender are being monitored by Gender Action, a watchdog group founded in 2002 by Elaine Zuckerman who is a former World Bank economist.