East African women’s rights advocates want the Ugandan parliament to pass legislation recognizing and compensating domestic and unpaid care work.
Their concerns originate from the fact that care labour is at the centre of every society, contributing to the well-being of a country and being essential to our social and economic progress.
The Covid-19 pandemic caused a health, economic, and care crisis for all workers, including those in the informal economy, and calls are being made to reduce, recognize, and redistribute women’s unpaid care workload through the provision of public services and infrastructure, as well as the implementation and enforcement of social protection policies.
Gender-based violence and the reallocation of resources and priorities have had an impact on women’s health.
The passage of the Early Child Development Policy (March 2016) and the Social Protection Policy (November 2015) in Uganda is a step in the right direction in terms of reducing the care workload, but more needs to be done because the services provided have not improved women’s disproportionate responsibility for care work, and the status quo is maintained by strong social and cultural norms.
“Women have ended up leaving marriages without a thing, without land, or any property because they cannot account for their contribution,” according to Joel Esther Amati, a Kenyan woman rights activist.
