MAKERERE UNIVERSITY

Course Name: GENDER & THE LAW

Year of Study: FOUR (4)

QUESTION:

In February 2019, the state minister for tourism, Hon Godfrey Kiwanda Suubi launched the miss
Curvy Uganda Pageant which will see the most sexy and curvaceous women in Uganda crowned
later in the year. He stated, “We have naturally endowed nice looking women that are amazing to
look at. Why don’t we use these people as a strategy to promote our tourism industry?”

(i) With reference to the conceptual framework on gender, explain how this contest is a form
of Gender Based Violence(GBV) against women.
(ii) Do any laws exist to address this specific form of GBV? If so, how do you assess their
implementation and enforcement? What are the challenges?
 To best understand Gender Based Violence and how it relates to the facts at hand it is important to
fully appreciate the concept from which it stems and that is the concept of gender. According to the
World Health Organization, Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and
men- such as norms, roles and relationships of and between groups of men and women. i The United
Nations through the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
defines gender to refer to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male or female
and the relationships between men and women and boys and girls as well as relations between
women and those between men.ii It is further states that these attributes, opportunities and relations
are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes and that they are context/
time-specific and changeable. These opportunities and relations are mostly influenced by gender
roles which vary from one society to another. However, many arguments have been made that
different societies have different teachings of the norms and practices that shape the nature of
relationships between women and men and girls and boys, these constructions of societal norms that
play a crucial role in shaping gender relations and roles have a patriarchal foundation. Patriarchy has
been deeply entrenched into society from as low as the family level with the man being portrayed as
the ultimate head of a family and thus protector and provider for the family. This has in turn created
the idea that men are more deserving of work and that they are dominant over women in light of their
roles as providers and protectors of the family. This is a means of controlling and curbing women’s
autonomy. It has then further created the public-private divide all while secluding women to the
private aspects of family and assigning them complimentary roles like child birth and rearing,
making them dependent on men while the men are put in the public sphere in a position to control
resources. This is even visible in the law for example; under the law, priority was given to only boys
as heirs. And even with the courts trying to rectify some of these injustices like in the case of LAWU
v A.Giii which declared S.21 and other provisions of the Succession act unconstitutional, the male
dominated parliament of Uganda has refused to discuss and vote on the Succession Bill of 2018. iv
Society, due to its patriarchal nature has also been common to the use of sexism to reinforce its
patriarchal structures with the use of sexist attitudes as an aid for belittling women’s opinions in a bid
to keep them in a subordinate role. Society also continues to refuse to recognize the contributions of
women in day to day affairs. According to a press release by the U.N in March 2018, women occupy
less than 30% of research and development jobs worldwide despite being pioneering scientists. It is
from the construction of these gender roles that discrimination and gender inequality then arises in
turn paving way for male dominated society and ultimately, Gender Based Violence.
 From that background, with an appreciation of what the concept of gender entails, it is then
crucial to understand what Gender Based Violence (GBV) is. The UN General Assembly 1993, in its
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women defined Violence Against Women and
Girls as including physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and general
community, which is perpetrated or condoned by the State, and includes traditional practices such as
child marriage and female genital cutting/mutilation. v Gender Based Violence in its nature takes
many forms but it can be broadly defined into five categories: sexual violence, emotional violence,
economic violence, physical violence, and harmful traditional practices. It is important to note that
within these different categorizations there are many different types of violence for example, Sexual
violence includes rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment; Emotional violence includes psychological
abuse; economic violence includes denial of resources, financial exploitation etc. vi
In light of all the above, the contest is a clear manifestation of sexism. The minister appears to
have an attitude that women’s sexuality can be used as a tool of trade. He could quite easily have
used men only but he opted for women because of sexist attitude. The statement should be viewed as
a form of economic violence against women and specifically trafficking. It is to be looked at as a
form of trafficking because it falls within the ambit of the definition of trafficking under the UN
protocol on trafficking of persons which among others, should be read to include the recruitment or
receipt of persons (“recruiting curvaceous women”), abuse of power (through his position as state
minister), the giving of benefits (with the promise of crowns and other rewards in a beauty pageant)
for the purpose of exploitation (for purposes of getting more tourists to come to Uganda). vii
Furthermore, the contest tries to promote sex tourism which can clearly be attributed to
stereotypes arising from societies’ attitudes towards people like sex workers. Sex tourism is
envisaged under the CEDAW Committee’s General Recommendation No.19 as a form of sexual
exploitation on top of other forms of trafficking. viii Even if it does not directly speak to attracting
tourists for purposes of enjoying sex, it can be argued that highlighting of sexual features and thus
sexualizing of female bodies as an item of exchange for tourists to visit Uganda under the guise of a
pageant can be read to connote to sex tourism.
The contest is also to be viewed as a form of emotional violence against women. This is as an
effect of objectification. This objectification also results mostly from the stereotypes that society has
created and made to seem natural. For example, it appears to be natural for the state minister to think
that is okay to use the female body as a tool to attract tourists as the female body is believed to be
more attractive. Such stereotypes continue to create breeding ground for violence against women. It
is to be noted that the statement of the minister reduces the status of women to the description of
basic English words: “…nice looking women who are good to look at”. This then suggests that these
Ugandan women are best suited for the purpose of being looked at by tourists in exchange for
revenue to the tourism industry in this context. That in turn reduces the women to commodities
payable for thus leading to transactionalization of the very existence of these women by simply
reducing them to tools of trade to be applied in a transaction. It is only right to view this as degrading
and humiliating of women. This degradation and humiliation of the women amounts to “emotional,
verbal and psychological abuse” as per the meaning afforded to it by S.2 of the Domestic Violence
Act of Uganda; making the point of emotional violence against women.
The statement of the minister leading to the contest also amounts to sexual harassment which is a
form is sexual violence against women. According to The Gender Bench Book, sexual harassment
includes but is not limited to any verbal or physical conduct or gesture of a sexual nature, or any
other behaviour of a sexual nature that might reasonably be expected or be perceived to cause
offence or humiliation to another.ix The employment act provides that sexual harassment is
committed when one uses language, whether written or spoken, of a sexual nature. The minister’s
statement on top of being a gesture of a sexual nature is also one that might be reasonably perceived
to cause offence or humiliation to many women.
On the question of whether there are laws in place to tackle these forms of GBV, it is to be
answered in the affirmative as there are laws in place for example the Constitution of Uganda which
prohibits laws, cultures, customs and traditions which are against the dignity of women or undermine
their status and this has led to the enactment of laws like the Employment Act of 2006 which creates
and defines the offence of sexual harassment as a way of fighting sexual violence against women in
the work place. The act also makes discrimination in employment (including on the basis of sex)
unlawful and this helps to promote equality at work. It further advocates for equal pay of both men
and women for equal work done x. This in turn helps to address the question of economic violence
against women. The other important law in tackling GBV is the Domestic Violence Act of 2010
which expounds on abuse to include economic abuse and psychological abuse under S.2 of the Act.
There is also The Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2009 which creates the offence of
trafficking in persons whose punishment is 15 years imprisonment where the perpetrator is found
guilty.xi The is also a wide range of international and regional instruments for example the
Maputo Protocolxii, the CEDAWxiii, the DEVAWxiv among others and these advocate for the right
to work, equal pay, right to protection of health at work xv et al of women to tackle economic
violence.
 On the question of implementation, the implementation process has been rather fair with
Uganda trying to eradicate discrimination against women in the public and private spheres as
required by Art. 7 of the CEDAW by creating seats in parliament for women members of
parliament. There have also been some prosecutions under the Anti-Pornography Act like Judith
Heard for distribution of pornography in a bid to protect and preserve the sexuality of women by
doing away with the idea of using them as sexual commodities. An anti- porn committee, headed
by Fr. Simon Lokodo was also formed and funded to fight watching and distribution of
pornography. The government has also tried to implement equal pay by having uniform salary
scales for both men and women as long as they are doing the same work.
However, the implementation is faced by two major challenges, the first being the patriarchal
setting of society in that most judicial officers are men. Also the premier law making body of
Uganda is comprised of men as the majority and as such amendment of discriminatory laws is
quite hard as it is usually blocked by the men in parliament. The police itself where women
report such cases are men with sexist attitudes and gender stereotypes which goes far in proving
that the ghost of patriarchy still haunts society in favor of the men.
The second biggest challenge is that from the international and regional perspective, the
instruments guiding the fight against GBV are not binding and should the country refuse to abide
by these provisions not much can be done. Countries also use progressive realization as a
defence for not fulfilling obligations. Worse still, a country can refuse to ratify an instrument.
In conclusion, in as much as there is a legal framework to combat Gender Based Violence,
there is still a very serious need to understand how society’s socially constructed norms impact
gender roles. This is because the real source of the problem is with the patriarchal, sexist
stereotypical setting of modern society. The real solution to the problem of gender based
violence is Equality between women and all that comes with it like equal opportunities at getting
into schools, getting employed, equal pay to help breakdown gender concepts that work as the
pillars that support and uphold male dominated society.
References:
1. www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/understanding/gender-definition/en/
2. www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/conceptsanddefinitions.htm
3. www.ulii.org
4. The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of
Women in Africa
5. United Nations Population Fund Facilitator’s Guide for Media Reporting on Gender-
Based Violence 2016
6. The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially
Women and Children
7. The CEDAW Committee’s General Recommendation No.19
8. The Gender Bench: Women’s Access to Justice in Uganda First Edition
9. Employment Act,2006
10. The Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2009
11. Domestic Violence Act
12. Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women.
13. Declaration on Elimination of Violence Against Women.
i
www.who.int/gender-equity-rights/understanding/gender-definition/en/
ii
www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/conceptsanddefinitions.htm
iii
Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda v Attorney General ((Constitutional Petitions Nos. 13/05 & 05/06)) [2007] UGCC 1 (5 April
2007)
iv
The Succession (Amendment Bill) 2018, Bill No. 16 of 2018
v
Article 1(j) of the Maputo Protocol. Also see UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (DEVAW),adopted by the
General Assembly under resolution 48/104 (1993)
vi
United Nations Population Fund Facilitator’s Guide for Media Reporting on Gender-Based Violence 2016 at p.26
vii
Art. 3 of The UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
viii
The CEDAW Committee’s General Recommendation No.19 Para. 14 … In addition to established forms of trafficking there are new
forms of sexual exploitation, such as sex tourism… These practices are incompatible with the equal enjoyment of rights by women...
They put women at special risk of violence and abuse.
ix
The Gender Bench: Women’s Access to Justice in Uganda First Edition at p.xix (Key Definitions)
x
S.6 of the Employment Act,2006
xi
S.3 of The Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act, 2009
xii
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa
xiii
Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women.
xiv
Declaration on Elimination of all forms of Violence Against Women.
xv
Art 11 of the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women.