Karamojong urged to practice woman emancipation

Karamojong women attending a training organized by KAWUO on women’s participation in decision making on Friday at Lavendar hotel in Moroto town (PHOTO/Jonathan Opolot).

MOROTO – Elders in Karamoja have been urged to avoid bad cultures that do not allow women to sit together with men in the meetings and make contributions in terms of development.

The call was made on Friday, December 6 by the team from Karamoja Women Umbrella Organization (KAWUO) while sensitizing the elders on the importance of women involvement in decision making.

According to the Karamojong tradition, women are not supposed to contest for any seat competing with men and they are not allowed to sit together with other men in a meeting and make any contribution towards development.

The tradition also bars women from owning any property be it land, animals and other items like food in the house.

However, the work of women in the Karamoja tradition is only to construct houses, look for food, look after children while men go for meetings and look after animals.

Mr. Thomas Odelok, the program coordinator KAWUO said such kind of cultures deprive women from making contribution for the development of Karamoja and the country at large.

He said, as KAWUO, they intend to continue sensitizing the general public in Karamoja to appreciate that women are the ambassadors of development in Uganda.

“We are telling the people of Karamoja that this specific culture that bars women from making contributions for the development of Karamoja is a wrong culture and they should isolate it,” he said.

He said Karamoja women Umbrella organizations with the support from European Union and German cooperation through GIZ is implementing a one-year project geared to raising women’s voice for effective participation and policy formulation for gender-sensitive governance.

According to Odelok Karamoja has large behind for many years in terms of development simply because there is no impute of women in planning and budgeting process.

“This, therefore, calls for women’s inclusion and participation in decision making right from the grass root, district and parliamentary level,” he said.

Grace Nachap one of the women hailed KAWUO for enlightens them and appealed the organization to continue sensitizing their men to value women inputs towards development.