Dr. Matembe Part I: Women and Development

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I apologize for some of the grammar mistakes and poor wording in some of the blogs. Internet access is poor here so many times I am rushing just to make sure the posts get uploaded.


“What was missing in animal, God put into man...what was missing in man...what was missing in man, God put in woman to make perfect his creation. So why should I want to be a man, imperfect and incomplete?”
- Dr. Miria Matembe

During the week, we start our days with 2 hours of Luganda lessons followed by 2 lectures or site visits. SIT does an amazing job of recruiting prominent and influential professors and politicians from Kampala to speak to us on issues ranging from Health Care to the Constitution in Uganda, the focus being on how those issues play into development. Last Tuesday, we were privileged to hear Dr. Miria Matembe speak on Gender and development. Among her extensive and impressive list of accomplishments, Dr. Matembe served as a member of Parliament for 17 years and as a Cabinet Minister in charge of fighting corruption and developing integrity in the Ugandan Government for 5 years; a position which she created herself. Once one got past her poor decision to incorporate religion into her presentation, Dr. Matembe was an interesting speaker (see part II for where this went wrong).

Her presentation focused on the necessity for promoting equal opportunities for over half the population of Uganda which is systematically marginalized by outdated traditions and inherently chauvinistic institutions. In particular, I found her take on Bride Price to be intriguing. Uganda is one of the few places in the world where it is traditional for the groom’s family to pay the bride’s family for the daughter’s hand in marriage. Originally this payment would be made in the form of a few cattle or goats, a small price to compensate for the loss of work the woman’s family would incur. Here, women traditionally do much of the work for the family; the loss of a daughter meant the loss of quite a substantial amount of labor for her family.

The desire to respect and preserve cultures and traditions often gets incredibly complicated in issues of development, especially when “development” is defined and dictated mostly by the Western World. This is why it was so interesting to hear a progressive viewpoint against a tradition from someone within their own society and culture. Dr. Matembe explained that the current use of Brideprice has diverted from its original form and no longer has any practical importance, thereby rendering its traditional importance irrelevant. Dr. Matembe understands the current importance of Bride Price in Uganda as means of capital accumulation for the bride’s family. Additionally, the connotation of the practice is thought to promote an unequal and potentially abusive relationship between spouses. Women are no longer moving into the home of another family, they are moving into their own home with their husband, meaning that the groom’s family should not be paying for her work. Paying for a woman provides the husband with an excuse for treating wives as property. Comparisons were made to the dowry system common in India, which she said also contributes to the chauvinistic mentality that a woman should be bought or can be priced.

Along with the elimination of Bride Price, Dr. Matembe advocates more support and rights for brides and widows within Uganda’s laws. Her efforts and the efforts of other gender equality groups over the past few years have led to the recent law prohibiting female circumcision in Uganda. Of course Uganda still has a long way to go before it reaches anything near gender equality. Though politically, Uganda could put the U.S. to shame as far as women in high political positions, (Uganda had the first woman Vice President in Uganda, 32.8% of parliament, and 20-30% of judiciary and cabinet positions are occupied by women including the minister of finance and the minister of education). However, socially, women are have the same authority and status as the youth. What is so interesting from a development standpoint is that the marginalization of women is done at the economic and social detriment of Uganda, and every other country for that matter. It is no secret that women’s equality is both a requirement and a result of development. Women typically control the education and health of the family and when in control of finance, contribute more to community development than men.

Next: Dr. Matembe Part II: A “Discussion” on Homosexuality