Year: 2019
Creating Safe Spaces: Experiences of Ugandan women in the informal sector
Creating Safe Spaces: Experiences of Ugandan women in the informal sector
To mark 16 Days of Activism this year, AWDF and her grantee partners are lending a voice to support the global campaign on ratification and implementation of the new ILO Convention 190 and recommendation 206 to end gender based violence in the world of work.
Under the thematic area of Body and Health Rights, AWDF has supported a number of women’s rights organisations in Africa to mobilise for the protection of women’s rights and an end to violence in the informal economy and in domestic work.
African women are the backbone of African economies, performing labour to sustain themselves, their families, communities and countries. However, this labour often takes place in precarious conditions, with low pay, lack of recognition or protection, and frequent violations of women workers’ human rights.
The Institute for Social Transformation, Uganda with the support of AWDF is working to strengthen the voices, visibility, and collective organising power of women in four selected markets in Uganda.
Informal markets are of high interest to politicians and government officials, who derive easy money and support and therefore influence decisions such as who occupies leadership positions in such spaces. Women cannot easily occupy the most influential positions (e.g., Chairpersonship) because they are perceived to be incapable or temperamental.
The intervention by IST resulted from a research conducted in 2016 which revealed that there is no clear regulatory framework for informal markets in Uganda. This has exposed market women to violence and exploitation and yet they are the majority market occupants (80%). The study also revealed that 59% of market women interviewed had experienced some form of violence with the most prevalent form being physical violence at 47%.
IST empowered over 300 market women within the four selected markets with capacity support and mentorship which provided market women with relevant knowledge in managing their businesses and also to advocate for favourable local government market policies and working environment. Hear their testimonies:
“After the training I received from IST, I was able to educate 9 women and together we formed a savings group that contributes 5,000 Shs per day per member for purposes of accumulating capital for each other through cash rounds.” Naura Miriam- Nakawa Market
“Before the training I sold tomatoes and was satisfied with the sales but after the training, I realised the need to expand the business so I used some of the profits from the tomato business to enrol for training in liquid soap making. Today I am a happy person, I am not scared even if the price of tomatoes goes down because I know I have a backup income thanks to IST,” said a market entrepreneur from Kalerwe freedom market.
“The training has enabled me to gain confidence to speak to customers and to confront market authorities if I feel I am not being treated fairly. Previously, I would just sell the items quietly but today while the customer buys, I keep telling them about why they should buy from me, and I even ask them for their contact so I can follow up to check if they liked the product,” Hellen, a market entrepreneur from Busia market.
By: Rose Buabeng, Programme Officer for Anglophone Africa, AWDF
Grantee Profile: 1-in-9 Campaign – Renewed Focus on the Other Eight
Grantee Profile: 1-in-9 Campaign – Renewed Focus on the Other Eight
The year was 2006. HIV-activist Fezekile Ntsukela Kuzwayo, known to the public only as Khwezi, faced off against Jacob Zuma, then the deputy-president of South Africa, in court. She had accused him of rape. She stood her ground amidst death threats from Zuma’s supporters, harassment from the ANC Women’s League and widespread torment from the ruling party. She was not alone in her stand. The 1-in-9 Campaign was born during this particularly turbulent, triggering time in South Africa. Zuma, who would go on to become President of South Africa, was acquitted on the charges against him. The organisation, however, continued to support survivors of sexual violence in navigating the social landscape and the criminal justice system. According to popularly cited statistics, one in three women will experience sexual violence in her lifetime. According to the South African Medical Research Council, only one in nine rapes are reported to authorities. It was, initially, the latter group that the organisation supported.
Mpumi Mathabela is the 1-in-9 Campaign coordinator. She says despite the impact they were making through their work within the criminal justice system, there came a day when they realised that that was not enough. “Our name is a statistic from that time period – the time of Zuma and Khwezi – and it was a work that was incredibly impactful. We got to a point where when people did not see us outside court they would call and ask where we were.” More needed to be done.
“Only one in nine women report their rape to the police. So one woman reports. One woman we go to court with. One woman we push for the justice system to do its job. One woman. Just one in nine.”
Sheshakes her head. “But what about the other eight…” The question hangs in the air as the magnitude of the statement sinks in.
“What happens to the other eight? Are they silent?”
The answer, she says, is of course not. “They are simply speaking out in their own ways. We have progressed from working with that one in the criminal justice system to branching out to the other eight too. This is our shift. We are reintroducing and redefining feminist movement building, but we are not just focusing on the one woman who makes it to court anymore.”
To read the rest of this incredible profile and see how 1 in 9 is helping impact the lives of survivors, click here.