Negotiating patriarchy? Exploring the ambiguities of the narratives on “male champions” of gender equality in Uganda Parliament
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Date
2019
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Agenda
Abstract
There is an emerging trend in which global development actors insist that gender equality programmes and
initiatives must involve the participation of men, to the extent, in some cases, of calling for men and boys to
empower women and girls. In Uganda, studies exist on how women gender activists have drawn on some men
to speak to gender equity issues on their behalf. In some of these studies, supportive men are constituted as
‘champions of gender equality’, as if to express gratitude to and celebrate as unexpected, the significant role
these men are seen to play in promoting gender equality. In this article, I draw on interviews with women
gender activists in and outside Parliament and some male parliamentarians to explore how and why women
opt for men to speak to gender issues on their behalf. I also examine ways in which men who are ‘selected’ to
represent female voice on gender issues perceive and represent themselves with regard to promoting gender
equality and their relationship with women and other men. The article specifically engages with concerns on
whether gender inequalities are challenged or institutionalised through the use of male promoters of gender
equality in Uganda Parliament and assesses the implications such manoeuvres have for thinking about gender
and feminism, in particular African feminism.
Description
Keywords
power, patriarchy, male champions, Nego-feminism, gender equity
Citation
Amon Ashaba Mwiine (2019) Negotiating patriarchy? Exploring the ambiguities of the narratives on “male champions” of gender equality in Uganda Parliament, Agenda, 33:1, 108-116, DOI: 10.1080/10130950.2019.1598273