School of Women and Gender Studies (SWGS) Collections
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ItemSchool after child birth: experiences of teenage mothers returning to school in Makindye Division-Kampala City(Makerere University, 2025)Teenage pregnancy is a contemporary global challenge with disproportionate representation in the global south. This hinders attainment of sustainable development goals including, good health and wellbeing, quality education and gender equality. Using a qualitative approach, the study sought to examine the experiences of teenage mothers returning to school to understand factors facilitating teenage pregnancies, the choices available to teenage mothers, challenges they encounter and the resilience mechanisms they adopt. The study was anchored in liberal feminist thought. The study findings indicate that factors explaining teenage pregnancy are interconnected and range from economic to social, religious, and cultural factors. The challenges on the other hand point to stigmatization, unfavourable school environments, financial challenges and increased workloads. The main strategies that teen mothers employed to cope with their challenges were leveraging on peer-to-peer support and depending on schools’ guiding and counselling services. The study concludes that schooling teenage mothers are among the most vulnerable group of learners as motherhood becomes a heavy responsibility for them, at an early age, with multiple and conflicting roles. Teenage mothers must be supported adequately to avoid high school drop-out rates. The study recommends that the Government and the other stakeholders should develop and deliver sensitization campaigns for community members about the school re-entry policy. This policy provides for students’, teachers’ and community members’ awareness and understanding of the existing policy, and how it protects the rights of teenage mothers.
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ItemThe parish development model and women’s socio-economic status: a case of Kyebando Parish, Kawempe Division, Kampala(Makerere University, 2025)The Parish Development Model (PDM) is Uganda’s latest attempt at making devolution work for local development, economic transformation, and social inclusion. This study examined the effect of the PDM on women’s socio-economic empowerment in Kyebando Parish, Kampala. The specific objectives of the study were: To explore how value addition in key growth opportunities under PDM has enhanced women’s status in Kyebando Parish. To analyze how private sector capacity strengthening under PDM has driven growth and job Creation for women in Kyebando Parish. To investigate the extent to which PDM has enhanced the productivity of women in Kyebando Parish Using a cross-sectional design, the study used a mixed-methods approach and surveyed 159 women-led PDM group members. Also, six key informant interviews and the study conducted Four FGDs of which Two were for Men and Two for women PDM Groups with each group containing six members and the sessions were moderated by the researcher. The study concludes that while the PDM has contributed meaningfully to women’s economic empowerment in Kyebando Parish, its transformative potential can be fully realized through more flexible enterprise models, improved institutional coordination, and gender-responsive support systems. These findings offer valuable insights for policymakers, development practitioners, and community leaders seeking to enhance inclusive and sustainable development through localized economic empowerment initiatives. The current study recommends that household incomes are achievable through access to commodity markets, increased production and productivity of agricultural and non-agricultural commodities. This can be done by organizing farmer/community groups into clusters/associations and supporting them to reliably, consistently and effectively engage in bulking and marketing of high-quality/standard commodities.
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ItemThe dual burden of care and unpaid work : women's experiences in Kawempe Division, Uganda(Makerere University, 2025)This study examined The Balancing Act: The Dual Burden of Care Work and Paid Labor among Women in Kawempe Division, Kampala, Uganda. The research aimed to (i) examine the different unpaid care work activities women combine with their paid employment, (ii) identify the push factors for women’s persistent dominance in unpaid care work, and (iii) explore the strategies and coping mechanisms women employ to navigate the challenges of balancing paid and unpaid work. A mixed-methods research design was employed to capture both quantitative and qualitative insights from formally and informally employed women in Kawempe, one of Kampala’s seven divisions and a hub of business activity. Purposive and snowball sampling were used to select participants. Data collection involved the Rapid Care Analysis (RCA) tool, in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, and structured questionnaires. Thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the intersection between paid labor and unpaid care work. Findings indicate that women engage in multiple unpaid care activities, including cooking, cleaning, laundry, childcare, and caring for the sick and elderly, alongside formal and informal paid work. Cultural norms, religious beliefs, male-dominated decision-making, low education levels, and internalized gender roles were identified as the key drivers of women’s persistent dominance in unpaid care work. To cope with this dual burden, women employed strategies such as using electrical machines, hiring domestic help, delegating care responsibilities to older children, adjusting work schedules, and shifting toward home-based businesses. While these strategies provided temporary relief, they did not fundamentally redistribute care responsibilities or address structural gender inequalities. The study concludes that unpaid care work remains a significant barrier to women’s economic empowerment and well-being. Recommendations include fairer redistribution of unpaid care responsibilities, gender-responsive workplace policies, affordable childcare solutions, and community and policy interventions to challenge cultural and structural barriers. Implementing these measures would enable women to dedicate more time to paid employment, increase earnings, and advance economic equality.
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ItemEmpowerment backlash: gender based violence amongst adolescent girls and young women peer leaders of Oyam District(Makerere University, 2025)The study explored the experiences of Gender Based Violence (GBV) amongst peer leaders of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) of Oyam district as a type of empowerment backlash. The study objectives were; to establish the causes of empowerment backlash amongst AGYW peer leaders of Oyam district; to identify the various types of GBV being experienced by the AGYW peer leaders of Oyam district, to assess the effects of GBV amongst AGYW peer leaders of Oyam and to examine the strategies used by the AGYW peer leaders of Oyam district to cope with the experiences of GBV. The research design was grounded in a qualitative framework which provided a deep, contextual, and nuanced insights into the experiences of GBV among peer leaders in Oyam District. The methods used included in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and document reviews. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis with the assistance of Atlas.ti application. The findings indicate that while the DREAMS program has provided economic and psychosocial empowerment, it has also triggered unintended resistance from male partners and community members. Many participants reported negative perceptions and stigma from community members who viewed DREAMS as a program for “failures.” The peer leaders faced resistance from close family members who viewed their participation in DREAMS as disruptive and ’spoiling their good morals.’ Types of GBV included physical, psychological emotional, sexual and economic violence. Male partners often resisted women's newfound financial independence, leading to conflicts over money management, assertive behaviors were viewed as disrespectful as it goes against gender norms. Participants reported psychosomatic symptoms from GBV including ulcers, breathing difficulties, and depression resulting from chronic abuse. Male partners predominantly employed conflict avoidance and economic appeasement while female participants developed more complex resilience strategies as coping mechanisms. The study found that Desired, Resilience, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe (DREAMS) as an empowerment initiative had significantly empowered AGYW peer leaders through life-skills such as; assertiveness, decision making, communication skills, access to health information, economic skills, financial independence, and conflict resolution training. Community resistance, stigma, and misconceptions about DREAMS remained major challenges that affected the peer leader’s ability to fully perform their roles. The study recommends increment of community sensitization to change negative perceptions about DREAMS, highlight its benefits to prevent its backlash inform of GBV. There is need for more male, community leaders and parent’s/guardians’ engagements to support AGYW participation and peer leader’s roles while addressing harmful gender norms. Strengthening economic opportunities for AGYW; address project induced backlash such as enrollment restrictions, benefit disparities, delayed payment of stipends and poor time management that caused a lot of backlash on the peer leaders.
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ItemState and non-state actors' collaboration in empowering women farmers in Ethiopia(Makerere University, 2025)Empowering women has been a central focus for state and non-state actors since the Beijing Platform for Action, which aimed to address women’s exclusion from political, economic, and social domains. This study examines collaboration between the Meta District Agriculture and Resource Management Office (MDAaRMO) and Care Ethiopia to empower women farmers in Ethiopia, using the GROW project as a case study. Conducted in the Hawibilisuma and Ifajallela farmer associations in Oromia Regional State, the study aimed to: (i) examine genderbased opportunities and constraints affecting women farmers’ agricultural engagement; (ii) analyse how collaboration between MDAaRMO and Care Ethiopia facilitates women’s empowerment; and (iii) assess the effectiveness of this partnership in empowering women farmers. Guided by the empowerment framework and Collaborative Theory, the research employed an embedded mixed-methods design. Data were collected through 25 in-depth interviews, three focus group discussions, 10 key informant interviews, and a survey of 370 women farmers. Findings revealed that both social and institutional norms shaped women’s agricultural participation. Positive influences included access to labour-sharing systems, which helped women to optimise time, financial resources, and agricultural information, as well as communal support networks that provided psychological stability and economic security during crisis. However, constraints such as a lack of co-ownership of farmland, cultural practices such as polygamy that fragment resources, and extensive unpaid care work hindered their agricultural engagement. Moreover, limited direct access to agricultural extension services, compounded by gender-insensitive agricultural programs, has adversely impacted both the extent and quality of their participation in agricultural activities. The collaboration between MDAaRMO and CARE Ethiopia, implemented through the GROW project, addressed key barriers to women’s participation in agriculture. The project empowered women farmers by facilitating access to agricultural resources, including information, training in natural fertiliser preparation, and water harvesting techniques, with statistically significant effects (p < 0.001) that increased the frequency of agricultural production. Access to agricultural information further strengthened women’s joint and sole decision-making regarding the size of cultivated land and crop selection. Sensitisation activities on income rights improved women’s control over household finances, with 77.3% reporting joint and 18.4% sole decision-making on household consumption, while 78.1% and 23% did so for personal expenditures. Similarly, decision-making on agricultural investments rose, with 80.1% of women reporting joint and 1.3% sole authority. Moreover, Village Savings and Loan Association (VSLA) management training significantly enhanced women’s savings practices (p = 0.036). Despite challenges such as low motivation and misallocation of resources among actors, the partnership had a positive impact on women’s agricultural engagement and overall well-being. Recommendations include better alignment of incentives with outcomes, stronger accountability mechanisms, and improved task force awareness of roles and responsibilities.