Africa-Press – Uganda. Gender inequality is costing government billions of shillings, according Equal Opportunities Commission.
Equal Opportunities Commission puts the loss in relations to gross domestic product north of $67m (Shs252b) among sub-Saharan Africa countries, of which Uganda is inclusive.
In a presentation made during a dialogue on gender equality and women’s empowerment financing, Ms Safia Nalule Jjuuko, the Equal Opportunities Commission chairperson, said resource allocation towards gender and equity interventions has been reducing, declining to Shs9.4b from Shs9.8b in the 2019/20 financial year, which continues to be the trend across other gender equity interventions, yet there is growing need for support of women businesses.
Therefore, she said, there is need to ensure that programmes such as the Parish Development Model are properly implemented, given that they have the potential to support small scale businesses, drive economic recovery, enhance household income and ensure food security.
Gender inequality in Uganda, just like elsewhere across sub-Saharan Africa, remains a huge challenge, costing governments billions of shillings.
According to the Uganda National Household Survey 2019/20, at least eight out of 10 females, which represents about 80 percent, spend 10 hours or more engaged in unpaid care work such as child and home care, which “negatively impact their time for productive work while those who work, especially in agriculture, lack access to capital and inputs, which explains massive failure to scale up production.
Ms Judith Mutabazi, the National Planning Authority acting manager, population and social sector planning, said majority of women are locked up in small scale agriculture with limited value addition.
The gender gap, she noted, is worsened by low access to financing to improve their business, many of whom are in agriculture.
Experts have also argued that there is need to boost agricultural budgeting, given that majority of women are employed in the sector.
Government has been reducing agricultural related allocations, with the agro-industrialisation budget reduced from Shs1.6 trillion to Shs1.3 trillion next year.
Mr Julius Mukunda, the CSBAG executive director, said beyond scaling women businesses women and girls need to participate in governance and the economy, noting that there is need to ring-fence funds for women enterprise.
This, he said, will be key in the achievement of SDGs that are dependent on achieving gender equality.
Resource reduceduction
Resource allocation towards gender and equity issues has been reducing, declining to Shs9.4b from Shs9.8b in the 2019/20 financial year.
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