Women’s Rights in Uganda

794 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The status of women in our society

Uganda is a small country in Africa with a population of 23,000,000 people. Most people live in very poor, rural areas and almost all of them live in poverty. Their families make less than 60,000 shillings, which is equivalent to $34.00 in America. Most of these families cannot afford to support some of their younger children, so they place them in orphanages. Currently one in twelve Ugandan children live in orphanages. Although the orphanages are funded by the government and parents pay a small amount for their children, most of them do not have enough food, medical supplies, or clothing for the children. Some families don’t have enough money to pay the orphanages and so they force their children to live on the streets, work in the public dumps to find food, or sell them into sex trafficking.
Those who sacrifice to keep their children often run into financial issues, so when their daughters start their menstrual cycle they will often sell their daughters to provide for their other children. When daughters are sold they are forced to marry whoever has purchased them. The girls who are typically between the ages of twelve to nineteen, but the men who buy these young girls are old. A fourteen-year-old girl named Betty said “My father brought a man who was old enough to be my father and told me to go with him in order to get some food. When I arrived at his home he told me he had already paid a dowry for me so I am his wife” (Plan Uganda, 1).
Young women who are forced into marriage usually have little to no say on what rights they have, and their husbands take advantage of that. If these women do not want to have sex with them, they think it is their right so they rape them. As the girls have no rights and are seen as their husban...

... middle of paper ...

...f our business. I disagree. As human beings we are responsible to help others even if they live in a different country or across a border. We need to help to these girls by forming relief groups, creating schooling programs which help these girls to say in school, and supporting them to graduate. We also need to help them to become independent and strong. There are many programs out there founded to help these girls, but you can never have too many. We can help them to become their own people, with rights to live a life without abuse.

Works Cited
"Plan Uganda." Plan Uganda. Ed. Plan Staff. Plan USA Charity, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Hueler, Hilary. "Ugandan Marriage Bill Pits Women's Rights Against Tradition." Voice of America (VOA). Voice of America (VOA), n.d. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.
Thompson, Janette. "Women's Rights in Uganda." Personal interview. 13 Mar. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Rape - The Plague of the Modern World

    2187 Words  | 5 Pages

    Rape is a virus that infects every nation, culture and society. It is constantly referred to as “the unfinished murder”, because of the deep state of despair the rapist leaves the victim in. There is no common identifiable trend that determines who will be a rape victim. Women are not assaulted because of their attitudes or actions, they are attacked simply because they are present. With rapists, just as with their victims, there is no identifiable trend. The old myth that only “sick, dirty, old, perverted men” commit rapes is a lie that society tells itself in order to sleep better at night. The startling truth is that most rapists work under a veil of normalcy. In order for the percentage of rapes to decrease, we have to change our ideas about rape and let go of the old myths of the past. And until this happens, rape will continue to plague our world at large.

    Read More

  • Resilience in Northern Kenya: A Village's Struggle

    2204 Words  | 5 Pages

    In Northern Kenya a small village of Sudanese refugees have made a makeshift village, which has served as their permanent housing for the past twenty years. This village displays the kind of poverty that is predictably featured in Time Magazine on a semi-regular basis: mud walls are adorned by straw roofs, ribs can be easily counted on shirtless bodies, flour is a resource precious enough to be rationed, and a formidable desert can be seen in all directions. What do you see when you look at this village? Do you see a primitive society, struggling to survive in a world that has long made struggling for survival antiquated, do you see the cost of western colonialism, do you see a people deprived of the dignity of humanity, do you just

    Read More

  • Child Soldiers: Kill or Be Killed

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    Raffaele, Paul. "Uganda: The Horror." Smithsonian (Vol. 35, No. 11). Feb. 2005: 90-99. SIRS Issues

    Read More

  • Rape Culture

    1619 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rape is non-consensual sexual intercourse that a male performs against a woman whom he is neither married to or cohabiting with. The definition of rape changes by geographic location. In some countries a woman must prove she is pure in order to find the perpetrator guilty. Rape used to be more of a violation to the man than to the women. It was a violation of the man’s rights if his wife or girlfriend was raped. When a woman is raped her devotion to her family is questioned. Rape is a violent act, an act of possession, not a sexual act. The myth that men who rape women are sexually pathological has begun to be dispelled and replaced with an understanding that rape is an act of anger, power and control rather than lust.

    Read More

  • Choosing Life: Lauren's Unplanned Journey to Motherhood

    1186 Words  | 3 Pages

    To begin, many women who become pregnant by rape have an abortion, “29 percent had an abortion” (.......). These women were not ready to commit to a lifelong commitment of having children. Abortion is a quick way to forget about the situation and never have to face it again in the future. Many women who become pregnant through rape are not financially or emotionally stable to care for a child. For instance, women make a decision of abortion “that they cannot raise a child at the moment” (.......). Women who simply don’t have the time or money to raise a child often spares the child’s life so they can continue their life without the unwanted struggle of a child. Women who are raped and become pregnant did not get the freedom of choice, so they feel entitled of the choice to have the baby or

    Read More

  • Sexual Victimization of Women

    1171 Words  | 3 Pages

    It was once acceptable for men to have full control over women, declaring when they will marry and when they will have children. However, over the past centuries, women have established a place in society, proving themselves much more than someone's property. This is why the word “rape” today is not taken lightly. According to findlaw.com, “Rape generally refers to non-consensual sexual intercourse that is committed by physical force, threat of injury, or other duress.” When one does not give consent to sex, it is considered a felony, possibly putting the rapist in jail. Contrary to sexual assault, “Sex is reified as penile-vaginal intercourse while an extremely diverse group of pleasurable and sexually stimulating activities are dismissively relegated to the category of foreplay...” (Reinholtz, Muehlenhard, Phelps, & Satterfield, 1995.) Although consented sexual intercourse is much more out in the open and accepted in society, the problem of rape is still very relevant behind the scenes.

    Read More

  • Controversy Surrounding Marital Rape

    1691 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marital rape is the act of forced sex with one’s wife without her consent. It is considered as a form of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Although till the recent past, sexual intercourse within married couples was considered a fundamental right of the either party, however engaging in the act of sexual intercourse without the wife’s or spouse’s consent is now considered unlawful and criminal. Marital Rape is now recognized criminal by many societies and governments around the world, rejected by international social organizations and has been increasingly criminalized. The growing cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse within marriage and the in the family have attracted public attention globally.

    Read More

  • Poverty in Uganda

    1081 Words  | 3 Pages

    The overriding challenge Uganda faces today is the curse of poverty. Poverty, ‘the lack of something”(“Poverty.”), something can be materials, knowledge, or anything one justifies as necessary to living. Associated with poverty is the question of what causes poverty and how to stop poverty? The poverty rate in Uganda has declined from the year 2002 from the year 2009, which shows the percent of residents living in poverty has decreasing. Yet, the year is 2014 and the poverty rate could have drastically changed over the course of five years. One could assume the poverty rate would continue to decrease, which would be astounding and beneficial, but does poverty ever decrease enough to an acceptable level or even nonexistence? Poverty is a complex issue that continues to puzzle people from all across the globe. Poverty could possible be a question that is never truly answered.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Lack of Education and Poverty

    1912 Words  | 4 Pages

    Poverty extends out over all continents, making it the most widespread negative factor. Out of the world’s 2.2 billion children, approximately half live in poverty according to UNICEF. Poverty claims approximately 22,000 children’s lives per day. This statistic illustrates the struggle children that live in poverty must face in order to survive. Poverty is a root cause of hunger, disease, and lack of shelter. It is concentrated in pockets in areas such as South Africa and South Asia. Children, who must...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Health Care In Uganda

    1345 Words  | 3 Pages

    Health care is among the worst situation in Uganda, it is to a great degree troublesome of the population who make low wages to get the advantages of health services. The measure of physicians in Uganda is low and a large portion of the ill are not getting treated by any means. There is around four physicians for each 100,000 individuals. Health facilities must charge for treatment that most people cannot pay for it, so they turn to conventional medicine. People tend to defer treatment to a great extent because it can increase costs and escalate illness, which may result in death.

    Read More

  • Child Brides and Marriage

    1205 Words  | 3 Pages

    For the duration of time, society perceives men as superior, which infused to their cultural aspect in life. Society instilled male dominance to the minds of young children, imposing a role each sex must play. Girls are slaves of society, submitting to men as their master. And child brides are a perfect way to exhibit patriarchy society (Ludden). The young girl would be married off to take care of her own family, crippling them in attaining an education and getting a job. Girls were not meant to work (Radu). It is also said that the purpose of marrying off girls young was to keep their attractiveness. Roberta Radu says, “'Virginity is an "asset" that families customarily trade for substantial sums of money, so marriage is arranged as early as possible in order to preserve the girl's "desirability". Out of all of these inducements money was the biggest factor. Parents would arrange their daughter marriage due to poverty. The bride’s family would receive a dowry, basically trading girls for money. Again, girls were burdens and the parents used child marriage as a relief...

    Read More

  • Effects Of Rape On Women

    1146 Words  | 3 Pages

    Webster’s Dictionary describes rape as the crime of forcing another person to submit to sex acts, especially sexual intercourse. Rape is a crime in which most women cannot defend themselves. The fear of rape plagues every woman at some point or another in her life. The traumatic effects of rape vary from mild to severe, from psychological to physical. This paper will evaluate rape, as well as the effects it has on women, the theory behind male dominance and patriarchy, and differences in demographics.

    Read More

  • Marital Rape

    1179 Words  | 3 Pages

    Society’s view of rape is that it only occurs at night to women in dark alleys by men they have never seen or met before. In reality there are two types of rape in which the victim knows the attacker. One of these is known as Acquaintance rape and the other being marital rape. All forms of rape have long term impacts on the victims, for a victim of acquaintance rape they can feel especially shameful if the attacker was a relative or superior at school or work. For victims of marital rape the assaults can be violent including verbal and physical abuse. In marital rape do to the fact the victim is married to their attacker it can lead to displacement, divorce, and codependency.

    Read More

  • Solution Essay: What Makes People Want To Rape?

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    What is it that makes people want to rape? What does the rapist get out of it? Do they like to see the person in pain, the fear in the victim’s eyes, the screams, to see the victim cry and beg? No-one will ever know the answers to these questions. Rape is a serious crime that needs to be spoken about more. A lot of victims do not report or speak about the incident. Society sees rape and sexual abuse as a taboo subject and it makes people very uncomfortable when mentioned or talked about, especially women who have dealt with this crime.

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Marital Rape

    1468 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the United States, marital rape has been illegal since 1993. Twenty years later though, 33 of our states’ legal systems still consider marital rape a lesser crime where the attacker will usually be charged with only domestic violence instead of rape. This type of nonchalant attitude from society towards such a serious issue stems from a long history with the idea of a male dominance stance in the world and the women’s place in society and marriage. It is a common belief that once married, a woman gives up the right to her body to her husband. The oldest and most ...

    Read More

More about Women’s Rights in Uganda

Open Document