Gendered citizenship in rural Uganda : Localized, exclusive and active

Abstract

This chapter scrutinizes ways in which practices of citizenship are embedded and interwoven in local contexts and existing power relations. It draws from a participatory qualitative study conducted in two districts, Kiboga and Namutumba, in Uganda. The chapter discusses experiences and perceptions of gendered citizenship articulated by rural inhabitants, both women and men, who had previously participated in some activities of a Uganda gender-advocacy NGO, Action for Development (ACFODE). Our analysis has showed that Ugandan women, especially in rural communities, are struggling with discrepancies between entitlements granted in government legislation and social controls exercised in everyday life. Women’s everyday experiences, habits and practices are rooted in the local context and the possibility of their active citizenship is locally contested through self and community exclusion. Nevertheless, localized women practices can reduce the gap between habits and status and create spaces for change in lived experiences. These changes might not represent radical transformations in gendered citizenship, but they do constitute a disruption and trigger incremental change in these habits. In conclusion, we argue that from the perspective of habits and lived experience, citizenship, in rural communities in Uganda, appears gendered, contested and contradictory, but nevertheless includes possibilities for reformulation of habits.