The Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Prof. Wangari Maathai has appealed to Ugandan women to concentrate of education, avoid drugs and alcohol and take advantage of opportunities so as to succeed in life.
Prof. Wangari Maathai
Wangari, also a former Kenyan deputy minister of environment says, education will open more opportunities for women and expose them to information to enable them make informed decisions.
She says avoiding alcohol and drugs will help Ugandan women live healthy lives to enable them prosper.
Like many other African countries, Uganda society remains a male dominated society and women remain exposed to many abuses like domestic violence and rape among others.
The situation is further, worsened by limited women in decision making positions and lack of economic power to enable them achieve better livelihoods. Such limitations make Ugandan women easily prone to abuses.
In spite of government policies aimed at gender equality like political representation at every level of leadership, the situation remains dire because, of the unfair cultural practices like those which ban women inheritance of family properties.
The first African woman Nobel Laureate, who was recently in Kampala to attend the International Criminal Court (ICC) Review Conference aimed at promoting gender justice also appealed to women to desist from giving up in times of disappointments and take advantage of opportunities instead of waiting for doors to open for them.