Abstract
While parliament and other political deliberative structures have always been the preserve of men, women have nonetheless slowly entrenched into the arena. Even then, they still face discrimination not only in their descriptive representation but also in their substantive participation. Even in pro-women legislation, the inequality in relation to women’s voices is evident during deliberations in parliament. This chapter therefore adopts a qualitative and descriptive research design that includes the content analysis of the Domestic Violence Bill 2010 and interviews with Ugandan parliamentarians who participated in the parliamentary era when the bill was deliberated upon. Using the deliberative democratic theory, this chapter studies and analyses the deliberative behaviour of women parliamentarians in the Uganda parliament. The findings reveal that whereas women parliamentarians used several strategies such as continuous education and capacity building to enhance their confidence and self-esteem during deliberative sessions, women’s voices are often silenced both passively and actively by powerful male voices, and women parliamentarians must constantly and consciously navigate the patriarchal attitude and androcentric nature of parliament to get their voice heard.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahikire, J. (2004). Towards women’s effective participation in electoral processes: A review of the Ugandan experience. Feminist Africa, 3.
Ballington, J., & Karam, A. (2005). Women in parliament: Beyond numbers. International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance.
Bhalotra, S., Clots-Figueras, I., & Iyer, L. (2015). Path-breakers? Women’s electoral success and future political participation.
Boboc-Cojocaru, A. (2011). Contribution of feminism to the deliberative democracy concept of evolution. Philosophy, Social and Human Disciplines, 1.
Bohman, J., & Rehg, W. (1997). Deliberative democracy: Essays on reason and politics. MIT Press.
Brody, A. (2009). Gender and governance: Overview report (pp. 1–82).
Bulgaria, S. (2008). Accountability and voice for service delivery at the local level (UNDP regional training event developing capacities for accountability and voice) (pp. 1–27). United Nations Development Programme and IDL Group.
Castilejo, C. (2009). Women’s political participation and influence in Sierra Leone (pp. 1–32). FRIDE.
Celis, K. (2008). Substantive representation of women (and improving it) what it and should it be about? American Political Science Association, 1–24.
Chaney, P. (2006). Critical mass, deliberation, and the substantive representation of women: Evidence from the UK’s devolution Programme. Political Studies, 54(4), 691–714. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2006.00633.x
Childs, S. (2004). A feminised style of politics? Women MPS in the house of commons. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 6, 3–19. http://www.web.pdx.edu/~mev/pdf/Childs.pdf
Childs, S., & Krook, M. L. (2008). Critical mass theory and women’s political representation. Political Studies, 56, 725–736. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9248.2007.00712.x
Childs, S., & Lovenduski, J. (2012). Political representation. In The Oxford handbook of gender and politics (pp. 1–26). Oxford University Press.
Cornwall, A., & Goetz, A. M. (2005). Democratizing democracy: Feminist perspectives. Democratization, 12(5), 783–800.
Domingo, P., Holmes, R., O’Neil, T., Jones, N., Bird, K., & Larson, A. (2015). Women’s voice and leadership in decision-making assessing the evidence. Overseas Development Institute (ODI).
Dysart, S. (1994, Autumn). Barriers to Women’s participation in parliament (pp. 12–14). Canadian Parliamentary Review.
Gilligan, C. (1977). In a different voice: Women’s conceptions of self and of morality. Harvard Educational Review, 47(4), 481–517. http://sfonline.barnard.edu/sfxxx/documents/gilligan.pdf
Goold, S. D., Neblo, M. A., Kim, S. Y. H., Vries, R. D., Rowe, G., & Muhlberger, P. (2012). What is good public deliberation. Hasting Center, 24–26. https://doi.org/10.1002/hast.29
Grunenfelder, R., & Bachtiger, A. (2007). Gendered deliberation? How men and women deliberate in legislatures. Advanced Empirical Study of Deliberation, 1–27.
Harbermas, J. (1996). Between facts and norms contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy. MIT Press.
Hickerson, A., & Gastil, J. (2008). Assessing the difference critique of deliberation: Gender, emotion, and the jury experience. Communication Theory, 18, 281–303. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2008.00323.x
Inglehart, R., Norris, P., & Welzel, C. (2004). Gender equality and democracy.
IPU. (2021). Uganda Parliament. Inter-Parliamentary Union.
Kadaga, A. R. (2013). Women’s political leadership in East Africa with specific reference to Uganda. Commonwealth Secretariat.
Kanter, R. M. (1977). Men and women of the corporation (1993rd ed.). Basic Books.
Karpowitz, C. F., & Mendelberg, T. (2014). The silent sex: Gender, deliberation, and institutions. Princeton University Press.
Karpowitz, C. F., Mendelberg, T., & Shaker, L. (2012). Gender inequality in deliberative participation. American Political Science Review, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055412000329
Manin, B. (2005). Deliberation: Why we should focus on debate rather than discussion. 1–23.
Mansbridge, J. (1999). Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent “Yes”. The Journal of Politics, 61(3), 628–657.
Markham, S. (2012). Strengthening women’s roles in parliament. Parliamentary Affairs, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gss024
Markham, S. (2013). Women as agents of change: Having voice in society and influencing policy (No. 5; Women’s voice, agency and participation research series) (pp. 1–20). World Bank Institute.
Mendelberg, T. (2013). Political deliberation. In Oxford handbook of political psychology (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Mendelberg, T., Karpowitz, C. F., & Oliphant, J. B. (2014). Gender inequality in deliberation: Unpacking the Black Box of interaction. Perspectives on Politics, 12(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592713003691
Mill, J. S. (1861). Considerations on representative government. Parker, Son and Boum.
Mushemeza, E. D. (2009). Contribution of women in influencing legislation and policy formulation in Uganda (1995–2005). Africa Development, XXXIV(3 & 4), 167–206.
Musisi, N. B. (1992). Colonial and missionary education: Women and domesticity in Uganda, 1900–1945. In African encounters with domesticity. Rutgers University Press..
Muzee, H., & Endeley, J. B. M. É. (2019). “Sister Robert, sister John”: Enhancing women’s voices and gendered membership of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association. Agenda, 33(2), 22–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/10130950.2019.1615781
O’Neil, T., Foresti, M., & Hudson, A. (2007). Evaluation of citizen’s voice and accountability: Review of the Literature & Donor Approaches Report (pp. 1–78).
Paxton, P., Kunovich, S., & Hughes, M. M. (2007). Gender in politics.
Polletta, F., & Chen, P. C. B. (2013). Gender and public talk: Accounting for WOMEN’S variable participation in the public sphere. Sociological Theory, 31(4), 291–317. https://doi.org/10.1177/0735275113515172
Refki, D., Abbas, D., Avic, B., Kim, E., Berger, L., Faerman, S., & Akullo, E. (2014). Mapping the substantive representation of women in the Ugandan parliament (pp. 1–32). Center for Women in government and civil society, Rockeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University of Albany, State University of New York, Nkumba University.
Rosenberg, S. W. (2007). Rethinking the limits of democratic deliberation: The limits and potential of citizen participation. Polity, 39(3), 335–360. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.polity.2300073
Schwartz-Ziv, M. (2015). Gender and board activeness: The role of a critical mass. Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, 1–55. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1868033
Simpson, R., & Lewis, P. (2007). Voice, visibility, and the gendering of organisations. Palgrave Macmillan.
Siu, A. (2017). Deliberation and the challenge of inequality. The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 146(3), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_
Steiner, J., Bachtiger, A., Sporndli, M., & Steenbergen, M. (2004). Deliberative politics in action: Analysing parliamentary discourse. Cambridge University Press.
Stromer-Galley, J. (2007). Measuring Deliberation’s content: A coding scheme. Journal of Public Deliberation, 3(1), 1–37. http://www.publicdeliberation.net/jpd/vol3/iss1/art12
Studlar, D. T., & McAllister, I. (2001). Does a critical mass exist? A comparative analysis of Women’s legislative representation 1949–1997. American Political Science Association.
Tamale, S. (1999). When hens begin to crow: Gender and parliamentary politics in Uganda. Westview Press.
Tong, R. (1989). Liberal Feminism. In Feminist thought: A comprehensive introduction (pp. 11–38). Westview Press.
Tripp, A. M. (2000). Women & politics in Uganda. The University of Wisconsin Press.
Tschentsher, A., Bachtiger, A., Steiner, J., & Steenbergen, M. (2009). Deliberation in parliament: Research objectives and preliminary results of the Bern Center for Interdisciplinary Deliberation Studies (BIDS). Legisprudence “Legislation and Argumentation”.
Tutui, V. (2015). Theoretical models of deliberative democracy: A critical analysis. Argumentum. Journal of the Seminar of Discursive Logic, Argumentation Theory and Rhetoric, 13(2), 179–205.
UBOS. (2017). Women and men in Uganda facts and figures 2016 (p. 94). Uganda Bureau of Statistics. https://www.ubos.org/wp-content/uploads/publications/06_2018women_and__men_in_uganda_FF2016.pdf
Urbinati, N. (2000). Representation as advocacy: A study of democratic deliberation. Political Theory, 28(6), 758–786. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591700028006003
Vetten, L. (2016). Political representation makes women’s voices heard? Lessons from South Africa. Feminist Dialogue Series.
Waylen, G. (2015). Gender, institutions, and the quality of democracy: Engendering the “Crisis of Democracy”.
Wolbrecht, C., & Campbell, D. E. (2007). Leading by example: Female members of parliament as political role models. American Journal of Political Science, 51(4), 921–939.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Muzee, H. (2022). “Speak to be Heard”: Women and Deliberative Democracy in the Ugandan Parliament. In: Muzee, H., Sunjo, T.E., Enaifoghe, A.O. (eds) Democracy and Africanness. Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11248-5_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11248-5_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-11247-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-11248-5
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)