Point of Order, Mr Speaker': African women claiming their space in parliament
Tamale, Sylvia
Tamale, Sylvia
Citations
Altmetric:
Titre
Publication date
2000-11-01
Document type
Journal article
Pages
8
Author(s)
Advisors
Editor(s)
Other Contributors
Affiliation
ePub Date
Submitted date
Subject
Local subject classification
MeSH
Keywords
Country
Collections
Description
At the close of the millennium, there is a wave of invigorating air sweeping across the African continent. The refreshing breeze can be felt in the form of women smashing the gendered 'glass ceiling' in a bid to overcome the cultural and structural barriers that impede their political careers. In this short article, I examine the relationship of African women to parliament. In the first section, I look at women's involvement in politics in pre-colonial Africa, and then examine the barriers to women's political activity thrown up by colonialism. This history explains much about women's absence from contemporary African national assemblies. I then focus on one state - Uganda - looking closely at the policy of affirmative action there, and the reality of male bias, prejudice, and sexual harassment that women MPs confront when they manage to enter parliament.
This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis. For the full table of contents for this and previous issues of this journal, please visit the <a href="http://www.genderanddevelopment.org">Gender and Development</a> website.
Language
English
Other Titles
Abstract
Citation
Journal
Gender & Development
Journal Theme
Women and Leadership
Volume
8
Issue
3
Research Unit
Table of contents
Series
ISSN
1355-2074
EISSN
1364-9221