An anyaka…I’m a woman.

I am a Gender Studies major. That said, I am not a bra-burning feminist or ardent lesbian. I did, however, come to Uganda hoping to explore the cultural treatment of gender differences there.

I was prepared forthe minor harassment I experienced in Kampala, Uganda’s capital, last week. At the huge city market, vendors grabbed my arm, made kissing noises, and called out “You are so beautiful!” One even said I was his “wife.” Most of the girls on the trip bought fake weddin rings and crafted ficticious husbands to avoid such situations. But I was not prepared for the gender inequality expressed in the Ugandans closest to me, that is, within my homestay family.

Within my first few minutes at my homestay household, I clearly understood the division of labor. Young girls served the food to the men first. They woke up first to clean. Sons watched TV and daughters worked. My host mother explained how African women don’t wash their hands before their husband as a sign of respect. The family is so hospitable and kind, but this stuff just can’t be ignored.

Perhaps I’m perceiving Uganda through a limited gaze, creating gender issues where there are none because of my personal interest. But once you look at the world through a gendered lens, it’s hard to take of those transformative glasses. For example, I assumed my host sister had dropped out of college to care for the family. It turns out that she’s just on summer vacation. This fact does not at all rectify the existing gender inequality, but it does emphasize the presence of unorthodox gender ideology among Ugandans.

The boys in the group tease me, lovingly of course, for my preoccupation with gender, but I can’t ignore that, for the first time in my life, it is so strikingly “there.” Should I be satisfied with this newly discovered awareness, or should I take action? I’ve decided to attempt to change things in small ways; perhaps my presence, with loads of school books and a passport from 10,000 miles away can alter the culturally accepted view of women. Or perhaps giving the girls in the host family attention, respect, and thanks will be small gestures weakening the power of female subjugation.

There are still a lot of things I’m trying to figure out about all of this. How do you interact with a culture, particularly with an NGO, that reinforces female oppression? Further, how may this inequality affect the team dynamic? How should a visitor like myself behave in this situation? Is plucking a chicken, as I did a few days ago, tacitly condoning the gender hierarchy? Should we write off these inequalities as cultural relativism, or attempt to change them?

Apoyo,
Allie