GENDER AND HOUSING DEVELOPMENT IN THE LOW INCOME SUBURBS OF JINJA MUNICIPALITY, UGANDA
Henry Manyire
Abstract: This study attempted to determine the nature and relative importance of the socio-cultural and economic factors that facilitated or impeded men and women's engagement in urban housing development. It also attempted to determine the differences between the factors that posed obstacles to men's and women's engagement in the development and how gender interacted with other socio-institutional phenomena, especially ethnicity, marital status, age and education in influencing women's capacity to engage in urban housing development. Finally, the study tried to identify the adaptive strategies adopted by men and women to facilitate their participation in urban housing development. The study used primary and secondary data as well as quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis.
The findings of the study revealed that urban housing development is as much an economic as it is a social process with a complex set of values, traditions, norms and beliefs governing engagement therein, especially by women. The social process part permeated the interrelated economic components of housing such as land, finance, building materials, construction technology and labour. Although the proportion of men to women house owners who had inherited and purchased land on which they had built was nearly similar, there were gender differences in the modes of inheritance and obstacles met in purchasing. Men inherited largely by virtue of birthright while women inherited more through participation in the social institutions of marriage and through working unpaid mostly for female relatives who later rewarded them with land. The mode of inheritance notwithstanding, the women's ability to inherit land was facilitated in the Soga and Ganda cultures, which are less resistant to the institution of women's inheritance.
Some women who purchased land met resistance from spouses who felt their masculine identity threatened by the women's supposed assertion of independence - epitomized by buying land. Other women were also discouraged from purchasing urban land by friends and kin who used discouraging techniques such as labelling women who purchase land as prostitutes who had broken off their rural roots. Both men and women relied heavily on personal savings for the acquisition of building materials and labour, but a larger proportion of women relied on rentals and they built in phases, tending to occupy or rent out their houses when they were only partially completed. Women non-owners were less confident of their capacity to engage in urban housing development than their male counterparts. Women non-owners were also significantly less knowledgeable of housing development structures and processes, e.g., plots of land for sale and where to obtain building permits. Further, women significantly under-utilized housing development institutions such as the Housing Finance Co. (U) Ltd. although statistics showed that these institutions did not discriminate against women.
Both the house owners and the non-owners cited finance as a major obstacle in urban housing development. However, the gendered social structures, processes and relations embedded in housing development and the wider socio-economy gave rise to women's lack of housing finance and other resources, e.g., determination, knowledge and contacts requisite for participation therein, and posed further obstacles even when the women had assembled those resources. Hence, new approaches that could increase women's engagement in urban housing development are needed. Raising the consciousness of the public to the gender inequities and their socio-institutional roots would be a key step in the right direction. Initiating public debate through the print and electronic media and through community and family initiatives is recommended. The government should purchase land and sell it to the urban poor at favourable prices with long-term repayment conditions. Subsidized interest rate housing finance should also be arranged and channelled through Community Based Organizations and NGOs targeting the poor, especially women. Finally, legal advice and housing construction support services should be initiated and provided to women who seek to engage in urban housing development.
Workplace conditions for male and female teaching professionals in primary schools, secondary schools and colleges were analysed to assess whether the profession favours men over women, whether male and female teachers differ in their affective orientation toward work and whether they differ in their valuation of workplace conditions. The results showed that moderate levels of discrimination in recruitment characterize the teaching profession. Group mean comparisons utilising t-tests showed that, although both men and women reported moderate levels of discrimination, female teachers were significantly higher in reporting discrimination during hiring but equal to men in discrimination in the workplace.
Results for gender differences in workplace conditions showed that female teachers substantially differ from men only in eight of 19 workplace conditions analysed. Female teachers were significantly lower in upward communication and task significance (the intrinsic rewards); in pay (extrinsic reward) and in grievance procedures (social support condition) but substantially higher in the four stresses of work overload, role ambiguity, role conflict and sexual harassment. Women were also higher in participation in decision-making. Concerning affective orientations toward work, female teachers were substantially lower in job satisfaction but higher in organizational commitment and intent to stay in the teaching profession. Overall, both males and females were shown to value workplace conditions highly. It was concluded that, although women teaching professionals do not encounter high levels of disadvantages in their jobs, they are not yet equal partners with their male counterparts.
The study investigates the working conditions of women employees in the informal sector in Kampala, Uganda, by examining the nature of the employee-employer relationships. Data were collected mainly through unstructured interviews, in-depth interviews with key respondents and through observations. Additional data were collected from secondary sources such as textbooks and newspapers. The study has discovered that such factors as age, marital status, education levels, the social system of extended families and the government attitude towards the informal sector to be the major factors influencing the employees’ conditions. The study recommends that policy makers should design laws that offer workers of the informal sector some measure of protection against exploitation.