Statement by the Domestic Violence Act Coalition in commemoration of International Women’s Day 2026

Today, we the members of the Domestic Violence Act Coalition, honour the women and girls of Uganda wherever they are; in our villages and cities, in markets and boardrooms, in classrooms and courts, in farms, places of worship and in our homes. The Domestic Violence Act Coalition celebrates women and girls in all their diversity: young and old, rural and urban, women with disabilities, women in the informal economy, professionals, caregivers, activists, leaders, and those whose labour often goes unseen and unrecognized.

Today, we celebrate our sisters who offered themselves as candidates in the recently concluded General Elections. You demonstrated courage, leadership, and commitment to shaping the future of our nation. We honour you regardless of the outcome. We also pay special tribute to the pioneering women on whose shoulders we proudly stand, those whose legacies blaze our trails today: thank you for showing us the way.

Even amid uncertainty and shifting global and national realities, women remain the steady force sustaining families, driving community transformation and shaping Uganda’s development story. Our resilience is not accidental. It is built on generations of organizing, caregiving, innovation and leadership. 

This year’s International Women’s Day is commemorated under the theme “Give to Gain: Scaling Up Investment for the Delivery of Gender Equality and Women and Girls’ Empowerment in Uganda.” This theme reminds us that gender equality will not be achieved through intention alone. “Give to Gain” in this moment means more than charity. It emphasizes the power of reciprocity and collective responsibility for advancing the rights and well-being of women and girls. It means calling out stereotypes, challenging discrimination and questioning bias. It means sharing our knowledge and encouragement and celebrating women’s success.

Give to gain means contributing for women and girls to thrive. It means allocating sufficient public resources to gender-responsive services and strengthening systems that actually prevent and respond to Gender-Based Violence (GBV). It means ensuring quality and equitable education and healthcare, and ensuring women’s meaningful participation in economic and political life. It means building social protection mechanisms to reach women in their different realities. It means recognizing, reducing and redistributing women’s unpaid care work for more productivity. It means strengthening legal protections to secure women’s land and property rights. It also means expanding women’s access to gender-responsive agricultural financing, and investing in climate-resilient and agroecological farming practices. It means recognizing the hard work of women’s organizations who contribute to the economy and development, but often operate on the margins of funding priorities. It means creating an enabling environment where women entrepreneurs can access credit, markets and navigate value chains with minimal difficulty.

Uganda’s journey toward gender equality has been shaped by investments from Government, civil society, development partners, cultural and religious institutions and communities themselves. Through progressive legal and policy frameworks, increased access to education for girls, women’s participation in leadership, economic and decision-making spaces, and growing advocacy against Gender-Based Violence, we have witnessed tangible gains.

Women are increasingly occupying positions of influence in public life, with 45% of women in cabinet.^[1]More girls are staying in school and transitioning to higher levels of education, with 61% from primary to secondary, and girls make up 44% of the total enrolment.^[2]  Women are shaping national discourse, influencing legal policy reforms such as the Succession Act, Cap 268, which now recognizes girls as heiresses. These gains did not happen by chance; they are a result of sustained voice, investment, solidarity and unwavering commitment.

Uganda has also made important commitments to advancing women’s rights through constitutional guarantees, national policies and international obligations under instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Maputo Protocol. This year’s International Women’s Day calls attention to “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls, reminding us that investment is the bridge between intention and progress. Women’s rights must be tangible, not rhetorical, and action must be sustained, not seasonal.

Too often these commitments are undermined by underfunding, fragmented implementation and limited gender accountability. While Uganda’s legal and policy frameworks affirm equality, implementation gaps persist, leaving many women to experience rights as promises deferred rather than protections guaranteed. Across the country, women and girls continue to face structural and social barriers that limit their access to land, education, healthcare, decent work, political participation and freedom from violence. Only 26% of registered land in Uganda is women-owned, and yet women and girls provide more than 75% of farm labour, produce 70% to 75% of the country’s food, and contribute over 90% of farm-level primary agricultural processing[3]. What a sad irony. Maternal mortality remains high at 189 deaths per 100,000 live births^[4]; and Uganda’s rate of teenage pregnancy, standing at 26% is the highest in East Africa[5]. It is also estimated that 95% of Ugandan women and girls aged 15 and above have experienced physical, sexual, psychological violence at the hands of their partners and non-partners.^[6] Gender equality cannot be a “vote item” in policy documents while remaining an unfunded priority in national and local budgets. If we are serious about improving the lives of women and girls, investment must match ambition.

As we celebrate progress, we must also recognize that advancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment requires a shift from token inclusion to structural transformation, from pilot projects to nationwide implementation, and from symbolic representation to real decision-making power. Justice must extend beyond statutes and courtrooms and be reflected in the everyday realities of women’s lives: in households where unpaid care work is shared more equitably, in markets where women can access capital and opportunities, in institutions where girls are encouraged to lead, and in communities where violence is neither normalized nor silenced.

We therefore call upon all stakeholders to take decisive action:

1. We call upon the Government to recommit to its constitutional obligations relating to the rights of women and girls and to prioritise gender equality in fiscal planning and accountable use of resources.
2. We call upon state and non-state actors to fully respect the rights and freedoms of women in civil, political, economic and social spaces. We urge security agencies to exercise their mandate with professionalism and accountability, particularly in protecting women human rights defenders and young women activists.
3. We urge the Parliament of Uganda to urgently fast-track legal reform processes to provide for universal legal aid, and to amend discriminatory laws in order to fully protect women’s rights. This includes, but is definitely not limited to, the enactment of the National Legal Aid Bill 2022, the Marriage Bill, 2024, and the Sexual Offences Bill, 2024.
4. We urge leaders across the spectrum to reject all forms of Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), hate speech and harmful rhetoric. Good leadership must model respect, tolerance and peaceful co-existence.
5. We call upon all development partners whose work supports the advancement of women’s rights, to align their support and funding to sustain long-term commitments to gender equality.
6. We call upon cultural and religious institutions, men and boys, families, communities, and all citizens to stand in solidarity with women and girls to: challenge harmful social norms, condemn violence, and create safe spaces for women to report violence and seek support and redress.

As the Domestic Act Coalition, we reaffirm our commitment to the women and girls of this country: to calling out violations, to amplifying voices whose dignity is threatened and to advocating for gender accountability. Protecting women’s dignity is not optional; it is a constitutional obligation, a moral duty and a prerequisite for sustainable peace and development.

On this International Women’s Day, we call for bold, measurable and sustained action. Let us move beyond declarations and demonstrate commitment through resources, reforms and accountability. A nation that safeguards the rights of its women and girls, safeguards its future. Let us give intentionally of our budgets, our influence, our solidarity and our leadership, so that Uganda may truly gain a future grounded in equality, justice and shared prosperity for all.

FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY

[1] https://www.parliament.go.ug/page/uganda-women-parliamentary-association-uwopa

[2] NDP IV

[3] Closing the Potential-Performance Divide in Ugandan Agriculture: Fact Sheet, World Bank 2018

[4] ‘Ending Preventable Maternal Death,’ UNFPA in Uganda 2026

[5] Uganda Demographic Health Survey (UDHS, 2022)

[6] UBOS National Survey on Violence in Uganda 2021