Misogyny manifests itself in all cultures and in all levels of society, and is often accompanied by physical abuse of women and girls. It is deeply rooted and often sanctioned by religion and custom. From an early age, girls are indoctrinated with a sense of their own low worth and an expectation of continuous male control and abuse.

There’s a story attached to the birth of Lord Krishna, the presiding deity of the pantheon of Hindu gods. Krishna’s maternal uncle, Kamsa, decided to kill all his sister’s babies when the gods told him that his sister’s child would overthrow his cruel regime and kill him.

We live in a world where societal norms leave women in subordinate positions, and where women are valued less than men. Men’s power over women increases women’s vulnerability to both violence and HIV.

Recent reports on the Islamic regime of Iran’s crackdown on women who are ‘badly’ veiled (bad-hejab) and their resistance to the regime’s campaign of arrest and harassment has been reported quite extensively in comparison to other similar events over the years.

She was dragged out of her house, her head held in a headlock. For just a second a close up of her face showed it distorted by fear, her eyes wild. There was shouting from the crowd – a sense of pandemonium. The raised fist clutching a rock dissolved in a blur of motion as the cell-phone video lost focus. You could only imagine the fury with which she was attacked.

In 2002 a Pakistani woman, Mukhtaran Bibi, was very publicly gang-raped as a result of a semi-judicial decision by a tribal council in her village. Her case happened to be reported, first in the local press and then worldwide. Readers were horrified. Unfortunately, this was not an isolated case of appalling abuse of women in Pakistan. What were exceptional were the publicity and the victim’s eventual reaction to what had happened to her.

The International Campaign in Defense of Women’s Right in Iran- UK, the National Secular Society and the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association present a seminar for International Women's Day, Women’s Rights, the Veil and Islamic and religious laws in London, UK on 8 March 2007.

The Ugandan Humanist Effort to Save Women (UHESWO) was inaugurated by the former president of IHEU Levi Fragell and IHEU’s International Representative Babu Gogineni on 17th June, 2006 in Kampala, Uganda.

On that day, UHESWO members focussed on Violation of Women’s Rights in Uganda. The speakers looked at how women’s rights are abused by governments, cultures and religions.

Deo Ssekitoleko, the chairperson of UHASSO, spoke on the need to cultivate all the four H’s of Humanism: Human Rights, Human Dignity, Human Reason and Human Potential. “A Humanist has her rights hence, should respect other people’s rights. She has to respect herself then others will respect her. She should always be able to reason. She has the potential to do everything.”

VIOLATION OF RIGHTS AT WORK

Segregation in Occupation

Though the country is trying to promote and empower women, the gap is still wide when it comes to job opportunities e.g. the recent appointment of ministers in government: out of sixty nine ministers only fourteen are women which is 20% women representation. In 2003, Uganda ratified ILO convention No. 100 of 1951 on equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value and also Convention III of 1958 which promotes equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation, as a means to eliminate all discrimination. But when it comes to implementation the problem remains.

World Summit Commits to Universal Access to Reproductive Health by 2015

The largest ever gathering of world leaders resolved in September to achieve universal access to reproductive health by 2015, promote gender equality and end discrimination against women, at a recent three-day World Summit.

They adopted the Summit Outcome recommended by the General Assembly and will integrate the goal of access to reproductive health into national strategies to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to end poverty, reduce maternal death, promote gender equality and combat HIV/AIDS.