Women and children continue to be marginalized

Kalerwe Market in the north of Kampala city is a bustling open space. It is crowded, messy and noisy.

Located between two busy city roads — the Gayaza-Kampala Road and the Northern Bypass, both of which are full of vehicles on their way to northern Uganda, South Sudan and the DR Congo — the market is always packed with people.

The vegetables, fruit and farm produce are either spread out in makeshift stalls or on the bare ground of the reclaimed swamp near the Kalerwe River Tunnel. Nobody seems to care about these conditions. The farm produce at this market is fresh and it is cheaper than the produce at other city markets. The traders also appear to be making money.

Amidst this hustle and bustle, women attend to their children, who accompany them to work. However, the 1942 Markets Act doesn’t allow the presence of children in markets.

But where is a poor single mother who earns just enough to get her through the day supposed to leave her toddler? She can’t afford daycare or a nanny.

With the help of the Institute for Social Transformation (IST), an international NGO that aims to turn women into leaders and agents of their own destiny, some market women have set up an arrangement whereby they leave their children in a rented space that they each contribute towards. The women then take turns checking on the children. But the Markets Act and the never-ending land disputes in the city markets continue to cause problems.

The work that IST does with market women involves training in advocacy, organizational leadership, and rights and power. The women push for action on everyday things such as the availability of bathrooms and childcare facilities in the markets.

IST is doing a good job. But, ultimately, the Markets Act is outdated. It has to be revised to help cater for everyone’s needs, as women and children continue to be marginalized in these places.