Uganda’s progress in increasing women’s representation in Parliament and Cabinet should be measured by their influence on laws, budgets and public policy, Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa has said.
Tayebwa made the remarks on Monday while leading Uganda’s delegation to the World Women Parliamentarians Forum in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The two-day forum, running from October 12 to 13 under the theme From Representation to Influence in the Decision-Making Process, brought together women parliamentarians to discuss ways of strengthening women’s participation in governance.
Tayebwa said representation was only the first step, adding that women needed to have a meaningful role in shaping decisions that affect their communities and countries. He cited figures showing that women accounted for 35 per cent of Uganda’s Parliament, with 187 of the 529 members being women. He also said women made up 49 per cent of Cabinet and held senior positions, including vice-president, prime minister and two deputy prime ministers.
However, figures published by Parliament show that Uganda’s 12th Parliament had 553 members as of September 29, 2026. The figures presented by Tayebwa used a total of 529 members, but did not explain the difference or the method used to calculate women’s representation.
Uganda has several constitutional measures aimed at increasing women’s participation in governance. These include seats reserved for district and city women representatives, as well as representation for other special-interest groups. Article 32 of the Constitution provides for affirmative action to address the disadvantages faced by groups marginalised because of gender, age, disability and other historical factors.
Tayebwa said the government had taken deliberate steps to increase women’s participation in leadership since the National Resistance Movement came to power in 1986. He also highlighted gender and equality assessments in the national budgeting process, supported by the Equal Opportunities Commission, as a way of ensuring that government programmes consider the needs of women and other disadvantaged groups.
However, he said the next step was to ensure that women could influence parliamentary committee decisions, public spending and government policies rather than simply occupy positions of leadership. He urged parliamentarians to ensure that women’s voices were reflected not only in parliamentary debates but also in decisions shaping the future of their societies.
Kenya’s delegation leader, Leah Sopiato Sankaire, said her country had yet to fully implement the constitutional requirement that no more than two-thirds of members of elective or appointive public bodies should be of the same gender. She said women remained below the required representation in Parliament by 31 seats and pointed to a proposed constitutional amendment as one of the efforts to address the gap.
Sankaire said women’s representation alone was not enough to guarantee their influence, arguing that leadership of parliamentary committees, particularly those responsible for allocating public funds, was equally important.
Parvana Valiyeva, who led Azerbaijan’s delegation, highlighted her country’s history of women’s political participation, noting that women gained the right to vote and stand for election in 1918. Azerbaijan’s government describes the country as the first in the East to grant women voting rights.
Valiyeva urged parliamentarians to ensure that women played a greater role in decisions on climate change, technology, economic development, peace and security. Mongolia’s Foreign Minister, Battsetseg Batmunkh, credited women’s continued efforts to implement the declaration adopted at the 1995 World Conference on Women in Beijing for many of the gains achieved in gender equality.
She said the progress made so far reflected the determination of women who had challenged the limitations placed on them. Despite the gains made in several countries, women remain underrepresented in national parliaments and senior parliamentary leadership worldwide.
According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, women held 27.5 per cent of seats in national parliaments as of January 1, 2026, up from 27.2 per cent a year earlier. The organisation also reported that women accounted for 19.9 per cent of parliamentary speakers, down from 23.7 per cent in the previous year.
The discussions in Mongolia focused on how parliaments can move beyond numerical representation to give women a stronger voice in decisions that affect public resources, governance and national development-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
