Story:GENDER AS A DEVELOPMENT CONCERN

. Research confirms that gender based inequality limits economic growth in Africa .there is need to deepen our understanding of gender with growth agenda. Previous effort to reduced gender inequality have largely targeted women, this has also left gaps in the fight for gender equality. This therefore calls for the integration of men and boys in gender policy. Literature from else where in sub Saharan Africa revealed that countries have gained up to 0.8 percentage point per year and in effort double per capita economic growth over the last 35 years, where gender disparities have been addressed . In east Africa Rwanda has the largest number of women in parliament, the country constitution provide for quota system. Uganda and Tanzania are ahead of Kenya. Despite the strides made in empowering women politically through affirmative action, however, it runs the risk of sideling women’s equal contribution in politics and in education more must be done to encourage a larger cohort of women to proceed to tertiary education. 70%of Africa girls don’t get secondary education yet when a girl is educate, she can earn 25%more income, 90% of which she’ll invest in her family & community. its very clear that in along run, there is a negative effect of gender inequality on growth. The problem remain that there is limited knowledge about the practical ways to address various forms of gender inequality within the context of strong growth and a rapidly growing population with more representation of women. Quota system as clearly demonstrated in Rwanda is the starting point for bridging the gender inequality gaps in leadership. Majority of people in east Africa are employed in the agricultural sector with higher representation in non wage employment. it is increasingly apparent that family heads exit the agricultural sector after secondary education and have a limited addition along value chain beyond farm production especially in Uganda. Its imperative to note that secondary education increases the production of women in all sector ,therefore there is need to ensure USE program particularly target women and post secondary education should be promoted through government scholarship . Despite the recognition that women are the weaker sex, there is need for development actors to pay attention to the contribution of those same women. The drastic change brought by the transition from a subsistence economy to a monetary economy caused adrift in traditional cultural values. It is increasingly apparent that the kind of global economy required is not supported by traditional cultural roles and responsibility. We should rethink the position of women. Many women have voluntarily started up business enterprise or farming in order to contribute to the gross family income but this has dramatically increased the already heavy burden they carry, socially psychologically and physically. There is need to increase the productivity of women .On average in Uganda , it requires 10 hours for a women to carry out the daily domestic duties and the largest amount of time is spent on walking to collect basic thing like, water ,fire wood ,and root crops from the garden. There fore the burden women face when taking on the added responsibilities is obvious. Energy saving stoves has done tremendously well in reducing the time spent on collecting fire wood, but still there is need to introduce water storage tanks and raw food storage facilities thought it’s expensive. much as the economy require them (women) to provide financially , their primary role should not be compromised and therefore these calls for sensitization strategy that should promote the potential of women to drive the economy , but not compromise the balance that exist within the family. Most interestingly, intensive farming for commercial purpose is the preferred method of farming for women especially for food crops like beans, vegetable. Government can capitalizes on this, because women productivity in monetary terms may double or even triple if they utilize smaller piece of land with high yielding crops. Gender ministry should ensure that women access technologies &inputs that allow them to use less land and more yieldiy seeds, making it automatic for the government to pass a regulation to introduce child care facilities in all working environment. Pregnant women & nursing mothers should be given the option of working half day as long as they need to do so. As Uganda and other developing countries becomes one of the villages in the global economy, there is need for special program training for women in risk taking and innovative thinking and access to business development skills