Source:AllAfrica
In the late 1990s, the United Nations defined its third Millennium Development Goal as the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.

As the UN set a number of specific and quantifiable objectives to meet such goals by the end of the past decade, observers have noted that in terms of political participation of women, such objectives have so far only been met in part.

But there are still reasons to be optimistic. The proportion of seats held by women in single or lower houses of national parliaments has risen in North Africa from three per cent in 2000 to 12 percent in 2011, making such progress the most significant worldwide.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the proportion of seats went from 13 per cent in 2000 to 20 per cent in 2011 (MDG 2011 report). Noting that women are currently holding less than 20 per cent of the seats in parliaments worldwide, the African continent does not fare too badly, especially considering that Africa has seen the fastest rate of growth in female representation in parliament [compared to] any other region of the world.

In Uganda, women participation in leadership is undoubtedly on the rise, currently estimated at 35 per cent, which is beyond the global and sub-Saharan range. If this was one of the key objectives of promoting women emancipation back then in the early 1990s, then we are on the right track.

Taking the emancipation debate to another level now, we need to look at the role of women in elections and also scrutinize whether there is a platform for female voters and candidates to express their views and ideas and raise their political profile.

Women need to be at the forefront of decision-making, starting at family level to national level; because they are, in many cases, the final consumers of social services. The burden falls on their backs to ensure sustained livelihood for their families because soon after elections, they are back to prioritizing the day-to-day operations of their homes. This is very true for rural households who are the majority of our population.

Unfortunately, such households need a helping hand to even recognize what good governance means. This can be provided by the more literate, emancipated and elite women, mostly in urban dwellings.

These, unfortunately, are the same category of women who do not value the electoral process. I am speaking now to this category of women that have benefited from the emancipation and gender equality campaign; whose hand are you holding up?

Women in Uganda are known to turn out more on polling day than men. But due to poverty, the effective participation of citizens, especially women during elections, is manipulative, many are bribed and vote without scrutinizing the manifestos and abilities of candidates.

But this can be averted if the more-enlightened women mobilize other women to actively participate in the entire electoral process, and not just jump on board at the polling station.

With the voter registration update exercise finished, women need to reawaken their zeal and interest in elections. We should all be vigilant in attending community meetings, training [programs] and dialogues on governance, starting now.

With our involvement, women will be able to participate from an informed point of view and with a clear view of where our benefits are.

Overall, our democratic process will only grow stronger and be more legitimate when we fully bring on board more diverse group such as women, the disabled, and workers. Excluding women is simply unfair because they have the population figures to support voter turnout. Uganda can also attest to cleaning its body politic because women stand up for justice and are more vocal when demanding accountability.

• Uganda