This week, Uganda passed a “sexual offences” law that entrenches the colonial-era prohibition of same-sex relations and sex work, criminalises “false rape allegations” and threatens ‘revenge porn’ victims with prison sentences.
These reforms divided Uganda’s human rights movement from the start, and even had some support from women’s groups. The passage of the new law shows how ‘proper woman’ politics won over feminist solidarity – and what needs to change to reverse this damaging trend.
A sexual offences bill was first tabled in 2015 by Monicah Amoding, an MP who was elected to parliament to represent women as a special interest group, and had the support of the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association and UN Women. Supporters of the bill from within Uganda’s women’s movement argued that it was “gender-sensitive” and would bring progressive new protections into Ugandan law.
