Thelma Awori
Uganda
I believe in the rights of women to be all they can possibly be, their right to happiness, to
control the fruits of their labour and to control their bodies.
I live in Uganda and work across the continent of Africa in various countries.
I use my expertise as an adult educator to raise people’s political consciousness
around gender and macro economic injustice that would ultimately see
them organising to challenge it. I am also a trained facilitator and work as
a consultant to facilitate meetings and conferences, training workshops and
other large and small gatherings.
I call myself a feminist because I am staunch believer in justice for women and
the validity of women’s perspectives. I am dedicated to giving visibility to this
knowledge of women, particularly the knowledge of women leaders in rural
areas on the practice of leadership. I believe in the rights of women to be all
they can possibly be, their right to happiness, to control the fruits of their labour
and to control their bodies.
In my work I have sadly found an extremely high prevalence of internalised
oppression due to religion and socialisation. Supporting women and men in
becoming conscious of their own rights and responsibilities is an important
strategy to ensure that we enlist men as allies and activists in this struggle for
social justice. This will allow men to unlearn or become conscious of the effects
of their privilege and power on women. I find that when they do, there is some
change but their comfort with their innate indulgence of self-occupation is a
major hindrance to change.
I think that African feminists, like feminist in other parts of the world, face
the biggest challenge of the hegemony of patriarchy. Helping women at the
community level become aware of this hegemony is very important. A fresh
struggle to overcome new manifestations of patriarchy is constantly beginning;
and it seems a matter of perpetuity. Another challenge is to popularise feminism
by building the mass frontline of grassroots women who are feminists. The third
challenge is a dearth of literature on African feminism that keeps a public
discourse moving in tandem with the hegemony of patriarchy. Most feminists
are overworked and have little time to reflect or theorize on their experiences.
Secondly, the oral tradition has not been easy to break. We can address
some of these challenges by popularising the feminist movement, give grants
for publishing on feminism and for theorizing on experience and hold writers
workshops on feminism and publish the outputs.
I am deeply committed to work intensively at the grassroots, experimenting
and learning how to help grassroots women do feminist activism, how to be
clear about their agenda, the importance of having an agenda and going
after it until results are evident. Sometimes it seems like extracting teeth with
the bare hands. Other times, when the situation is poignantly critical, it works.
It is however baffling why the daily oppression of women is not sufficiently
upsetting and heart-rending to catapult women into action.
Activism is time consuming and rural women are overburdened. Rural women
inspire me. They are the passion of my life and I will do everything and
anything for their empowerment. Their knowledge and expertise are crying
for a receptive ear, for powerful questions that will unearth and challenge
their wisdom.
VPS II
. 17