“We were like squirrels against an elephant,” says Margaret Kagole of the Mbibo Zikadde Women’s Group in Uganda. “The oil officials destroyed our crops, driving through with tractors, graders, wires and trucks.”
Kagole is one of many women in the country impacted by oil companies beginning exploration activities on their land without the free, prior and informed consent of the community.
In 2006, Uganda discovered an estimated 6.5 billion barrels of crude oil in its Albertine Graben region. Since then, government negotiations with oil companies seeking access to land for oil exploration, as well as the construction of roads and an airport, have been opaque with minimal public scrutiny. Development projects, supported by the government, have been characterized by displacement, forced migration, low compensation rates, violence, land degradation, loss of livelihoods, and increased military presence to ‘protect’ oil workers and installations.
It is women and girls who are carrying the costs. Pre-existing gender inequalities have led to an unequal division of labour, in which women take primary responsibility for subsistence and care, receiving little state support and investment. Nearly 73% of Ugandan households engage in subsistence farming and women represent three-quarters of the agricultural force.
But despite women bearing the heaviest burden as primary farmers, they own only 7% of land and are marginalized in any decision-making on how the land is used. The lack of land-ownership means women do not benefit from compensation packages offered by infrastructure developments.
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Sostine Namanya Bwailisa Christine | Radio Free (2021-03-07T06:00:05+00:00) How Uganda’s ecofeminists are fighting back against oil-industry land grabs. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2021/03/07/how-ugandas-ecofeminists-are-fighting-back-against-oil-industry-land-grabs/
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