The paper looks at the ways in which power and politics shape the realisation of
women’s rights and gender equity in Ugandan state policy adoption and implementation.
The key question explored is around the nature of political power and its influence on
gender policy incentives in terms of adoption and implementation. The argument is
structured around the politics of recognition – recognition referring to what has been
made possible in the form of gender-sensitive policy outcomes, the incentives for the
different courses of action, and what influences the ability of the political system to
channel women’s interests and representation into effective policy formulation and
implementation. This question is explored by investigating the progress of two policy
agendas, namely the Domestic Violence Act of 2010 and the promotion of girls’
education within the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy instituted in 1997.