Interview
Interview with Maude Mugisha
Guest : MAUDE MUGISHA, Coordinator, The Eastern African
Sub-Regional Support Initiative for the Advancement of Women (EASSI)
Title: The work of EASSI
Journalist: Saba Syed
Program: Hersay
Medium : Radio station CKUT 90.3 FM
Date: November 7, 2001, 6 p.m.
Interview with Maude mugisha (extract)
SABA SYED:
Maude, I want to ask you any general or personal thoughts on how you think women are progressing now in Eastern Africa or in the world in general.
MAUDE MUGISHA:
If I focus on East Africa, I think that we have made strides both in politics and other areas of life, although we have also had constraints. In some countries, there is support, like in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda. Those countries are very supportive to women. We find that women are progressing. They are getting into positions of decision-making. But you also find that some other countries are not very supportive to women, like Kenya and Ethiopia. For instance, recently, Ethiopia banned one of the women's organizations that was pushing for women's rights; the Ethiopian Women Lawyers' Association was stopped operating by the Government of Ethiopia. So we still have these constraints. We are working hard in solidarity to make sure that these governments also listen to women but it is not easy. Women have made a lot of progress in areas of work and also agitation for their rights. They cannot be shut down even in the face of opposition. Women still speak out, which is very encouraging.
Video
Unwanted images: Gender-based Violence in the New South Africa
2000 / Video / Colour / English with sub-titles in French / 8 mins 48 secs.
Filming, Editing, Directing : Monica Mak
Combining poignant pictures drawn by young learners in South Africa with an array of statistics, Unwanted Images; Gender-based Violence in the New South Africa illustrates how gendered violence, in its various forms, affects young children, who are its witness, its victims - and, at times, even its perpetrators.
Awarded best documentary video at the Student Film and Video awards section of the Montreal World Film Festival (2001)
For more information on the video, click on the image to the right.
To order or borrow the video claudia.mitchell [at] mcgill.ca (click here).