Source: New Vision
Lately student leadership in the country at universities is taking on a new trend, where female students are being elected to the guild top leadership. Joyce Nyakato explores the reasons behind this changing trend. Iin April last year, Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), for the first time, had a guild female president. Twenty-one-year-old Sheila Nduhukire polled 885 votes, beating five men. Henry Rugobe her next competitor had 802 votes.
The outgoing guild president, Alwawi Ssemanda, considered it a historical election, given that the institution had never had a female president.
"We are waiting to see how the leadership of a woman will pan out. She had huge support," he mused.
The trend
This did not end there. Within the last two months, Ndejje, Busitema, Makerere and Makerere University of Business School have followed suit by electing women to the top student's seats in the respective universities. All the female contestants beat their male counterparts in daring fashion.
Makerere University's Anna Adeke scored a whooping 6,609 votes, while her closest contestant Henry Okot had a paltry 2,718 votes.
Even if some universities like Makerere are not having their first female guild presidents, the fact that a plethora of universities are simultaneously being led by young women is a feat hard to ignore.
What has changed?
There seems to be misconception that the female guild presidents are voted into powere because of their looks. Sheila Nduhukire would take that as an insult.
"I was voted on merit," she says. She thinks that much of this welcome trend has got to do with the change in attitude among voters, especially the men. "They have realised that women can get the job done as well as men can," she asserts.
"But more importantly, women are emerging as guild presidents because they are contesting for the positions in the first place. In almost every guild president race, there is most likely to be a female candidate. If she is good enough to be a guild president, why not? We are no longer afraid to challenge men in the big positions," says Nduhukire.
Solome Nakimbugwe is one of the gender activists excited by this trend. "When I was a student, standing for guild presidency was unthinkable," she recalls.
Nakimbugwe says it has been a step-by-step process, with the first enabling more girls to attend university through the Government's affirmative action. With the girls making about half the university population, it has become highly feasible for them to contest for the guild positions.
Positively, the surge of women into university top positions coincides with vast presence of women in politics and top positions in major corporate bodies around Uganda.
Women politicians and administrators like Uganda Revenue Authority's Allen Kagina, Kampala Capital City Council Authority's Jennifer Musisi, Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department's Grace Akullo have become good examples of what woman leadership can do.
So, Nakimbugwe reasons that there has been a lot of role-modelling for the women. For example, Nduhukire, has always seen a mentor in Winnie Byanyima, the first female Ugandan to become an aeronautical engineer, who fended off male competition before she went on to represent Mbarara Municipality in parliament from 1994 to 2004.
The gender and empowerment organisations in Uganda should receive some credit for this upward trend. Nakimbugwe has witnessed some of the organisations coaching women to become leaders. Some of them have gone as far as standing by the female candidates financially to enable them campaign.
There has been a massive shift in the way men view women. "Ugandans are tired. Whether it is in politics or at university," says Nakimbugwe. She reasons that, they are seeking alternatives of leadership. In this case, it is not that they expect all women they elect will do a better job.
"They get the feeling that women are less prone to corruption." That is why; it is becoming cliché that getting more women into power is a good way to tackle the corruption that is riddling these student university administrations.
According to Andrew Obita, a student at Makerere University, many students, have started having faith in female guild presidents following examples set by the women in the big positions in the Government.
They reason that women will cause a much anticipated major turn-around in the universities they head. "Ladies are more humble, amicable and free from hostility unlike men who are egocentric," he reasons.
Most public universities in Uganda are marred by the same challenges; tuition fees, infrastructure and late payments. However, there is a difference in the way students relay their concerns in the different universities. It could be that the students are looking for a different solution.
Research findings
A 2011 leadership survey conducted by Zenger/Folkman firm and published in the Havard Business Review which evaluated 7,280 leaders in 2011 made surprising discoveries. While the majority of leaders were men, according to the research findings, the women who were in leadership out-scored them in developing others, building relationships and exhibiting integrity.
In fact, at every level, more women were rated by their peers, their bosses, their direct reports, and their other associates as better overall leaders than their male counterparts. The higher the level of leadership, the wider that gap grows.
Rosemary Bwire, a psychologist at Uganda Christian University, Mukono, says women tend to combine intuitive and logical thinking. "They are more aware of the implications of others and their actions and they think more carefully about the resources needed to accomplish a given goal," explains Bwire. Perhaps, this explains why students are identifying more with female guild presidents.
Owing to their nature, women will often allow more room for dialogue and consultation and are held more accountable compared to men.
"You just see it from the way women behave when they chair a meeting," says Nakimbugwe. Their leadership usually makes room for more consultation, making sure that everyone else's opinion is heard.
"It could be that the students are looking for more empathetic guild presidents who come down to their level, hear them out and include them in decision making."
Meanwhile, according to the study, some women expressed a constant unease on the issues of chauvinism and discrimination as a challenge to their work.
Nduhukire attests to these, explaining that there are still men who subscribe to that thought that women cannot be leaders. But over-all, the attitude has changed and men are starting to trust women more in leadership positions.