[L]ast year, an appeal court in Kampala overturned a high-court divorce case ruling which gave a couple an equal share of the matrimonial home. The court decided that the woman, who did most of the housework, only deserved 20% of the assets. While the man in this case had receipts to show how much he’d paid to build and maintain the house, the woman had none.
The wife argued that she cared for the couple’s four children and ensured the family’s wellbeing. When the family house was being built, she cooked for builders and supervised construction. While the court acknowledged her contribution to the marriage, it said the “man’s contribution, evidenced by receipts and invoices, was bigger and therefore deserved [an] 80% share”.
This ruling sets a bad precedent and rolls back years of hard work to recognise unpaid care work. It values a moneymaker over a homemaker and exposes the law’s failure to address the systemic discrimination of women in Uganda.
The worry now is that judges in lower courts could totally disregard women’s non-monetary contribution in future divorce cases. Most women cannot afford to pay legal fees to appeal against such decisions.