ABSTRACT
This chapter examines trends, opportunities, and prospects for women's struggles in one African subregion, East Africa. This region, comprising Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, provides interesting contrasts and similarities. The state-controlled women's wing of ruling Uganda People's Congress was used to manipulate the national women's nongovernmental organization (NGO), the National Council of Women, thus further dividing an already fragmented women's movement. The Kenyan constitution presents a major bottleneck in the realization of women's human rights. The women's movement in Tanzania is still fragile and fragmented, reflecting its long history of complete demobilization under Nyerere's socialist regime. The undemocratic and male-dominated African state has been a major stumbling block to women's advancement and has shaped the level and nature of women's political participation. The lack of legal provisions to protect women's rights is a major obstacle to their empowerment, an equally important obstacle is the lack of legal and genderrights awareness among both women and men.
