Increased Female Participation in UPDF Has Enhanced Operational Effectiveness, Says Brig Gen Bainababo

The Director of Women Affairs in the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces, Brigadier General Charity Bainababo, has highlighted that the increasing participation of women in the military has enhanced both the force’s representativeness and operational effectiveness, especially in demanding assignments like peacekeeping missions.

Brig Gen Bainababo made the remarks while delivering a lecture of opportunity to officers undergoing Logistics Courses at the College of Logistics and Engineering in Maga Maga.

“The presence of women in the UPDF has enhanced the force’s representativeness, improved effectiveness in complex environments like peacekeeping, and provided strong role models for future generations,” she said.

She explained that Uganda’s National Gender and Equity Policy is rooted in a pro-people ideology that emerged from the liberation struggle led by the National Resistance Army, which emphasised that national liberation would remain incomplete without the full emancipation of marginalised groups, especially women.

Brig Gen Bainababo observed that during the liberation struggle, women served not only as support staff but also as combatants and political mobilisers, citing senior female officers including Lt Gen Proscovia Nalweyiso, Maj Olive Zizinga, Maj Gertrude Njuba and Capt Janat Mukwaya as examples of women who played key roles in the liberation struggle.

The course has attracted officers from various units and formations of the UPDF, as well as allied officers from fraternal countries.