Regional lawyers want husbands to pay their housewives

BY DAMALI MUKHAYE

Regional lawyers have called upon the East African partner States to come up with a law that will see housewives paid by their husbands for the house chores and other services they render to the family.

Feminist lawyers from Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania say, typical housewives spend a lot of time at home doing house chores and they are not paid anything yet their male counterparts who do similar jobs outside homes, are paid.

Esther Amatu, a feminist lawyer from Kenya said that when women do similar jobs elsewhere like cleaning, digging, and taking care of people’s children, they are paid.

It is against this background that they asked the EA member states to come up with a law that quantifies the work that women do at home which will form a basis for their payment on a monthly basis.

She made the remarks in Kampala during the regional E-conference on the care crisis and the implication of Covid-19 on unpaid care work.

Written by Noelyn Nassuuna