The Africa Human Development Report 2016 was released 2 months ago by the UN, the report warned that Uganda has to accelerate gender equality by empowering more women in all spheres of development if the country is to achieve the much desired middle-income status.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the proportion of females starting and owning businesses in Uganda. However, the proportion of the males remains significantly higher.
Although women make up nearly 40 percent of businesses with registered premises, they receive only 9 percent of all credit. And according to UNBOS, their contribution to measured economic activity is far below its potential with serious macroeconomic consequences.
We asked Ugandans through our partner radio stations across the country why they think women are not as competitive as men when it comes to starting up their own businesses. The poll question saw over 3000 responses from 7 radio stations in a week's time. 30% of them say that cultural beliefs prevent women from being as competitive as men in business, 27% said women have less access to capital especially land, 22% believe women don't have a strong business sense while 21% say women have less education opportunities.
Together with local media partners, Trac FM identifies and formulates questions regarding public services, the survey questions are later broadcasted on radio and people send in SMS participating in the poll questions free of charge, incoming SMS reports are visualized in smart graphic designs and relayed within seconds for radio presenters to update listeners on survey results.
