Women’s day at a glance: Uganda’s women of valour

It’s less than an hour to the international women’s day (IWD), and to commemorate the day, we have compiled a brief about Uganda’s women of valour.

Born on 5 July, 1950 in Fort Portal, Margaret Blick famously known as Dr. Maggie Kigozi is a daughter to the late George William Blick, a former civil engineer at the Ministry of Works and Transport and the late Molly Johnson Blick.

She worked as the physician to members of the Parliament of Uganda and their families, from 1986 until 1994 when she joined Crown Bottlers Uganda Limited, as the Marketing Director.

During her tenure at Crown Bottlers, she was appointed board member of Uganda Manufacturers Association. She worked at the bottling company until she was appointed executive director of Uganda Investment Authority (UIA) in 1999. Dr. Kigozi served in the position until 2011. She is the first person and first woman to serve as UIA head.

In addition to the responsibilities already cited, Kigozi has had other roles: Chief Scout of the Uganda Scouts Association, Associate Professor of Economics at Makerere University, member of global banking alliance for women (GBA) advisory Board, director of the board of Uganda export promotion board, founder of Uganda Investment Authority Women Entrepreneurs Network, for a period leading up to 2011, Dr. Kigozi was the Chancellor of Nkumba University among others.

Born 24 May 1956, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga is a Ugandan lawyer and politician. She was the Speaker Parliament of Uganda from 2011- 2021. Kadaga, and the first woman to be elected Speaker in the history of the Parliament of Uganda.

She is a former Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) Chairperson 2013-2016. A lawyer by profession, she holds a Master’s Degree and is currently the 1st Deputy Prime minister of Uganda and Minister for East African Community affairs. Minister Kadaga is also currently the Woman Member of 11th Parliament representing the people of Kamuli district in Busoga subregion but also Speaker emeritus of 9th and 10th parliament which is the third highest position in the national leadership of Uganda. She was the Deputy Speaker of Parliament of Uganda from 2001 to 2011.

From 1986-1999, she won accolades of distinguished service in many portfolios when she served as a Cabinet/State Minister. She has held a number of high profile positions and played a leading role in women empowerment activities at national and international levels.

She has been the Vice Chairperson of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (International) as well as an Executive Committee Member of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly representing Africa. She has been the Chairperson of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarian Africa Region where she is spearheading a campaign of engaging leaders of political parties to appreciate the value of increasing the number of women in high positions of leadership.

Cecilia Barbara Atim Ogwal (born 12 June 1946) is a Ugandan politician, businesswoman and management consultant. She is the Member of Parliament for the Dokolo wistrict women’s Constituency. She has been a member of Uganda’s legislature continuously since 1996.

From 1979 until 1980, Ogwal worked at the Uganda Embassy in Kenya, as the Liaison Officer for Returning Ugandan Refugees. From 1980 until 1981, she worked as the Operations Manager at the Uganda Advisory Board of Trade. In 1982, she was one of the founders of Housing Finance Bank, working there until 1984. She served as the Chairperson of Uganda Development Bank.

She became involved in Ugandan politics, serving as the Acting Secretary General of Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) from 1985 to 1992. In 1994, she was part of the Constituent Assembly which drafted and promulgated the 1995 Ugandan Constitution. She remained a high-ranking official in the UPC political party until 2004. In 2011, Ogwal contested and won the Women’s Representative seat for then newly created Dokolo District.

MP Ogwal is a married mother of seven biological children and a number of adopted ones. In 1969, at the age of 23, she won the “Miss Uganda” contest.