Title: Engendering Employment Relationships: Intergrating a Gender Perpective into the Ugandan Employment Law

Employment law in Uganda focuses on individual employment relationships and connected matters. Although the Employment Act provides for the promotion of equality, the law is not designed to address institutional and systemic barriers to gender equality. Legal principles that promote gender equality in the Employment Act co-exist with seemingly neutral standards that reinforce gender inequality. The legal rules in the Act are based on the traditional ideal worker with limited or no family responsibilities. The new goal of promoting equality between men and women enshrined in the Employment Act has an impact on the set up of traditional employment relations. Therefore, designing legal standards that accommodate both men and women is essential. This essay is structured around two feminist and gender perspectives guided by two questions: What is the role of the Employment Act in describing society and how can we integrate gender in the framework of employment law to promote gender equality? The first gender perspective involves identifying the experiences of men and women in relation to the law and examining whether legal provisions favor one gender and disadvantage the other. The second perspective recommends modifying employment standards to incorporate a feminist and gender perspective to ensure that the rights of men and women employees are covered by the law. This includes reviewing the working time to accommodate workers with family and care responsibilities, legal recognition of indirect discrimination, and increasing the involvement of the state and employers in promoting gender equality in employment.