Liberated Followership and Philosophical Reflective Thought for Meaningful Feminist Engagement

Abstract

Philosophy and feminism in Uganda are subjects to be discussed with reservation. Arguments about feminism mostly collapse into one category – radical feminism. Even with this common speech that refers to feminism as radical feminism, it is not clear whether those who hold such a conception of feminism understand what exactly radical feminism is, or even what feminism is all about. Philosophy, which ought to be a discipline that aids in understanding concepts such as these, their usage and implications, is avoided at all costs by most Ugandans. It is common for someone to say that philosophy is a complex subject for confused individuals and there is no sense in one setting time aside for philosophical study. With such attitudes, one wonders why and whether Ugandans meaningfully participate in globally-uniting phenomena, for instance the annual “Women’s Day” celebrations set for 8 March. It is also intriguing that if they do, they do not yet engage in any discourse about perceptions of 8 March for females and males. What do they celebrate and how does it impact on their lives the rest of the year? The argument here is that in order to understand feminism and all it represents, philosophy is an important tool without which, Ugandan’s wallow in endless prejudices and contradictions that do not help better interaction between women and men or to equally participate in globally discussed issues. In this paper, I attempt to answer: Why is philosophy not appealing to women in Uganda and what can be done to have changed attitudes?