It’s okay to marry a powerful woman - Speaker Tayebwa

The deputy speaker, on the other hand, counselled the men not to be dissuaded from marrying powerful and well to do women, as society continues to adjust to the changing gender roles and expectations.

This was entailed in Tayebwa’s message as he presided over the Bushenyi district Women’s Day celebrations.

Thomas Tayebwa with some of the local leaders during the Women's Day celebrations in Bushenyi district Courtesy

“Having a powerful woman doesn’t make the man any less,” Tayebwa said. “As the saying goes; behind every successful man is a woman.”

The Deputy speaker’s comments feed into the debate that has been raging on whether the long held societal perception of a man as the primary provider in the home still holds in the modern day evolving society.

But, as this report points out, there is increasingly a case to be made for the financial make of a family to be influenced by individual circumstances and agreements rather than gender roles.

Speaker Tayebwa has lately been at the forefront of women's causes and spoken out openly against practices that curtail women’s socioeconomic progress, even those propagated by the government.

He recently offered to participate and preside over a number of Women’s Day celebrations, at the time when police and the armed forces blocked such functions organised by women MPs from the opposition side.

The event in Bushenyi, which was organised by the district woman MP Annet Katusiime, Tayebwa says, was “meant to celebrate women as the most important figures in our lives.”

“Women you’re the heart and soul of the world. What would life be like without you? You shape us with good advice and unconditional love. I thank you for your continued role in building our country,” he said.