Followership and women’s empowerment for sustainable development: a case study of women in the National Association of Women's Organisations in Uganda

Abstract

Taking the case of women in the National Association of Women’s Organisation in Uganda (NAWOU), this study investigated followership and women’s empowerment for sustainable development. Informed by the propositions of Social Contract Theory, Morals by Agreement Theory and Capability Theory, the study delved into the concept followership; followership as a tool and action in the empowerment process; the nature of women’s followership as they pursue their empowerment for sustainable development; the way women are perceived as followers; and the implications of these variables on women’s empowerment for sustainable development. The study followed a case study design through which data was collected from thirty-one, purposely selected, key informants using in-depth interviews and analysed using content analysis method. The respondents characterised followership as “going along”, “going after something” and “being controlled”. Fear was found to be the main causal condition for followership. There was minimal self-reflection in followership actions, which meant limited chances of empowerment. Some of the respondents saw followership as a cooperative venture, retrospection on past experiences, as a detour, seeking to stabilise or destabilise the status quo, identifying preferred values and for mentorship. Empowerment emerged when individuals acted consciously and had a number of well understood alternative courses of action to choose from. It was found that some people acted to avoid followership, some embraced it unconsciously with no question and others consciously but critically embraced it in their actions. Women’s followership was found to be pragmatic and conscious, and the political environment enabled women to freely participate in the organisation’s activities. However, education, family ties, and financial situations played a role in the attainment of empowerment in followership positions. It was concluded that women could gain empowerment and sustainable development. However, this depended on a range of factors, including personal characteristics, perception of empowerment and the typology of followership adopted. In view of the potential of followership to promote empowerment for sustainable development that was established, reconsideration of the concept of followership and its implications by NAWOU, government, academic institutions and similar organisations is recommended.