Gender relations, gender-based violence and sport for development and peace: Questions, concerns and cautions emerging from Uganda

SynopsisIn this study we discuss how gender relations are influenced by a ‘girls only’ martial arts-based sport, gender and development (SGD) programme that aims to improve young women's discipline, leadership skills and self-defence capabilities in a rural Ugandan community with widespread domestic and gender-based violence (GBV). The results of our qualitative research with a Ugandan non-governmental organization (NGO) staff members and martial arts instructors demonstrate that the young women's participation in the martial arts programme challenged gender norms and improved their confidence. However, the exclusion of boys and men from the programming, combined with the cultural inaptness of girls practicing martial arts, may have contributed to the girls' subordination. Our data also revealed that young men were also the targets of GBV. Overall, we argue that an exploration of the relational impact of gender in the context of SGD, and sport for development and peace terrain more broadly is necessary in order to: (1) understand how social relations shift and change in the face of variable and fluid gender dynamics; and (2) challenge gendered assumptions about prescribed/predetermined gender relations by acknowledging that young women may not be the only targets of violence.