Josephine Ahikire

Josephine Ahikire is a Ugandan academic, researcher and African feminist. She is the professor, and the former Dean at the School of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University. She served as the Principal at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Makerere University.

Background and education She attended her primary education at St Joseph's Primary School and completed it in 1979. She completed her Advanced level in 1986 before joining Makerere University in 1987 to pursue a degree in Social Sciences. formerly known as the School of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University before becoming the Professor. She served as the Acting Deputy Principal, College of Humanities and Social Sciences In 2024, she was succeeded by Helen Nkabala as the Principal of the school on the 31st May 2024.

Josephine has been a visiting professor through Universities internationally including being a member of Senate, the University Academic Organ since 2015.

She is currently a senior lecturer at the Institute of Gender and Development Studies. She is also the Executive Chair of the Centre for Basic Research (CBR) in Kampala, a member of the National Governance Council for the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and a board member of the Uganda National NGO Forum.

Academic Honorary appointment She is an Honorary Professor at the Centre for Advancement of Non racialism and Democracy (CANRAD) Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. This followed an appointment by professor A Govindjee, the Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Innovation and Internationalization at the Nelson Mandela University on February 1, 2020. ‘Cutting the Coat according to the Cloth: Examining Women’s Agency on Land Rights in Rural Uganda’ in Kyomuhendo Bantebya, G. Ahikire J. S. Gerrard and Muhanguzi, K.F. (eds.) Gender Poverty and Social Transformation: Reflections on Fractures and Continuities in Contemporary Uganda, Kampala: Fountain Publishers. 2014. Controlling Consent: Uganda’s 2016 election. African World Press, 2016, co-edited with J. Oloka-Onyango. The politics of promoting gender equity in contemporary Uganda: Cases of the Domestic Violence Law and the policy on Universal Primary Education. ESID Working Paper No. 55, November 2015, with Amon A. Mwiine. African feminism in context: Reflections on the legitimation battles, victories and reversals, Feminist Africa, 2014 (19): 7-23. “Scandalous!! The book – ‘Controlling Consent’ on Uganda's 2016 elections – has been seized,” Localised or Localising Democracy: Gender and the Politics of Decentralisation in Contemporary Uganda.