Esther Kisaakye Uganda 2005 Grantee US-Canada program Phd Juridical Science from American University in Washington DC MA Law from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington DC BA Law from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda
Prior to her current appointment to the Supreme Court in 2009, she served as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Makerere University, Uganda's largest and oldest public university. Besides lecturing at Makerere, she served as vice chairperson of the Association of Uganda Women Lawyers, which operated a legal aid clinic. In 1993, she was selected by the Leadership & Advocacy for Women in Africa Program to do a Master of Arts on Women's Rights at Georgetown University Law Center. The East African Journal on Peace & Human Rights published her thesis, "Changing the Terms of the Debate to Resolve the Polygamy Question in Africa."[5]
She served as board member of the Uganda AIDS Commission and a co-founder of the Strategic Litigation Coalition. In April 2013 she was appointed the chair of the East African Judicial Committee. In September 2013 Esther Kisaakye was elected as the new president of the National Association of Women Judges in Uganda.[5]
Esther’s position at the Supreme Court makes her an extraordinary role model. Furthermore, she has used her position to initiate change from within and outside the Judiciary that has and will continue to improve women’s lives. In 2013, Esther wrote the lead judgment in a Supreme Court case that ruled that upon divorce, a spouse could share in the property that was acquired either during the marriage or before the marriage if she or he can prove contribution either to its acquisition or to its development. This is a victory for women in Uganda and now the law. Speaking about this decision at an annual MMEG event held in the WB Atrium, Esther expressed her satisfaction that even as a “baby judge”, and “against the background of anti-women’s rights sentiments”, her senior male colleagues unanimously endorsed her position.
In her own words:
Empowering women through graduate training strategically positions them to…participate in high level judicial decision-making, with the hope of making a difference for marginalized women and children. [This is] why the work of MMEG is so critically important – providing women such as myself with a financial push to the finishing line.
Publications:
International Journal of African Historical Studies36(1):20 With Turshen, M; Benedek, W.; and Oberleitner, G. Human Rights of African Women
Employment discrimination against women lawyers in Uganda: lessons & prospects for enhancing equal opportunities for women in formal employment by Esther M Kisaakye (Book).
“Women, culture and human rights: female genital mutilation, polygamy and bride price” by Esther M Kisaakye (article, Journal not specified).
