Edith Mary Bataringaya

Edith Mary Kaijuka was born in 1929 in Kabale, a city in the Western Region of Uganda.^[3] Her father was Reverend Kaijuka, a prominent reverend in the Church of Uganda and teacher from the neighboring village of Bugongi Hill.^[3]

Edith Mary Kaijuka married Basil Kiiza Bataringaya, son of Marko Kiiza the Ssaza Chief of Bunyaruguru, and she changed her name to Edith Mary Bataringaya.^[4] At the time of their marriage, Basil Kiiza Bataringaya was attending school, at the Government Teacher Training College of Uganda (TTC) and at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.^[5][6]

Basil Kiiza Bataringaya quickly became a prominent political figure in Uganda. Bataringaya ran as a member of the Democratic Party of Uganda for the legislative seat for the Ankole District to the Uganda Legislative Council in the transitional government between the colonial-era Uganda Protectorate and the Republic of Uganda in the first Ugandan nationwide direct elections, the March 1961 Ugandan general elections.^[7] He became the Leader of Opposition during the Apollo Milton Obote regime and helped to establish the role as a check on the political leadership in Uganda.^[8] Basil Kiiza Bataringaya defected from the Democratic Party of Uganda to Apollo Milton Obote's Uganda People's Congress party on the floor of the Parliament of Uganda in the first high-profile political defection in Ugandan history.^[9] Basil Kiiza Bataringaya became the powerful Minister of Internal Affairs and quickly earned the trust of Prime Minister Apollo Milton Obote, and earned a spot in Obote's small inner circle of trusted advisors and amassed a large policy portfolio as one of the most powerful ministers in the Obote government.

Edith Mary Bataringaya became an influential figure in the Apollo Milton Obote regime following Basil Kiiza Bataringaya's defection and ascension to the role of the Minister of Internal Affairs. She frequently traveled with her husband on trips abroad representing Uganda, representing Uganda and discussing her role as the head and co-founder of the Uganda Council of Women with diplomats abroad.^[10] She most notably traveled to the United States of America and met with members of the United States Department of State in addition to visiting Disneyland.^[10]

Edith Mary Bataringaya was a prominent activist in addition to the political duties she assumed as a high profile political spouse. Bataringaya started the Uganda Women's Union and the Uganda Council of Women alongside Rhoda Kalema and Theresa Mbire.^[1] In 1960, under the leadership of Bataringaya, the Uganda Council of Women passed a resolution urging that laws regarding marriage, divorce, and inheritance should be recorded in written form and publicized nationwide—a first step toward codifying customary and modern practices. During the first decade of independence, this council also pressed for legal reforms that would grant all women the right to own property and retain custody of their children if their marriages ended.^[11] The work of the Uganda Council of Women under the leadership of Bataringaya led to changes in Uganda's Divorce Laws, leading to the written codification of the Divorce Act that gives men and women equal opportunities for divorce.^[12]