Women's Rights in Kenya
From May to August of 2019, I lived in Nanyuki working with IMPACT, the Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement and Conflict Transformation. Basically the organization covers a lot of ground considering historical land injustices and pastoralist conflicts are everywhere. The organization works mostly with pastoralist (nomadic) groups in the four provinces of Laikipia, Samburu, Marsabit, Isiolo, & some parts of Turkana.
Although I was originally interested in pursuing this internship because of environmental reasons, I became increasingly interested in gender rights. Gender is an underlying dynamic which pervades all of social life in any cultural environment. As in most pastoralist societies in East Africa, women in Samburu and Laikipia counties have limited influence in economic and political decisions. Community Councils are dominated by male participants, and even when women attend, they do not speak as freely as men. Women have limited power within the household. All of the natural resources are owned by men, including land and livestock, which means women traditionally have no authority to decide the sale of livestock. This is not the case for women in cities, but even then, social norms influence how women are expected to behave.
Although I was originally interested in pursuing this internship because of environmental reasons, I became increasingly interested in gender rights. Gender is an underlying dynamic which pervades all of social life in any cultural environment. As in most pastoralist societies in East Africa, women in Samburu and Laikipia counties have limited influence in economic and political decisions. Community Councils are dominated by male participants, and even when women attend, they do not speak as freely as men. Women have limited power within the household. All of the natural resources are owned by men, including land and livestock, which means women traditionally have no authority to decide the sale of livestock. This is not the case for women in cities, but even then, social norms influence how women are expected to behave.
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Research Paper:
Our primary goal (my colleague Sasha and I) for this research pursuit was to better understand how land subdivision and land demarcation is playing out in communities in Samburu West and Laikipia North. Samburu West is a relevant area of investigation to explore these issues for various reasons. Firstly, it is one of the more prominent regions in Northern Kenya where subdivision of land is taking place. This raises questions about the driving forces behind land privatization as an alternative to communal land ownership. The three communities in which we spent time, are at different phases of the land subdivision process, and are choosing this route of land tenure over communal land ownership for different reasons. This study raised questions about the value of community-based conservation (CBC) for the communities involved. It also brought into awareness how gendered responsibilities are socially and economically entrenched in cultural norms when it comes to land use. Like other pastoralist groups in Kenya, the Samburu adhere to gendered labour expectations at the household and community levels. Typically, women are responsible for all domestic responsibilities at their boma, or homestead, whereas men are primarily responsible for taking care of livestock. |
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Three women in a women's group in Chumvi show us where they keep their honey. They are engaging in women-led pursuits which allows women to gain an income independent of their husbands.
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Time Poverty:
Time poverty is a concept which refers to poverty not in terms of economic wealth, but in terms of rest and leisure (Wodon, 2006). Whereas labour is often conceptualized in terms of that which is paid, labour is most often unpaid in rural developing countries. Housework, caring for children, fetching water, caring for livestock, and cooking are all unpaid labour activities (Budlender, 2008). The burden of unpaid labour disproportionately falls on women’s shoulders. This is the case globally speaking, and also in Kenya (Muriithi, 2017). |
Ooof [the responsibilities of the women are] fetching water, making this clean, making food for the children. Just doing everything, every responsibility around the homestead! *laughter* Mostly they are the ones working tirelessly for the homestead… |
Resilience and Resistance:
Despite structural barriers to gender equality, grassroots projects demonstrate the ways women are challenging gender norms in creative ways. From Twala, a local women's group in Samburu creating economic empowerment opportunities for women, to Beadworks, a women-run project employing women, initiatives are well under way.
I hope to continue researching these themes as I complete my MA thesis at McGill.
Despite structural barriers to gender equality, grassroots projects demonstrate the ways women are challenging gender norms in creative ways. From Twala, a local women's group in Samburu creating economic empowerment opportunities for women, to Beadworks, a women-run project employing women, initiatives are well under way.
I hope to continue researching these themes as I complete my MA thesis at McGill.
