Kenyan Woman Issue 12

1

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

EDITORIAL Politicisation of Constitution implementation hurting Kenyans

I

Nominated Member of Parliament Rachel Shebesh addresses young women during the National Young Women’s Forum at Ufungamano House recently. Young women need to be educated on the importance of joining political parties.

Young women seek to embrace political leadership Picture: Courtesy YWLI

…By Mercy Mumo

A

ll generations of women must be represented in decision making organs.

However, young women have lacked a presence in national leadership.

With the promulgation of the new Constitution, a fresh beginning for Kenya cannot go on without young women. Doctor Leon (http://www. drleons.com/abdrleon.htm) was once quoted saying “women really do rule the world.

They just haven’t figured it out yet. When they do, and they will, we are all in big trouble”.

If young women took Leon’s thoughts seriously, they would pride themselves in possessing more intellect and be development oriented.

Women need to learn that power is not given,

it is taken. Women leaders in Africa such as Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf (Liberia), Luisa Diogo (Mozambique), Winnie Byanyima (Uganda), Joyce Banda (Malawi), Joice Mujuru (Zimbabwe) and Kenya’s own Martha Karua, Charity Ngilu as well as Prof Wangari Maathai all took up the fight in their quest for political leadership. It was never without a struggle and neither was it offered to them on a silver platter.

These sentiments emerged during the first National Young Women’s Forum organised by the Young Women’s Leadership Institute (YWLI) held in October. This was the first gathering of this kind in the history of Kenya for young women.

Under the theme Kenya Freshi…niko set, the forum was a wake up call to the young women to

embrace political leadership especially with the formation of the county government. The dream of having a young women’s movement came into focus when more than 700 young women participants converged at Ufungamano House.

Women’s leadership has not been given the seriousness and urgency it deserves. Speaking during the forum, Ms Sophie Ngugi, Executive Director YWLI reiterates that women need to set the pace and participate in moving the agenda of this country forward.

“As women, we have lost visibility and it is high time we claimed the space and be recognized,” says Ngugi.

Upcoming female aspirants need to be educated on the importance of being affiliated to a politiContinued on page 4

t is now three months since the Constitution was promulgated. While the event was marked with pomp and colour among Kenyan women, a dark cloud looms over the new Constitution.

Parliamentarians have decided to make the confirmation of nominees to work as commissioners in the Constitution Implementation Commission a political issue which they can use a bargaining chip.

The Constitution implementation process should be a citizen driven process and politicians who are desperate at having their own agendas satisfied are wrong in using the process to settle political scores.

Women, who have been the biggest losers in the old Constitutional dispensation are keen to see the new law take effect. The schedules that were set up for the process to systematically take effect will be affected by this polarisation that has taken a political turn. Women are still suffering as the old law is still in effect. Politicians must realise that they are in Parliament courtesy of the Kenyan public and specifically, the Kenyan woman.

Education They need to realise that holding Kenyans at ransom just because their egos have not been satisfied is a luxury they can only enjoy for a short time.

Educating Kenyans on the implementation process is key at this time when politicians, and legislators to be specific, are making a joke out of their lives. The common man and woman must know that they have a right to a legal recourse on this issue.

Under the new Constitution Kenyans have a right to sue Parliament where they feel there are inadequacies with the implementation process. However, not many Kenyans know of this right as no politicians will come out to educate them on it.

It is important that civil society, as the common man’s watch dog, takes lead role in taking Parliament to task over this issue. The culture of silence is what has made Kenyans suffer and it must not be allowed to go on.

Civil society needs to take Kenyans on board and unleash a suit that will make politicians think again before they hold the country at ransom. Women’s organisations must also take a role in this. It took Kenyans more than 20 years of hard work and tax payers’ money to have the new law in place.

We must remember that Parliament is made up of only 220 individuals who are very insignificant percentage compared to the 38 million that forms the population of this country.

They must, therefore, not be given the space and time to make Kenyans suffer just because they want to satisfy their political whims.

2

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Education the key to girl empowerment …By BENDARO TSUMA

A

n ambitious programme to empower women in the Kilifi County through the education of the girl child has been launched in Malindi.

Mwerya Women’s Association is already sponsoring girls to pursue higher education. The organisation plans to hold a major charity walk to raise money. In its current budget it needs more than KSh2 million to help girls in institutions of higher learning complete their studies.

Failure According to officials of the group Mrs Gertrude Bahati (chairperson) and Mrs Christine Karani (education secretary), women have failed to be represented in governance due to low education and lack of economic empowerment.

“For us to be able to fully imple-

“In the present world, for one to secure respectable employment, one must have papers.”

— Gertrude Bahati

ment the new Constitution that requires at least one third of either gender in public appointments, we must have educated women,” explained Karani.

Karani, who is a former Malindi District Elections Coordinator lamented that out of the 61 departmental heads in the district, only five were women.

She said: “Cultural inhibitions and traditional practices disadvantaged the woman, making it almost impossible for her to ascend to positions of authority in the country, especially within the Kilifi County, where boys were still favoured over girls in educational opportunities.”

The association’s main objective is to empower women economically by helping them understand how to undertake economic activities and improve their standards of living.

Bahati said the association aimed at conducting civic education on

many issues including the rights of women as enshrined in the new constitution. She noted that women in the rural areas still do not have voice when it comes to their daughters’ education with men preferring only their sons.

Sponsorship “We have discovered that those who should be in tertiary institutions are at home because they cannot afford to pursue further education,” said Bahati. She added: “In the present world, for one to secure respectable employment, one must have papers, but our girls only wait at home to be misused by men after leaving primary or secondary school.”

The women’s group had already identified 23 girls for sponsorship to university and colleges.

Bahati, a retired primary school head teacher, said only 30 per cent

of students enrolled in university colleges within the Coast Province were local people. “Majority are from other regions and the association is seeking to reverse the trend so that locals, especially girls, can fill the positions.

To raise money, the association has started a tissue culture banana project at the Sabaki estuary, on the banks of River Sabaki. This will boost their income and enable them sponsor more girls in education.

Separately, the Voice of Watamu Women’s Group, an umbrella organisation of 28 women’s groups also organised a charity walk recently.

The organisation raised over KSh400, 000 which will be used for child protection, education, women’s welfare and environmental conservation.

About 1,000 women from Watamu and Malindi took part in the 30 kilometre walk.

Rural women want more Murang’a demand space engagement with new law in decision making B …By Kenyan Woman writer

…By Ryan Mathenge

W

ith the passing of the new law, women leaders are now demanding to be involved in decision making organs currently being occupied by men.

Women leaders from Murang’a County have put men on notice should they ignore the new law. During a capacity building workshop recently, they pointed an accusing finger at some leaders who over the years have treated them as third rate Kenyans.

Murang’a District Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organisation chairperson, Mrs Beth Muraya said time was ripe for women to be included in decision making as spelt out in the new Constitution.

“Time has come that we are now demanding what belongs to us as women after years of being oppressed by men,” said Muraya.

During the session, Dr Molly Wamaitha Mwangi said owing to their numerical capacity, women have the chance of determining who will be a leader in future.

“We are our own enemy as during the campaign time when men candidates come around with many goodies seeking our support, we ignore female candidates some of whom are our daughters,” said Mwangi.

In the coming elections they vowed they would only support candidates who have shown respect to women and children.

“Over the years we have seen our children, instead of being helped to pursue education being turned into campaign agents for certain candidates at a KSh100 fee per day,” said Muraya.

They also accused elected leaders and politicians of having locked out women in matters surrounding Murang’a County.

They said meetings held in Nairobi were in bad taste as none of the grassroots leaders are involved.

“We only know of meetings convened at night in the city. We are totally in the dark but their resolutions risk being rejected once presented to the public,” said Ms Mary Irungu.

orn and brought in the village, grassroots women’s leader Jennifer Masis can truly identify with rural women. When she speaks of their tribulations, she does so from an informed position because that is where she operates from.

As they engage in the constitution dispensation, Masis knows from her heart what the rural woman needs at this particular time.

“As a rural woman, I would like to thank national civil society organisations, the media and Kenyans for being vigilant, alert and acting as the watchdog towards ensuring that Kenya gets the new constitution,” Masis said during a meeting to reflect on the post referendum process.

Born and brought up in Mt Elgon, Masis is currently settled in Trans-Nzoia County, Kwanza District Endebess Division Chorlim Sub-Location. She is the director of a community based organisation Tears of Women Organisation and convenor of the Trans-Nzoia Regional Assembly.

Barriers The Women Regional assemblies came up when the Caucus for Women’s Leadership realised that the complexity of several barriers that continued to prevent women from getting out of the poverty trap as well as participating in decision-making. These included social cultural attitudes, illiteracy, lack of business skills, domestic responsibilities and the fact that leadership is reserved for men-many think.

These issues demanded change agents be present and visible in the target communities to support, facilitate and encourage required change throughout the duration of the change process. This need gave birth to 29 Women’s Regional Assemblies located in 29 Districts.

The rationale behind this strategy is that effective and sustainable support for women’s participation in socio-economic

development processes must engage and be led by members of that community.

The Caucus plays a facilitative and technical supportive role, while the membership implements all program activities.

“Coming from a remote part of Kenya and being a member of the most marginalized community the Sabaot I would like to say that the road to a new Constitution had many challenges for us,” says Masis.

“Our area remains volatile as they regard land their livelihood and suffer from unequal distribution of resources,” she says.

Masis adds: “During the war by the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SLDF) schools were destroyed, thousands of people lost their lives and many were displaced. Property worth millions of shillings was lost. Women were raped as young girls resorted to prostitution.

This happened as a result of the struggle over land ownership at Chepyuk Settlement Scheme which brought to end infrastructure and social economic activities.

“Ethnic animosities among different communities residing in this region is still disturbing in terms of positions and distribution of counties upon the coming into force of the new Constitution,” explains Masis.

She reiterates: “Therefore as women, and through Caucus for Women’s Leadership, we are implementing the G-10 land reform and decentralisation programme which enabled women understand what the new Constitution contained.

It is the rural women leaders through community based organisation that have tried to make constitutionalism work in the grassroots.

Rural Women Peace Link, a CBO headed by Selline Korir secured funding from Hivos and helped develop Women’s Bunge in each of the five districts which fall under their areas of coverage that include Mt Elgon, Trans Nzoia, West Pokot, Marakwet and the larger Uasin Gishu District.

“This brought women together to share there experiences, understand what the

“Coming from a remote part of Kenya and being a member of the most marginalized community the Sabaot I would like to say that the road to a new Constitution had many challenges for us.”

— Jennifer Masis Constitution says about them and the need to protect women’s gains,” explains Masis.

But now that the Constitution passed through the referendum, what is it that women in Mt Elgon would like to see being done three months after promulgation?

Masis in her recommendations says: “There is need for serious and continued civic education to empower women to understand all the available opportunities created by the new Constitution.”

She reiterates: There is also need to lobby Government in terms of legislation to create a platform for the marginalised communities like Sabaot and Sengwer.”

And finally, the women’s CBOs would like to have financial support to help push their work of empowering women forward.

3

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Prof Waceke Wanjohi Following her childhood dream of growing seeds in test tubes …By Duncan Mboya

F

rom a very tender age she loved playing with soil. This admiration extended to flowers and plants in general as she matured.

Step by step this admiration graduated to fascination with growing of seeds in test tubes that was a normal happening in lower primary under the instruction of the science teacher.

Today, Waceke Wanjohi, a Professor of Plant Nematology at Kenyatta University has stepped up her game, taking it a notch higher. She is involved in conducting research on management of plant nematode pests mainly root — knot and lesion nematodes on various crops in small holder farming systems in Kenya and beyond.

Science Waceke joined the science world with no role model but sheer strong drive towards the subjects.

Working in Agricultural research has placed Waceke among key pioneer women researchers in Kenya.

In most cases women who work in agriculture are just farm hands or wives working in their husband’s land where they are neither co-owners nor are they paid for their input.

“My choice of agricultural sciences was driven by my early interaction with soil as my mother was deeply involved in farming activity and I wanted to study deeper what soil is all about,” she says.

On admission to high school for her ‘A’ level; Waceke was forced to take her three best subjects, thus denying her the opportunity to take her favourite subject; Chemistry and minimising her chances of going to Nairobi University’s constituent college at Kabete Campus to do a BSc in Agriculture.

She secretly applied for a diploma course at Egerton College (that time the institution was offering diploma courses only) and was admitted to take agriculture, her subject of choice and opted out from high school in second term of her first year.

“My elder brother would not hear of it and I had to go back to high school and continue with my high schools studies,” she says.

She would later reconnect with agriculture at Kenyatta University where she was admitted to do a Bachelor of Education Science degree and majored in plant pathology.

She did a research project on plant nematodes.

Waceke’s main interest in science research has all along centred on how to address the problems caused by nematodes to farmers in the country.

In a survey she conducted jointly with others in 2003 and supported

by Gatsby Charitable Foundation

she discovered that nematodes were a big problem to the farmers but they lack the knowledge and capacity to deal with this problem.

“Above all, outside South Africa, there was no nematode systematist or taxonomist to help identify the pests and offer farmers advice on what to do to enable them realize a bumper harvest free of pests infestations,” she explains.

A survey conducted in 1996 by CABI aimed at identifying sources of taxonomic expertise in nematology revealed that outside of South Africa, there were only two practicing nematode systematists in Africa.

Nematology From here, Waceke felt the need to start an association that could bring up nematologists together as well as championing the interest of farmers in the continent.

“We started Nematologist Initiative of East and Southern Africa (NIEAS) and so far we have trained scientists from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe,” she observes.

The initiative has led to the establishment of six plant nematology laboratories — two in Kenya at Kenyatta University and University of Nairobi.

There are two in Tanzania and one each in Malawi and Zimbabwe.

“The laboratories play a major role in training and retaining students to take nematology seriously unlike before when some were forced to look for alternative subjects,” Waceke explains.

She says that through the initiative, there currently exists an interactive website that engages young students with information, a resource that was not available before.

Kenya currently has 13 accomplished nematologists (10 Msc and three with PhDs) and more are still under training.

Waceke says that nematodes though very tiny (measuring less than 10mm) contribute significantly to cash and food crop failure in sub-Saharan Africa for besides being pests themselves, they interact with other pathogens and pests to cause more severe disease and are vector important plant viruses.

Crop failure “They cause crops to wilt after they have eaten all the roots. Also lead to dwarfing and yellowing of plants due to lack of nutrients,” she says.

The nematode pests cause up to 60 percent of crop losses and sometimes total loss if infestation is high.

They are blamed for 60, 50, 38 and 32 percent tomato, bean, spinach and okra loss per year in Kenya alone.

“I am currently supervising a student who is looking at the severity and intensity of root knot nematodes on vegetables in Transmara and Kisii Counties,” she observes.

The pests also attack vegetables such as cabbages, indigenous varieties and legumes. However, there are certain plants that could be used in controlling the spread.

“We are working on both identification of the nematodes on the selected crops and then coming up with how to manage the problem using locally invented methods that can easily be adopted by farmers,” she adds.

She is currently encouraging farmers to use organic manure from animal and plant sources -cabbage residues and animal manure which are effective in controlling nematodes and also have multiple uses.

Waceke is also spearheading intercropping and crop rotations with poor nematode hosts which have other benefits, like Crotalaria (Sunnhemp), a legume and a vegetable and Mucuna (Velvet Bean). So far legume and fodder crop have been very effective in controlling nematodes in maize cropping systems in Kirinyaga, Central Kenya.

Researcher Waceke is now an accomplished researcher and lecturer at Kenyatta University, her alumni. She has 21 years experience of university teaching where she teaches plant pathology related courses. She has developed several academic programmes and established the first plant nematology lab among other contributions.

But before enrolling for her master degree programme, Waceke taught biology and geography at Nakuru High School in Nakuru County.

Even though she no longer teaches at secondary school, Waceke has, however, continued to share her experiences with students from different schools. This has been a kind of mentoring programme which in a way shows girls that they can excel in science subjects and make a good career for themselves.

“I believe in equipping others so that they learn to become independent. I also love to see people grow and develop in their lives and progress to the right direction,” she explains.

Her contribution has gone a notch higher as she has also been appointed a mentee by the Africa Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), a sub-Saharan Africa professional development programme to help mentor women scientists in the continent.

As her contribution to the surrounding community, Waceke currently chairs the resource mobilisation committee of a community project; the Neema Hospital Project in her Nairobi residence neighbourhood. Here she leads in organizing free medical camps, training seminars on Drugs and Drug Abuse, Nutrition and Health, public lecturer on Challenges and Opportunities in

“I am currently supervising a student who is looking at the severity and intensity of root knot nematodes on vegetables in Transmara and Kisii Counties. I believe in equipping others so that they learn to become independent. I also love to see people grow and develop in their lives and progress to the right direction.”

— Waceke Wanjohi

Higher Education.

Waceke wants to be remembered as a person who impacted the lives of people and especially small scale women farmers by ensuring that problems of pests are eradicated as they reap fortune from their farming activity.

Legacy She is a strong believer that despite the perennial food insecurity in Africa, the problem can only be solved by Africans themselves.

“Our scientists outperform anyone else out there and they can also do the same here once a conducive environment is created for them,” adds Waceke who is a founding Director of the now vibrant Regional Centre for Capacity Development (ReCCaDe) at the same University.

She propagates for vocational training for extension officers, Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), agricultural staff and farmers groups.

She has been married for 19 years to Mr Luke Wanjohi, an Actuarial Scientist currently lecturing at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agri-

culture and Technology. They have two children and they both aspire to be scientists.

“Other than working in the lab, I also enjoy cooking and trying new recipes. I like swimming and playing scrabble,” she reveals.

She is currently a member of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences, an association that has 115 members in the country and a fellow of the British Society of Biology.

She has been invited as reviewer of a highly reputed Journals; “Australian Journal of Agricultural Research formerly Crop and Pasture Science” in Australia an author for Dynamic Soil, Dynamic Plants in Japan; and a referee of the; “Botswana Journal of Agriculture and Applied Sciences” in Botswana.

Waceke is a worried scientist due to the inadequate support that governments allocate for agricultural research in the region.

“Lack of serious funding is causing food reliance in the region yet the governments continue to talk of poverty eradication, how is this going to be achieved in the absence of funding research,” she poses.

4

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Inviolata Mmbwavi has tried and tested political duels

…By Mercy Mumo

F

or those who have tasted the turbulent political waters it is not easy. According to Ms Inviolata Mmbwavi (38), a parliamentary aspirant for Embakasi Constituency it is not easy fighting for space with the male counterparts.

“Society still perceives politics as a space where only men can deliver and not women,” she says.

“Society still perceives politics as a space where only men can deliver and not women.”

— Ms Inviolata Mmbwavi

Mmbwavi proved society wrong by being one of the few women to have tried her hand on the political seat consistently in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The other woman is Alice Ng’ang’a from Juja Constituency who also tried her hand in the by-election held in August.

Recalling her childhood, Mmbwavi has always wanted to be a leader.

A third born in a family of 10, by the age of seven, she was already taking care of her family and ensuring that they had a meal. It was also at this age that she got empowered as a woman.

“If at that tender age I was determined to know what my family was going to eat, then I do not see anything wrong with me determining what the country will eat,” reiterates Mmbwavi who spoke at the Young Women’s Forum.

While she may not have reached her journey’s end, at 25, Mmbwavi stood before Parliament in 1999 to explain to the MPs issues relating to

HIV/Aids. A few weeks later she was appointed to sit at the National Aids Control Council board.

Mmbwavi is the Executive Director of Grassroot Empowerment Trust in Kakamega where she has 10 teenage girls in high school under her wing.

She is passionate about bridging the gap in secondary enrolment and encourages girls to uphold education.

Mmbwavi reiterates: “Men respect women who are independent and can cater for themselves.”

She knows that the Constitution has provided women with the right platform to claim their rights. It is time women got involved in politics and leadership.

“They should come out openly to occupy what they have fought for. We should make noise for what is rightfully ours. Your mouth will save you.

We should never give up trying,” said Mmbwavi. Her solemn vow is to never attack a fellow woman.

She explains: “There is room for negotiation and if it means stepping down for a fellow woman I will, but she has to deserve it and be convincing enough in terms of integrity, vision, education and with a good track record.”

She adds: “Women need to appreciate, support and love each other by action in sisterhood. Men in power are manipulative therefore we should strive to be different, stand in solidarity and not hide behind others.”

Another challenge is that women are poor in attending meetings. Women are known to only show up if there is an incentive for them. One cannot blame them for this considering majority of them have the responsibility of providing for their families.

For Mmbwavi leadership goes hand in hand with family. If a woman does not have a strong family support system in terms of values, then it poses a challenge when fighting for political recognition.

It is time for young women leaders Continued from page 1

cal party no matter how small or unpopular it is. It plays a major role in gaining one visibility and political leverage.

According to Ms Maria Okong’o, Project Manager at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in charge of Political Leadership Development Programme, there should be a mechanism for political party engagement with young women.

“Having a functional democracy calls for having functional political parties. Appointments to political positions come through political parties. Being an independent candidate does not build you,” says Okong’o.

Participants engage in discussions during the young women forum. A lot of mobilisation for young women needs to be done so that they are able to form strong networks.

Picture: Courtesy YWLI

Party affiliation She encourages young women with interest in politics to join political parties, not on basis of ethnicity and tribe but ambition.

“Joining a political party should be an individual choice and not influenced by other external factors such as tribe or race. You should always consider the image you make for yourself as a young woman. Do not wait to be invited on the political table,” reiterates Okong’o.

Young women should make the effort to pay for their ticket to parliament and not accept to be bought.

As a young aspirant, one has got to believe in what a particular party has to offer in terms of policies. According to the publication Institutionalising Political Parties in Kenya by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, political parties both opposition and ruling — must participate in policy formulation.

Policies This will enable creating and sustaining working parties that is critical to democratic governance. Whichever party one chooses to join, they should be able to weigh and identify if the policies are in line with their agenda in leadership and if it is able to move the agenda forward.

Although the new Constitution has much to offer for the Kenyan women, there are challenges ahead. Issues like finances, discrimination, political patronage and commitment will always arise. Women must move away

from the ignorance school of thought that women do not have the capacity to occupy democratic space.

Former YWLI Executive Director Ms Saida Ali emphasises the lack of young women’s representation in political leadership.

She reiterates that it is only possible to bring change with dedication, self love and loving fellow women.

“Women do not need to be given anything.

We are able to work twice as hard for what men have,” says Ali. Women can move the world by becoming women of substance, having their issues discussed and not being envious when one has managed to get there. “We need to be proud and supportive,” says Ali. Speaking at the same forum, Nominated Member of Parliament Rachel Shebesh argues that if women were united, then they would rule the world. “A young woman is a new idea,

“Women do not need to be given anything. We are able to work twice as hard for what men have,” — Saida Ali

new insight,” says Shebesh.

Young women have been given the chance by the older ones who fought for the space and they should make the effort to enjoy and learn from their experiences and the opportunities ahead. The older generation that fought for women’s liberation suffered humiliation and intimidation in order to pave way for younger women to get the space.

Shebesh who received the leadership mantle on behalf of the younger generation said: “I see no reason to sit in office to continue serving if there is another woman with ambition and vision, ready and capable to serve in my capacity.” She adds: “County governments could not have come at a better time.”

A lot of mobilisation for young women needs to be done so they are able to form a strong network that will empower them on political matters through civic education, training and political mentorship programmes, leadership and education.

According to Ms Susan Kariuki from Women Agenda, “it is time to replace civic education with civil engagement.”

Says Kariuki: “We want affirmative action within affirmative action. Half of those county seats have to go to young women and we have to align ourselves strategically.”

Way forward …By Mercy Mumo

Y

oung women have vowed to embrace leadership through exchanging ideas in their different counties, networking, supporting each other, going back to school and working together in unity for a common cause in political engagement.

Young women can stand up and be part of decision making because majority of the issues that affect them are better addressed by a woman rather than having somebody else speak on our behalf.

Young learned women have become too comfortable with what they have achieved while women in the grassroots have been forgotten. Young women need to move away from the mentality of waiting for things to happen and pointing an accusing finger when nothing happens. It is time young women stopped waiting for something to happen and did something about it.

Young women have to learn and start negotiating in political matters. It is important that they are included and engage in the country’s devolution structures of government.

Young women must fight to influence decisions in this country. They must use their numbers, strength and resources as well as unity to propel one of their own to the hot seat.

5

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Youth tasked to ensure implementation of gains …By Faith Muiruri

Y

oung women from all walks of life recently gathered at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) to mark the human rights festival organised by the Young Women Leadership Institute (YWLI).

The women drawn from different parts of the country united in a resounding affirmation that they will jointly push for the implementation of the gains espoused in the Constitution during the festival dubbed Kenya Freshi…Niko Set. They were tasked to take up the mantle in their respective areas to ensure that the rights of women are upheld and that young women benefit from the affirmative action entrenched in the Constitution.

“One of the struggles for women has been access to political leadership and decision making positions in the

country. However quests for affirmative action have not succeeded as bills sent to Parliament have not sailed through,” said Sophie Ngugi, Executive Director YWLI. She said that presidential declarations and policies have not done enough to elevate the position of both women and girls in the country.

Under representation “Women remain under represented with the highest decision making organ having only a mere 9.5 percent representation of women and similarly low numbers in other positions,” Ngugi said.

She reiterated that the few women in parliament are over 35 years with a small percentage under the official youth bracket.

She said that it has increasingly become difficult for young women to access national decision making posi-

tions despite their potential in leadership.

“The youth in Kenya have a major role to play in ensuring the rights of all women and men and in ensuring that the citizenry benefit from provisions in the proposed constitution,” reiterated Ngugi.

She said lack of appreciation of the rights of women and girls has contributed to violence which makes it even harder for young women to access public offices and space.

The Human Rights Reggae Festival was initiated as a response to the 2007-2008 post election violence, under the Positive Vibrations Project.

It entails the use of reggae music that has positive messages on peaceful coexistence and has been used as a tool to urge the youth to be agents of change by promoting efforts that Young women enjoy themselves during the human rights festival. They focus on good governance and peace were tasked to take up the mantle of leadership to ensure young women building. benefit from affirmative action. Picture: Courtesy YWLI

Fear of attack leaves women prisoners in their homes …By Amnesty International

U

ntil two months ago, Amina always felt safe going to the toilet at dusk. Then she would feel secure as it was not too late. However, things have changed and it is no longer business as usual.

“I always underestimated the threat of violence,” said Amina, 19, and a resident of the Mathare slum in Nairobi. “I would go to the latrine any time provided it was not too late.

This was until about two months ago when I was almost raped.”

Amina was attacked by a group of four men while she walked to the latrine at 7pm. They hit her, undressed her and were about to rape her when her cries were heard and area residents came to her rescue. Although she knew one of the men, Amina did not report to the police as she feared reprisal attacks.

Amina is not alone in her predicament. Women and girls in Nairobi’s slums are living under constant threat of sexual violence. Movement has becomes a problem and they are too scared to leave their houses to use communal toilet and bathroom facilities, Amnesty International said in a report released recently.

Danger The report Insecurity and Indignity: Women’s Experiences in the Slums of Nairobi, Kenya details how failure of the Government to incorporate the slums in urban plans and budgets has resulted in poor access to services like sanitation, which hits women in slums and informal settlements especially hard.

“Women in Nairobi’s settlements become prisoners in their own homes at night and sometimes well before it is dark,” said Mr Godfrey Odongo, Amnesty International East Africa

A section of Kibera slum. Many women in informal settlements resort to ‘flying toilets’ at night because of risk of insecurity.

Picture: Correspondent

researcher. “They need more privacy than men when going to the toilet or taking a bath and the inaccessibility of facilities make women vulnerable to rape, leaving them trapped in their own homes.

“The fact that they are unable to access even the limited communal toilet facilities also puts them at risk of illness.”

The situation is compounded by lack of police presence in the slums and when women fall victim to violence they are unlikely to see justice done. Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum and home to up to a million people, has no police post.

Unable to leave their one-roomed shacks after dark, many women in informal settlements resort to ‘flying

toilets’ — using plastic bags thrown from the doorstep to dispose of waste.

The women also told Amnesty International how the poor sanitary conditions they live in — which include widespread disposal of human waste in the open due to lack of adequate access to toilets — directly contributes to cases of poor health and to high health care costs.

Other women describe the humiliation of having to bath in front of their relatives and children. Even by day, public bathroom facilities are few and far between and invariably involve walking long distances. According to official figures, only 24 per cent of residents in Nairobi’s informal settlements have access to toilet fa-

cilities at household level.

Despite some positive features, Kenya’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) policies to meet the target on sanitation do not address the specific needs of women who face the threat of violence because they lack adequate sanitation.

“There is a huge gap between what the Government commits to do, and what is going on in the slums everyday,” said Odongo.

“Kenya’s national policies recognise the rights to sanitation and there are laws and standards in place. However, because of decades of failure to recognise slums and informal settlements, planning laws and regulations are not enforced in these areas.

“The lack of enforcement of these

laws has ensured that landlords and structure owners in the slums can get away without providing any toilets or shower places for their tenants,” explains Odongo.

Lack of security of tenure also remains a long standing problem for tenants, despite a national land policy in place, removing any incentives that landlords or owners could have to ensure proper sanitation and measures to increase security.

Amnesty International calls on the Kenyan government to enforce landlords’ obligations to construct toilets and bathrooms in the slums and settlements and provide assistance to structure owners who are unable to meet the costs of constructing toilets and bathrooms.

6

Baroness Vivien Stern Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Volunteering to empower women …By Florence Sipalla

“I am not an aristocrat, I come from an ordinary family,” Baroness Vivienne Stern says of herself as she explains that her title comes from the Upper House (House of Lords) of the British Parliament where she has been an independent member since 1999.

But the Baroness is no ordinary parliamentarian, at least by Kenyan standards. The KenyanWoman met her when she was in the country volunteering at the Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW) over a period of two weeks.

Volunteer Parliamentarians in UK have a responsibility to volunteer their time and expertise to different organisations during the time in which they are serving. Through VSO-Jitolee, an organisation that works through volunteers to fight poverty in developing countries, Stern identified COVAW as the organisation to work with.

At COVAW, she contributed to their advocacy work around various bills key among them the Marriage, Matrimonial Property and Family Protection as well as Equal Opportunities Bill at community and national levels.

Her presence also helped COVAW knock on doors that would have been difficult to access.

The trip was a challenge to Kenyan MPs because the culture of volunteerism has not been ingrained in the august House.

Civil society Before she joined Parliament, Baroness Stern was an active member of the civil society in Britain. She worked on human rights issues around justice, women’s rights, the death penalty and opposition to the Iraq war. She was involved in social movement pushing for social change in various organisations.

Civil society in Britain is very active and it would organise meetings with parliamentarians where they ask questions about issues of concern. The Baroness indicates that the experience gained in civil society has come in handy in the course of her work in the House.

Baroness Stern is best known in the UK for leading a government review on how rape complaints are handled from the time when a rape case is first disclosed up to the point when the court reaches a verdict on the issue.

The report dubbed ‘The Stern Review on Reporting Rape in England and Wales’ was published in March 2010.

In giving her thoughts on the report, the Baroness is quoted: “I was privileged to be invited by the Government Equalities Office and the Home Office to carry out this independent review into the treatment of rape complaints by public authorities.

Crime response For over 40 years I have been involved in work to improve the way society responds to crime and criminals. During that time I have often voiced concern that we have failed to understand what a caring society should be doing to respond to those who have been harmed by crime.

This review has allowed me to study at first hand how one particular group of victims — the victims of rape — are treated, and to recommend how we can do better.”

In the report the Baroness describes sexual violence thus: “Rape takes place within a wider social context. Many of its victims are very vulnerable.”

In the ‘The Stern Review’, the Baroness recommends that an independent sexual violence advisor be appointed for victims of sexual violence.

The advisor would offer psychological support to the victim and also guide them through the legal process. It would be interesting to see the findings that would emerge from a similar study in Kenya, one that would evaluate the impact of the gender desks at our local police stations.

Prison reforms Baroness Stern has done extensive work on prison reforms and published five books on the subject. She has not only highlighted improvements needed to this impassioned area of criminal justice but has done so in a personal, dedicated and professional way.

“I am not a punishment oriented person,” she says but reiterates “there is need to have alternative measures for dealing with offenders”.

Stern observes: “I am very much in favour of protecting women. There are those people who have to be locked away but more importantly, there are those whom you can bring to an understanding that they can go out and live life differently.”

She highlights the importance of rehabilitation, as offenders cannot be locked away forever. “There needs to be a conscious effort to assist those who can be rehabilitated to integrate into society upon serving their jail terms.”

During her volunteer stint in Kenya, Baroness Stern visited the Gender Based Violence Recovery Centre (GBVRC) at Kenyatta Hospital. She described the programme as being humane in its care of patients who are victims of gender based violence. Following her visit to the GBVRC, the Baroness admired the bravery of the patients and described them as courageous for being able to narrate what had happened to them.

Lessons learnt Asked what lessons she learnt in the course of her work, the Baroness highlighted the importance of raising awareness on gender roles.

“It is important men know that women have autonomy.”

She observes that it look long for rape in marriage to be recognised under UK law. It was only until 1991, that rape in marriage was recognised as an offence. “Women are entitled to say ‘no’ at any time,” she says adding that it takes a process of deep education on the subject for this message to be passed on.

The Baroness reiterates that both women and men have a role to play in changing attitudes. “It is about ideas,” she says.

The Baroness describes herself as “just a very lucky person”. Nothing shows of her age.

She was born on September 25, 1941. She was raised to the peerage as Baroness Stern of Vauxhall in the London Borough of Lambeth in 1999.

Stern is Senior Research Fellow at the International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) at King’s College, London, a university centre dedicated to the study of imprisonment and its uses around the world. She is also an Honorary President of Penal Reform International (PRI), an NGO promoting penal

“I am very much in favour of protecting women. There are those people who have to be locked away but more importantly, there are those whom you can bring to an understanding that they can go out and live life differently.”

— Baroness Vivienne Stern reform throughout the world, of which she was a founder member and secretary-general from 1989-2005.

She is currently a member of the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights.

In 2003 Baroness Stern became the Convenor of the Scottish Consortium on Crime and Criminal Justice. She is also a member of the Scottish National Advisory Board on Offender Management, which advises the Scottish Executive (the government of Scotland) on penal policy.

She has written many books on penal matters. She has a particular interest in health care in prisons and in 1999 she edited Sen-

tenced to Die? The problem of TB in prisons in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, published

by ICPS and available in English and Russian.

She has studied alternatives to prison around the world and in 2002 she produced Developing Alternatives to Prison in East and Central Europe and Central Asia (published by COLPI, Budapest in English and Russian).

She was keen to give any help and ideas and learn a lot during her time at COVAW. Part of her learning incorporated a site visit to a sustainable livelihoods programme at DolDol, Nanyuki in addition to meetings with policy makers in the country.

Extra information from the Internet

7

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Violence against women goes on unabated in Kuria community …by Odhiambo Odhiambo

T

he world has been marking 16 days of activism against violence. The campaign is an advocacy that seeks to reduce cases of violence against women.

However, in some communities, violence against women continues unabated even with laws in place that are supposed to curb the vice.

Violence against women is still high among members of the Kuria community despite the punitive measures put by the government after the enactment of the sexual offence Act in 2006.

Between January 2009 and June 2010, the Kuria East and Kuria West Districts registered the worst grip on the crime, with the leading one being sexual abuse.

Police cases While national statistics indicate that every 30 minutes a woman is sexually assaulted in Kenya, research has revealed that rape and defilement were recorded after every two days in the region during this period.

Often, it was a baby girl, a girl or a woman who was subjected to the dehumanizing experience, which leaves the victims’ souls with lifetime scars, if they are lucky to survive the ordeal.

According to the children’s department in the area, about 300 cases of sexual abuse were reported between January and December 2009.

“This is the number we handled in our office. We do not know the number of cases reported to the police during the same period to give you an accurate figure for the whole year,” said Mr John Langat, area district children’s officer.

However, local police confirmed handling some 600 rape and other forms of sexual harassment cases, including abusive language and gestures, sexual advances, touching and grop-

ing, passing unwanted notes and character assassination through graphics.

“However, not all cases of rape and other forms of sexual assault were reported, meaning that the number could be much higher than quoted,” says a police report on the genderbased violence.

Silence Statistics which have been compiled in local hospitals, as well as by community and faith-based organisations, where the victims go for treatment and counselling approximate that there were at least 1,000 rapes and defilements during the period, indicating an increase of about 400 cases compared to previous years.

However, many victims opted to remain silent fearing embarrassment, humiliation and shame.

“Most victims were often times silent sufferers, particularly those who were in the same environment with their attackers,” says Langat.

According to Mrs Caroline Oloo, a psychiatrist based in Kehancha Town, sexual violence has many harmful consequences, both short and long term, which include trauma, depression, unwanted pregnancy, pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, STDs, partial or permanent disability, HIV/ Aids, suicide and death. “Psychological consequences of sexual violence include fear, distrust, and anxiety, feelings of guilt and shame, depression and even thoughts of suicide,” says Oloo.

A national survey carried out on child abuse in Kenya in 2006 indicate that nearly two out of 10 girls who have been raped or defiled become pregnant and close to three out of 10 contract a sexually transmitted infection.

Oloo says that survivors of sexual violence suffer from isolation, stigmatization, poor performance at work, absenteeism and financial difficulties.

“The impact of sexual offences on school girls is greater given that they

have a young mind and cannot cope with such stressful circumstances,” she explains. “Sexual harassment has far reaching implications for teaching and learning processes. Consider a girl who has just been sexually harassed by a male teacher. Such a girl will be traumatised and unable to concentrate on her studies. The presence of the perpetrator will elicit anger, fear and resentment that hinder learning,” Oloo reiterates.

Her sentiments are supported by Langat who says: “To a great extent this affects the girl’s participation in education.”

Langat describes Kuria region as a hot spot for school dropout among girls who have undergone sexual abuse. Information available at the department estimates that some 200 girls dropped out of school in 2009 alone as a result of unwanted pregnancies. Of the number, about 10 per cent of the girls dropped out because of pregnancies borne out of rape and defilement.

The remaining number was pushed out of school as result of forced or early marriage, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and child labour practices. Pregnancy and eventual early marriage of the girls were mainly perpetrated by the victim’s fellow pupils and students, their own teachers and roaming old men in villages.

A civic leader in the region, Councillor Peter Kihita from Kehancha Municipal Council blames teachers for the high dropout rate among the local girls. “Some teachers and staff in the ministry have formed habits of reducing the girls to their wives

and sexual tools without any reprisal from the Government even when the cases are reported,” noted Kihita A part from sexual violence, other forms of violence against women are also rife in the region and several non-governmental organisation as well as community and faith-based groups have for years been forced to pitch camps in the area to try and fight them. Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organization, Action Aid Kenya, Germany Technical Agency (GTZ) and Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA) have been very vocal against what they call outdated practices.

For five consecutive years since 2004, these organisations have not shied away from sponsoring programmes on alternative rites of passage for girls opposed to female circumcision.

But regrettably, majority of their graduands end up being forcefully cut immediately they return home from the secluded camps. Uncircumcised girls in the community are considered “outcasts” and cannot be married by local men, the community’s tradition dictates.

Education officials in the area say most girls from the community are usually married off by their parents in exchange of dowry immediately after the cut, leading to massive dropout of girls.

Area MP Dr Wilfred Machage who has been so critical about the outdated practices has always told the provincial administration and the police to arrest and prosecute parents who marry off their daughters.

Hopefully with the new consti-

While national statistics indicate that every 30 minutes a woman is sexually assaulted in Kenya, research has revealed that rape and defilement were recorded after every two days in the region during this period.

Some of the victims of domestic violence who were camping at the Wangira Bose camp in Kuria East District. They were being supported

by Non-Governmental Organisations before local chiefs held a baraza to reconcile them with their violent husbands. Picture: Odhiambo Odhiambo tutional dispensation, the girls will have the law on their side. The new law speaks inherently of defending every citizen including the marginalised and vulnerable groups.

Article 26 speaks of equality and freedom from discrimination. Section 2 says: “Women and men have a right to equal treatment including the right to equal opportunities in political, economic, cultural and social spheres.”

This includes right to education.

Speaking of human dignity Article 27 says: “Every person has inherent dignity and the right to have that dignity respected and protected.

Article 28 speaks of freedom and security of the person which includes (c) “the right not to be subjected to any form of violence either in private or public sources”.

Rights Article 28 (d) says: Every person has the right to freedom and security which includes the right not to be subjected to torture, in any manner whether physical or psychological”, or (e) “subjected to corporal punishment or to be treated or punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading manner”.

With the new law, a lot of constitutionalism needs to be taken to Kuria, so they can understand that the Constitution is supreme to any other law including culture.

Kuria women who have been subjected to violence have room for reprieve because the Constitution says in Article 26 (5) that “to give full realisation of the rights guaranteed under this article (on equality and freedom from discrimination), the State shall take legislative and other measures, including but not limited to affirmative action programmes and policies, designed to redress any disadvantaged suffering by individuals or groups as a result of past discrimination.

Civic education for women in Kuria is the key that will open the doors that will bring violence against women in the region to a stop.

8

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Women in a celebratory mood after receiving credit from Kenya Women Finance Trust. By advancing loans to women and empowering them through their Community Development Committees, the development of rural areas stands a chance of improving economically. Picture: Correspondent

MDGs better for empowering women …By Duncan Mboyah

E

mpowering women remains a challenge even as the clock ticks towards the end of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target of 2015.

Getting girls to attend school, getting women in decision making and leadership positions as well as creating an enabling environment for women to be economically independent remains a big test.

However, the MDGS stand a better chance of empowering women in developing countries in sustaining their own projects once it adopts bottom-up approach by using innovative programmes to increase literacy rates in marginalised communities.

By advancing loans to local women through their Community Development Committees and not necessarily through the loaning institutions, the development of rural areas also standa chance of improving.

Women’s group A look at what women’s groups have achieved is a good example that can be borrowed from the success stories of women’s groups all over Kenya.

Under this initiative, women can be given another loan after repaying their first loan to start other investment depending with their priorities.

This is the way to see development under the MDGs if bottom-up approach is adopted.

Local committees should be encouraged to support their members with income generating initiatives and eco-friendly job skills training.

The members prioritise the community’s needs — access to essential services such as health facilities and legal assistance. They should also develop an action plan to address them.

The community based mechanism has proven to be highly effective in promoting the kind of devel-

opment that the local communities require. The committees also encourage members to form savings and credit groups.

Poverty reduction initiatives have the best effects when they target women, because they are the most affected, under-employed, and they are the ones caring for children.

The paucity of women in decisionmaking positions contributed to difficulties in achieving gender equality in the conservative traditions in subSaharan Africa. Even though a legal framework to protect women’s rights exists in most countries, a presidential decree is needed to improve lack of understanding on gender equality among key decision makers that has resulted in poor implementation of the social legislation.

Civil society organisations can help in creating dialogue to promote the entry of women in national parliament, build a sustainable network between female politicians and civil society and develop capacity of decision makers to address gender issues.

Achieving good maternal health for all women encompasses ensuring women transition safely from pregnancy to childbirth. This involves delivery of a series of reproductive health services and interventions for prevention and management of pregnancy and childbirth complications.

In the developing world, women are more likely than men to work in vulnerable employment — either as own-account workers or as contributing family workers — characterised by low earnings and productivity as

well as lack of security and benefits.

While own-account work is male-dominated, women make up the majority of contributing family workers. In 2009, one in every four employed women in the developing regions worked as a contributing family worker, compared to only one in every nine employed men.

It is imperative that such women are given financial assistance to help them start their income generating activities of their choice.

Treatment Educated women are more likely to decide on the timing and spacing of births. Use of contraceptives is highest among women with secondary or higher education. Only 10 per cent of women without education use contraceptives; this low percentage has remained unchanged since the mid 1990s. On the other hand, the proportion of women with primary or higher education who are using contraceptives has increased.

In 2008, 45 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV in developing countries received antiretroviral therapy, up from 15 per cent in 2005.

However, coverage is still insufficient to prevent all mother-to-child infections. An estimated 430,000 children were newly infected with HIV in 2008. Antiretroviral therapy can substantially reduce the percentage of children infected in the womb and around the time of birth.

Specific antiretroviral therapies also can protect women’s health and prevent contagion during breastfeed-

Poverty reduction initiatives have the best effects when they target women, because they are the most affected, under-employed, and they are the ones caring for children.

ing. Without the appropriate antiretroviral therapy women might decide to not breastfeed their babies, putting them at a higher risk of serious illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia.

Moreover, the option of breast milk formulae is often not feasible because of cost or unavailability.

The African Union and governments within the continent have been asked to seriously involve women in all leadership positions.

Women leaders have called on the region’s governments to ensure that MDGs are achieved within the period specified by the UN. Speaking at a Nairobi hotel during a side event meeting at the African Union’s Women and Gender Development Directorate conference, the women representatives said that women in rural areas require quality leadership to be able to change their socio-economic development.

Groots Kenya National Chair Ms Esther Muiru thanked the United Nations for coming up with a purely women’s agency.

“This is the first time that the world leaders are showing that they appreciate the role played by women in developing their countries since United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) that was long thought to be a women’s agency and has not done much in empowering women to become strong politically,” explained Muiru.

According to Ms Loise Addo of Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF) West Africa, the organization has helped empower 60 percent of women in the region on their human and legal rights.

She said that out of the training workshops, women farmers are now allocated land in major commercial towns, something that was unthinkable several years ago.

“We have trained 243 legal literacy volunteers who are working with

women in rural areas and has so far reached 57,253 people — 37,395 women and 19,858 men,” Addo explained.

She said that WiLDAF in collaboration with local authorities has also formed 135 committees in five countries to train women on ways of combating domestic violence.

The Executive Director of Women’s and Young Peoples Leadership Academy (iCon), Ms Deborah Kaddu-Serwadda commended the work done by pioneer women leaders who set up goals during the Beijing conference in 1995.

She said that it is such movements that have led to the changes that women are enjoying today and not necessarily the Millennium Development Goals.

“We need to re-commit ourselves by doing what is good for us in attaining more leadership positions in our countries,” she added.

Initiative Kaddu-Serwadda welcomed all development initiatives aimed at empowering women through bottomup approach and not top-bottom. She said such initiatives must also be free of technocratic language that are not easily consumed by rural women.

The long-term objective for realising the MDG goal on environmental conservation is for policy makers and planners to ensure that all current and upcoming public programmes work towards providing affordable, reliable and sustainable energy services.

Experts should demonstrate the best existing energy technologies that can be easily adopted by the poor and by extension encourage people to make the most of the energy sources they use.

Over reliance on charcoal should be reduced by adopting the using improved firewood stoves as a way of reducing deforestation.

9

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Protecting the family through law …By Jane Godia

T

he dictionary defines family as a group of people living under one roof. These are people who have a relationship either through blood or by certain actions like marriage.

The family is the basic unit in society consisting of two or a single parent rearing children. However, within this family there are certain issues that need protection of the law for the unit to remain stable. To make the family stable as it is the foundation in which society stands, it remains imperative that laws touching on this unit be reformed as the country engages in constitution implementation.

Nurturing The family is very important in our lives because it helps in shaping our lives and improving our personality. It also teaches us the value of love, affection, care, truthfulness and self confidence. It also provides us with the tools and suggestions which are necessary for us.

In almost all societies women remain the key to holding a family together. When a woman suffers the whole family suffers. When a woman dies, then most probably her family will disintegrate. Her children will run away from home and the man, if he is there will not be able to hold it together. It is the women, whether educated or illiterate, rich or poor who take up the traditional roles of the family needs of caring for and nurturing it.

It is, therefore, important that there must be laws and policies that help hold the family together. In this case both man and woman must take up responsibility for their marriage and children. When the responsibility fails, there must be laws that protect the family. This then calls for the Family Protection Bill.

One of the major factors that affect the family greatly is violence.

This is the case where the woman and her children are normally abused physically, psychologically and emotionally mainly by the male head of the household. The abuse goes on to the extent that the family members suffer. Unless laws are put in place to protect them, they end up suffering.

There is a lot of violence going on in families and hence the need to curb it using laws of the land.

The law should be able to intervene immediately if one suffers violence from within the family.

Simply put, it is imperative that citizens are protected even within the home. After breaking the culture of silence on violence, then the law must take effect.

Family bill The Family Protection Bill seeks to have certain things within this entity protected by the rule of law. In general, the Family Bill which was due for tabling in Parliament before the promulgation of the Constitution needs to be revisited so that it is aligned with the new law.

The new Constitution as currently constituted gives a lot of emphasis

A family enjoys spending time together. The new Constitution provides the basis for family protection and also intends to eliminate violence within the family. Picture: Internet to the family. While old Constitution hardly paid attention to issues that protected the woman and her children, women’s rights activists sought to have the bill published as it would give women space to fight for rights within the family.

It is in this new thinking that the Federation of Women lawyers (FIDA) among other organisations are working at harmonising the Family Protection Bill so that it is aligned to the new Constitution.

Harmonisation According to Ms Nancy Baraza, a member of the Kenya Law Reform Commission, the Family Bill emanated from FIDA because the lawyers wanted to find solutions or a place for women to air their grievances and find help.

“Family Protection Bill came about as there was need to critique our patriarchal society and also look into ways of addressing domestic violence,” explained Baraza.

Speaking to representatives of women’s organisations that sought ways into which the Family Protection Bill could be enhanced, Baraza said it was imperative that the Bill is harmonised with the new Constitution which recognizes the family.

Article 45 of the Constitution recognises the family as being natural and fundamental. Section 1 says: “The family is the natural and fundamental unit of society and the necessary basis of social order and shall enjoy the recognition and protection of the state.”

The Constitution, therefore seeks to protect the family in many of the articles therein. Domestic violence that remains a great impediment to women’s advancement, had initially

been the core of the Family Protection Bill. In Giving the objective of the bill in Clause 5 (a) says: The object of the Act shall prevent violence in domestic relations hips by recognising that domestic violence is all its forms is unacceptable behaviour and; 5 (b) Ensuring that where domestic violence occurs, there is legislative protection for the victims.

This is in harmony with the Constitution which in Article 25 (a) says: “Despite any other provision in this Constitution, the following rights and fundamental freedoms shall not be limited freedom from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

By improving on this Bill it will then translate into good for the woman and for the family.

The basis of the Bill is to redress some of the challenges that members of FIDA have come across on matters affecting the family.

According to Ms Jane Dwasi, a lecturer of law at the University of Nairobi, it is important that society turns to law whenever it is faced with problems.

“The Family Protection Bill therefore must be linked with provisions within the new Constitution.

“There is now a constitutional basis for many of the challenges that we have been faced with,” said Dwasi.

She added: “It is important

that everyone understands the Constitutional basis for family protection. The Constitution sets out for the first time what Kenya’s core values are as a society.”

In article 10 (2)(b) states that: The national values and principles of governance include human dignity, equity, social justice, inclusiveness, equality, human rights, nondiscrimination and protection of the marginalised.”

The Constitution through this article provides the basis for family protection and also intends to eliminate violence within the family.

It is also important to recognise that within the Constitution, some of the provisions are informed by cultural practices that foster domestic violence. It is important that the Constitution deals with negative cultural practices that would foster domestic violence.

Article 59 looks at the advancement of human rights in private institutions and this includes the family.

This provision allows encroaching on domestic matters which previously worked against women. The provision allows other persons other than the victims themselves to take action.

Article 59 (3) says: “Every person has the right to complain to the Commission alleging that a right or fundamental freedom in the Bill of Rights has been denied, infringed, violated or is threatened.

The Family Bill which was due for tabling in Parliament before the promulgation of the Constitution needs to be revisited so that it is aligned with the new law.

Article 53 focuses on the children not just in the context of the family but in other spheres. According to Dwasi this is one area that has a limitation the family Protection Bill.

The new law also allows for equal rights in marriage and this should also be included in the Family Protection Bill. Equal right during marriage and at the point of termination of marriage as well as equal access to the matrimonial home is a boon for women within the new law.

“These are details that need to be incorporated within the Family Bill,” reiterates Dwasi.

Challenges However, even as women seek to improve of the Family Bill, they need to beware of negative changes that would come with the new Constitution.

For instance elimination of chiefs who have been very instrumental in intervening in domestic violence would greatly affect women especially in rural areas.

“Chiefs have protected widows when their property is being taken away and in almost all cases where widows are maltreated,” explains Dwasi. She adds: “It is the chiefs who had the legal right to protect women in the rural areas. We need to look at the role of chiefs in family protection.”

And as Kenya moves towards implementation of the new law, Bills such as the marriage Bill; Family Protection Bill: and Matrimonial Property Bill need to be revised to align them with the Constitution to get more protection for women and children.

10

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Tanzania, almost but not yet there in women’s political empowerment

anzania is one country in Africa that has seen her women picked for major international jobs. These are particularly appointments where the government has to lobby for their candidate.

The United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Dr Asha Rose Migiro is a Tanzanian. The immediate former long serving Executive Director of Habitat Dr Anna Tibaijuka is also a Tanzanian.

(GGG) report.

The 2010 GGG Index ranks the country at 66th position, from 73rd last year, five points down the ladder.

The ranking covered 134 countries surveyed world-wide with regard to gender disparities based on imbalances in economic participation, education, health and political empowerment.

In the East Africa region, Uganda is the top performer in the global ranking this year at 33rd position, up from 40th last year, while Kenya has moved one position higher to 96th.

Speakers

Media blackout

Out of the international sphere, locally Tanzania made a mark on the African map when she picked a woman as Speaker of the National Assembly. Ms Anne Makinda, 61, took the oath of office soon after the President Jakaya Kikwete was sworn in. With her triumph, Tanzania joins the list of few countries that have had women speakers around the world.

Currently other African countries with speakers are Rwanda, Mozambique, Botswana and Ghana.

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, women occupy only 15.3 per cent of the total number of over 268 posts of presiding officers of parliaments.

Makinda from Chama Cha Mapinduzi was declared Speaker after polling 265 votes to defeat the opposition candidate and prominent advocate, Mr Mabere Marando, who managed to garner 53 votes. A total of 327 MPs cast their ballots in the exercise in Dodoma, where the country has its Parliament, presided over by special seats MP, Ms Anna Abdallah.

In the just concluded General Elections, women were not visible in the campaigns. The media gave them a total blackout and only concentrated on a few male MPs. The only women visible in the media were Mama Salma Kikwete, wife of CCM presidential candidate and incumbent Jakaya Kikwete and her Zanzibar counterpart who is wife of immediate former President Mr Amani Abeid Karume.

These women were out campaigning for the Presidential candidates and CCM yet they got more space and air time than candidates who were vying.

It was only when the immediate former MP for Arusha Urban Dr Batilda Buriani lost her seat and refused to concede defeat that the media gave her attention.

Just before the elections, the Gender and Media Southern Africa (GEMSA) noted that the media was not giving equal measure of space to women. In a workshop held in Tanzania, a survey of daily election stories in local newspapers undertaken by participants confirmed that the voices of women politicians in the media are negligible compared to men, who were found to dominate as sources and subjects of election stories.

While Tanzania has had affirmative action running for a long time, women have not been able to make in roads on elective political posts. They have almost failed to even go past the nomination stage.

…By Jane Godia

T

Mileage Generally Tanzania has given space to her women through Affirmative Action. It is one country that stands out among those being counted as to being gender sensitive. The country’s mixed constituency and proportional representation system sets aside these seats but also allows women to contest for seats in the National Assembly.

The President has a constitutional right to appoint others to represent minorities and political parties can vote for 75 women MPs on a basis of proportional representation. About a quarter of the parliament is not directly elected.

However, the Affirmative Action is what has given the country mileage in gender ranking. Despite Tanzania having ratified several international gender equality protocols, the country is yet to give women full access to employment, economy and decision making organs. Gender disparities in the said spheres have continued to widen, although the situation is slightly better than five years ago, according to the latest Global Gender Gap

Patriarchy Most women who vied for elective seats in the elections ended up being in the small insignificant parties.

While there are many political parties in the country, attitude towards the Chama Cha Mapinduzi which was for a long time the only party have not changed. Most voters still face challenges brought about by practicing patriarchy and cannot elect women.

Tanzania political parties still suffer the hangover that with the special seats women do not have to go for elective positions.

The Global Gender Gap Index notes that in Tanzania the ratio of women to men in parliament stood at

Supporters during a political rally in Tanzania. Inset: a supporter with the party acronym painted on her cheek. Despite Tanzania having affirmative action, women have not been able to make inroads on elective political posts. Pictures: Courtesy of Julius Mucunguzi, Commonwealth Secretariat 31 to 69, while a similar comparison on ministerial positions was 27 to 73.

The report reiterates that ratification of gender protocols should be followed by action as well as a change of attitude by society towards women to give them equal participation in politics, and all other spheres of life, starting from the family level.

Women must also be included in all decision making levels of the economy because they already constitute 90 per cent of the informal sector in many countries, the report states.

It further suggests that the health sector should be revamped and supported financially so that it becomes easily accessible to both men and women.

Opposition While the CCM even has a women’s wing and enjoys a lot of rural support, it has not prevailed upon its supporters to nominate women to elective positions. Out of over 239 candidates, there were only 27 wom-

en vying for Parliamentary posts. Out of these five went in unopposed.

While Chadema, the leading opposition party had 180 candidates but none in Zanzibar. Out of these, there were only 10 women candidates including those who were for special seats and four for competitive posts.

However, according to Ms Mary Rusimbi, executive director Tanzania Gender Network Programme (TGNP) despite there being an enabling positive environment, women have not been successful because political participation has been centred around political parties. “If one does not belong to a political party they are most likely to be left out,” explains Rusimbi.

TGNP has been providing ongoing civic education through public debates where they discuss various issues.

A coalition of more than 50 women’s organisations, known as Feminist Activism Coalition worked on gender

equality to be able to engage government among other players.

Civic education “We are creating awareness among women so they can engage with political parties and vie for seats,” explained Rusimbi.

Newly-declared victor for Kawe Constituency under Chadema ticket, Ms Halima Mdee was quoted in the Press after being declared winner saying “politics was not a game for men alone and that everything was possible with determination and support.”

She added: “I hope my victory will encourage women to enter into politics so that more women will in future contest for the various positions.”

TGNP has lobbied to influence parties to have gender sensitive manifestos. Tanzania’s 30 per cent quota for women at national level is not enough to close the gap unless political parties put in place deliberate strategies to improve the lot of women politicians.

11

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

In praise of Africa’s woman president …By Dr Susan Kipketer-Chebet

W

hile Africa cannot pride itself in the same way as Latin America, when it comes to women in decision making, she has a small speck that is a cut above the rest.

Africa has written its own history in the election of a female president. Two perspectives have come together to support this event. Historically, a position of magnitude has not been dreamt of as going to a woman.

History shifts to gender where Africa is known not to tolerate “women as leaders due to social perspective”. In discussing the election of a woman president in Africa, care has to be taken not to take the social perception of society which determines roles played by men and women. These roles are assigned according to gender and dictate who does what in the development process.

The invisible interlinks of roles played by men and women in both family and society remain the fabrics which, though cannot be seen, are assumed to exist in strong bonds that hold men and women together. This is evidenced by the fact that outsiders visiting a community in an African setting might be mistaken to assume there are no close relationships between men and women and that decisions are made through dictatorial directives by men with women being passive participants.

Leadership By electing a female president, Africa has re-written her history, changed culture and reoriented her image. The perception of a female president has imprinted a different image of the occupant of the highest position.

The elevation of Her Excellency, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is not an act of force, coercion or gender balance, rather it is a process that has been reached through change in culture and its attributes. Culture is not static but dynamic, gradually changing the perceptions and understanding of society to appreciate that actors play different roles that complement each other.

The election of Sirleaf as the first woman president in Africa may border on an act of miracle to some people but for others it tells that it has reached a time when culture has been affected by change and has to accommodate perceptions that were not considered possible earlier.

As we celebrate the African womanhood in the name of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, it is worth noting that the process of achieving change cannot be measured. Change is not visible and can only be detected through the end products.

Sirleaf must be a special celebrity person to have been found suitable to occupy the highest seat on the land of an African country where the norm has been male domination.

A political career of over 30 years at her age cannot be underscored and remains a reminder of many challenges that have punctuated her adult life.

That she was imprisoned in 1980s for having criticised the military regime of the fierce Samuel Doe and later being charged for treason during Charles Taylor’s time makes her truly an ‘Iron Lady’.

Iron lady Sirleaf is not made of material of the faint hearted or the cowards who are ready to retreat with the slightest mock exercise. She is made of a strong will and determination that cannot be broken by ordinary means.

Liberian political veterans nicknamed her the ‘Iron Lady’. Her level of education and being a woman gave her an edge over her opponent in the runoff, former football star, George Weah.

The Africa of yesterday was known for coups and counter coups as well as endless conflicts where brother turned against brother fighting over scarce resources.

And Sirleaf took over a Liberian economy that had been shattered by war and persistent turmoil that could only be pieced together by the tender hands of a woman with gentle but steady calls for peace and prosperity.

Healing Sirleaf ’s election was not her own achievement but rather the success of a people who had suffered tyranny and dictatorship. These were a people only used to trouble, gunshots, street demonstrations and complete restlessness of men and women who would only breathe a sigh of relief upon choosing a cool and temperate leader.

During her campaigns, Sirleaf found a desperate population who needed someone to hold their hands and move on to build the country’s economy. Someone who would comfort them, uplift their spirits and heal their physical and

“I wanted to bring motherly sensitivity and emotion to the presidency as a way of healing the nation’s wounds of war.”

— Ellen Johnson Sirleaf psychological wounds.

It was from her campaign style that the population gave an indication that the next president must be a woman as she would use her femininity to calm the troubled waters of Liberia.

This is a time when everything must have gone wrong and “a woman was needed to put things right” said one waitress.

Sirleaf proclaimed she wanted to be president in order to “bring motherly sensitivity and emotion to the presidency” as a way of healing the nation’s wounds of war.

Her success in being elected the first female president in Africa has demystified the male dominance in this level of political leadership, having cut a picture different from the usual one that portrays the norm in African tradition.

Patience As Sirleaf continues to unpack her baggage of promises made during the electioneering period to the people of Liberia, the population should remain as patient as children waiting for their mother to unpack presents upon arrival from a long journey.

Sirleaf found fertile ground for change in the people of Liberia who had undergone devastating moments in their private and public lives.

The women who formed a large constituency longed for change having witnessed their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons suffering in the war torn country for many years and could not wait to see an end to it in the name of a new and caring woman president.

Refuge Like children running to their mother for refuge in times of danger, the people of Liberia ran into the open hands of Sirleaf.

Sirleaf had experienced enough terror to make her defiant and strong willed if she had to fulfil her mission of restoring dignity to the people of Liberia. She had witnessed 15 people pulled out of a prison cell and shot in cold blood.

From an earlier interview with Ann Curry, Sirleaf showed determination and a clear vision in the restoration plans for Liberia, which lost virtually everything during the 24 years of war.

Ascension to power takes a combination of multiple and complex processes, some invisible which must be ignored as every step counts, everything matters and so do remaining at the top. Long live Africa, long live Liberia and long live Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

The writer is a lecturer at Moi University.

Africa’s stable of women vice presidents grows bigger …By KenyanWoman Correspondent

A

s more and more women seeking space in high positions of governance and decision, Africa is trying to give itself a name by having more women at the vice presidential level.

Mauritius has appointed for the first time, a woman vice president, Ms Monique Oh San Bellepeau. It joins Malawi with Joyce Banda, Gambia with Aisatou N’jie Saidie and Zimbabwe with Joice Mujuru.

For Africa, this comes as a plus considering that many presidents hardly appoint women as their deputies. Neither do the presidential candidates think of picking women as their running mates.

Mauritius has gone through 40 years of independence and two decades of Republic, her nomination is a strong sign that gender equality is high on the agenda of the present government. It is also a victory for gender activists and Mauritian women at large, as well

as for women in the region.

Oh San Bellepeau has a long history of social activism and a good grasp of the media, having worked at the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation in the 1960s. She was also a junior minister at the Ministry of Rural and Urban Development from 1995 to 2000. In 2009, she was given the distinction of Grand Officer of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (G.O.S.K) for services in social and political fields. The nomination of Oh San Bellepeau is in line with Section 16 of the Constitution of Mauritius, which guarantees gender equality, as well as Articles 12-13 of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender Development, which calls for equal representation of women and men in political decision making by 2015.

However, Mauritius has yet to sign or ratify the SADC Protocol because its leaders have argued that the country’s Constitution disallows affirmative action. Recent elections in Mauritius in May 2010 saw a small increase

in women’s representation, up 17.1 percent to 18.8 percent. The country uses a constitutional or first-past-the-post electoral system which is often seen as a hindrance to women candidates, especially in countries that do not use quotas to ensure women’s representation.

Mauritius has 12 percent women in cabinet and just 6.4 percent women in local government: one of the lowest in the region.

Rwanda, which now leads globally as far as national women’s representation, has 56 percent representation. South Africa is ranked second in Africa with 43 percent women in parliament. Unfortunately two countries — Botswana and Namibia — went backwards in recent elections, with Botswana now the SADC country with the lowest proportion of women in government.

Speaking to the media after her nomination, Oh San Bellepeau said: “The Prime Minister believes in the capacity of women and wants women to go forward.” Since the May elections Prime Minister Navinchandra Ram-

goolam has nominated several women to top posts, signalling a commitment to fall in line with the regional move toward 50/50 representation by 2015.

For the first time Mauritius has a woman minister of health and the name of the Ministry of Women’s Rights has been changed to The Ministry of Gender Equality. Also, the government has created a Ministry of Social Integration and ensured 30 percent parliamentary private secretaries are women. Mauritius is due to hold its local government elections in December.

A number of women have served previously as vice presidents. Among them is Dr Specioza Kazibwe of Uganda who was the first African woman to serve as Vice President. The others have been Phumzile Ngcuka and Baleka Mbete both of South Africa as well as Alice Nzomukunda and Marina Barampama both of Burundi.

— Extra information courtesy of Genderlinks

12

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Brazil elects first female president D

ilma Rousseff has been elected president of Brazil to succeed Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, electoral officials have confirmed.

Rousseff, 62, who has never before held elected office, becomes the country’s first woman president. She promised to “honour the trust” Brazilians had put in her and work to eliminate poverty saying she had been given the most important mission of her life.

Rousseff was the preferred successor of President Lula, who is leaving after two terms with record popularity.

Thousands of supporters of the governing Workers’ Party took to the streets across Brazil to celebrate her victory.

Victory The Superior Electoral Court said that with almost all the votes counted, she had won 56 percent against 44 percent for her rival, Jose Serra of the Social Democratic Party.

Although voting is compulsory in Brazil, there was a high rate of abstention at 21.5 percent.

The second round of voting was forced after Rousseff fell short of the 50 percent needed in the October 3 first round, winning 47 percent to Serra’s 33 percent. In her victory speech, she said her first priority would be to lift 20 million Brazilians out of poverty.

“I reiterate my fundamental promise: the eradication of poverty,” she said.

“We must not rest while there are Brazilians going hungry.”

Progress Rousseff said her election as the country’s first female leader was a sign of the democratic progress Brazil had made.

Her priority now was to make sure that such equality of opportunity between men and women became the norm at every level.

“I would like parents who have daughters to look straight in their eyes and tell them: ‘Yes, a woman can’.”

Rousseff, who will be sworn in on January 1, 2011, is expected to continue the left-leaning policies of Lula, with emphasis on government efficiency, expanding the role of the state in some sectors such as mining, and upgrading the country’s decrepit infrastructure.

She will also oversee a huge expansion of Brazil’s oil industry, following the discovery of major offshore fields that should make Brazil one of the world’s top 10 oil exporters.

She can count on strengthened majorities for the governing coalition in both houses of Congress to help

“I reiterate my fundamental promise: the eradication of poverty.

We must not rest while there are Brazilians going hungry.”

— Dilma Rousseff

ease the task of pushing her legislative agenda.

Rousseff ’s victory owed much to the extraordinary popularity of the outgoing President, who endorsed her as his successor from the start.

It wasn’t the outright first round win Lula had hoped for, but in the end he has managed to ensure his preferred successor, was elected.

Delivery Jose Serra’s campaign was an uphill struggle against a president boasting approval ratings of about 80 percent. But even though the second round campaign was heated, with many personal attacks and corruption allegations, the candidates didn’t differ much in what they had to offer to voters, nor go into great detail over their programmes.

Brazilians are trusting that Rousseff will be able to build on Lula’s social and economic achievements. But they do not have a clear picture of the first woman to be elected for the highest office in the country.

Lula, who has to step down after completing the maximum allowed two consecutive terms, said he would not interfere in her government.

“Rousseff will have ‘to form a government in her own image. I only hope she achieves more than I did’,” he said after casting his vote.

He added that he would not be attending public victory celebrations because “this is her party”.

Rousseff paid tribute to her mentor, saying: “I will be knocking on his door often, which, I’m sure, will always be open.”

“Succeeding Lula would be ‘difficult and challenging,” she said, “but I know how to honour his legacy. I know how to consolidate and advance his work”.

Defeat A former Marxist rebel who was jailed and tortured in 1970-1972 for resisting military rule, Rousseff trained as an economist and worked her way up through local and state governments.

She joined Lula’s cabinet as Energy Minister in 2003-2005 and then became his chief of staff.

For Jose Serra, this is the second time he has been defeated in a presidential run-off, after losing to Lula in 2002.

He has congratulated Rousseff and said he hoped she would work for the good of the country.

He said: “I proudly battled the president. To those of us imagining we’re defeated: We have only started the real fight.”

— Picked from BBC News Website

Dilma Rousseff: Brazil’s president-elect

A

few months ago Dilma Rousseff was not exactly a household name, even inside Brazil. She was a career civil servant who had never held nor run for elected office.

Now, in a major leap to the top job, she has become the first woman to be elected Brazil’s president. And Rousseff has been dubbed “mother of the nation” by outgoing President Lula.

But if many Brazilians, and the wider world, have to date known little about her, she is very familiar with Brazil’s corridors of power.

Rousseff, 62, joined President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s government in 2003 as Energy Minister.

In 2005, after a corruption scandal brought down key government figures, Lula made her his chief of staff, a post she held until March 2010, when she launched her campaign for the presidency as the Workers Party (PT) candidate.

Lula dubbed her “the mother of the PAC”, a reference to the government’s economic development project responsible for spending billions of dollars on upgrading

Brazil’s infrastructure.

Rousseff also headed the board of Brazil’s oil company Petrobras and was responsible for drafting much of the legislative framework for the exploration of the country’s offshore oilfields.

During the election campaign, Mr Lula also referred to her constantly as “mother of the nation” — an image picked up and glossily embellished in her TV election advertisements.

Rousseff made it clear that she represented continuity with the Lula government, under which millions of Brazilians saw their standard of living rise.

She is known to favour a strong state role in strategic areas, including banking, the oil industry and energy.

She has also promised to tackle Brazil’s complicated tax system.

But if she is to achieve this and other reforms, she will need to quickly acquire political and negotiating skills to get her political programme through Congress.

One of the major challenges she faces is the fact that she is not

Mr Lula, a man of the people and a consummate politician.

Rousseff has a somewhat brusque manner and is reputed to have a short temper — attributes that have, perhaps unsurprisingly, led to her being dubbed the Iron Lady.

Dilma Rousseff was born in 1947 and grew up in an upper middle class household in Belo Horizonte. Her father, Pedro Rousseff, was a Bulgarian immigrant.

Her seemingly conventional background changed in the mid1960s, when she was in her late teens. She became involved in leftwing politics and joined the underground resistance to the military dictatorship that seized power in 1964.

She has said that she was never actively involved in armed operations, but in 1970 she was jailed for three years and tortured.

Rousseff is twice divorced and has one daughter. In August, she became a grandmother.

In 2009, she was treated for and recovered from lymphatic cancer.

— Picked from BBC News

13

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

L

The women presidents of Latin America

atin America is setting the pace by electing women as their presidents, one election after another. The region has recognized leadership qualities in their women and are empowering them to take the leadership mantles. Brazil becomes the latest kid on the block having elected Dilma Rousseff, making her the country’s first female president.

BBC News profiles the women presidents of the region - both past and present.

Dilma Rousseff, Brazil 2010

Dilma Rousseff of the ruling Workers’ Party has just been elected president of Brazil — a nation of almost 200 million people, and a rising global power.

She is a career diplomat, and was — until running for the presidency — chief of staff to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; before that she was energy minister. Lula gave her his full backing during the campaign and she has promised to continue his policies.

Those who know Rousseff describe her as a “tough cookie”, and as a determined, pragmatic woman who likes to get things done. One of her nick-names is ‘the iron lady’.

She is said to be astute, with a strategic, logical mind.

Her father was an immigrant from Bulgaria, and her mother a school teacher.

While a student in the 1960s, she joined the left-wing armed resistance against the military dictatorship.

Although she says she was never involved in violence herself, she was seen as a key figure within the movement. She was arrested and held for three years, during which time she was tortured.

Rousseff was released in 1973, resumed her studies in economics, and then joined the civil service.

Laura Chinchilla, President of Costa Rica 2010

Laura Chinchilla was sworn in as president of Costa Rica in May, this year, after a conclusive victory in elections in February. She is with the centrist National Liberation Party, and was vice-president under her predecessor, Oscar Arias.

Chinchilla has held several government posts and comes from a political family. She studied in Costa Rica and at Georgetown University in the US. Chinchilla is regarded as a social conservative, and is opposed to gay marriage and abortion.

She has promised to continue with the free-market policies of former president Arias, and to expand on Costa Rica’s free trade deals.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, President of Argentina 2007-

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner swept to victory in the first round of Argentina’s presidential election in October 2007.

She took over the presidency from her husband Nestor Kirchner.The two worked closely together, and were dubbed “the Clintons of the South”.

Mr Kirchner died of a heart attack at the age of 60 in October 2010.

Christina Fernandez has a long track-record in politics dating back to the late 1980s. She has worked in the regional parliament, the national parliament, and as a Senator.

She studied law at university, and is known for her work campaigning on human rights and women’s rights.

Michelle Bachelet, President of Chile 2006-2010

Michelle Bachelet was inaugurated as president of Chile for the Socialist Party in March 2006.

She had previously been Chile’s Defence Minister — the first woman to hold that post in Latin America — and also health minister.

She studied military strategy and is trained as a paediatrician and an epidemiologist.

In 1970s, in the early days of Augusto Pinochet’s rule, her father was held on charges of treason. Bachelet and her mother were also detained and tortured, before going into exile.

As health minister Bachelet caused a stir in staunchly Catholic Chile by allowing the free distribution of the morning after pill for victims of sexual abuse.

She stepped down in March 2010 with a popularity rating of more than 80 percent, as the Chilean Constitution does not allow a second consecutive presidential term.

She is currently head of a new United Nations agency working on gender issues, called UN Women.

Mireya Moscoso, President of Panama 1999-2004

Mireya Moscoso won presidential elections in May 1999, and was in charge a year later for the US hand over of the Panama canal.

She is the widow of three-time president Arnulfo Arias.

She began her political career after her husband’s death.

Moscoso came from a poor, rural background, and trained as an interior designer. She promised to work to reduce poverty in Panama. However, her presidency was dogged by allegations of corruption.

Rosalia Arteaga, interim President of Ecuador 1997

Rosalia Arteaga acted as interim president of Ecuador for just two days in February 1997, when the former leader, Abdala Bucaram, was declared unfit to govern.

She was vice-president before that.

Arteaga ran for the presidency in elections in 1998, but got only a small share of the vote.

Violeta Chamorro, President of Nicaragua 1990-1997

Violetta Chamorro beat the incumbent Daniel Ortega in elections, to become president of Nicaragua in April 1990.

She was the candidate for the National Opposition Union — a coalition of parties that ran against the Sandinistas. Her bid was backed by the US, who lifted sanctions on the country after her election.

Chamorro comes from a wealthy family and was educated abroad, including in the US. She entered politics after her husband Pedro Joaquin Chamorro —who had been editor of an anti-government newspaper — was assassinated. She took over as editor of the paper after his murder.

She is credited for helping bring stability and peace to Nicaragua.

Lidia Gueiler Tejada, interim President of Bolivia, 1979-1980

Lidia Gueiler Tejada was interim president of Bolivia from 1979 to 1980. She was chosen to run the country after inconclusive elections and the ousting of the temporary president Walter Guevara.

She was to lead Bolivia until fresh elections, but she herself was removed in a coup before they were held.

She trained as an accountant, and worked as a Member of Congress and as president of the Chamber of Deputies before being interim leader.

She later worked as Bolivian Ambassador to a number of countries.

Isabel Peron, President of Argentina 1974-1976

Isabel Peron was the first woman president in Latin America. She took over as president of Argentina when her husband — the three-time president Juan Domingo Peron — died in office in 1974.

Isabel Peron was his third wife, and they married several years after the death of the much-loved First Lady Eva Peron.

Known to Argentineans as “Isabelita”, Peron was a former cabaret dancer.

During her presidency, there were numerous labour strikes, and hundreds of political murders.

Isabel Peron was removed in a military coup in 1976, and held under house arrest for several years before moving to Spain.

In 2007, Argentina issued an international arrest warrant for her, over her alleged links to a right-wing paramilitary group, which operated during her rule.

Argentinean authorities also wanted to question her over the disappearance of two men.

Spain rejected the extradition request; the court there ruled that there was insufficient evidence against her.

14

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Cases of obstetric fistula on the increase Call for investment as attention is drawn to a disfiguring condition …By Duncan Mboyah

R

eproductive health problems remain the leading cause of ill health and death for women of childbearing age in Kenya and other developing countries.

One of the leading reproductive health problems that women encounter, especially at child birth is prolonged and obstructed labour.

Obstructed labour Obstructed labour is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in the developing world. It occurs when a woman undergoes prolonged and delayed labour without receiving timely medical care.

The pressure of the baby’s head, obstructed labour, can cause extensive damage to the mother’s organs and particularly in her pelvis. The damage could also leave the woman with a hole between vagina and bladder, or vagina and rectum that constantly leaks urine or faeces.

The hole that is formed between the bladder and the vagina, or the rectum and the vagina after a woman suffers from prolonged or obstructedlabour is known as obstetric fistula.

Neglect Although the condition has been eliminated in the developed world, obstetric fistula continues to afflict the most impoverished women and girls, majority of whom live in rural and remote areas of the developing countries. Historically, obstetric fistula has been a neglected reproductive health and human rights issue.

And it has caught the eye of world leaders including United Nations Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki Moon who says that there is urgent need for $750 million to treat 3.5 million women by 2015.

“Obstetric fistula is one of the most devastating consequences of neglect during childbirth and a stark example of health inequity in the world,” he says in a report to the General Assembly.

Moon calls for intensified investment in cost-effective interventions, including surgery, to address the problem that afflicts women with the leakage of bodily wastes.

Apart from surgery, Moon stresses prevention, noting that the condition is almost entirely preventable when there is universal and equitable access to quality maternal and reproductive health services. The same interventions that prevent maternal mortality can also prevent maternal morbidity.

The Secretary General notes that the interventions have the most important and immediate impact on maternal death and disability; family planning; attendance during childbirth by skilled health personnel such as a midwife as well as emergency obstetric care, in particular Caesarean sections.

Early marriage is also an issue with adolescent girls particularly at risk for obstetric fistula at a much higher rate than women in their twenties.

According to Dr Amon Chirchir, a gynaecologist and obstetric sur-

geon at Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya loses over 1,000 patients to fistula every year due to lack of fistula specialists, equipments and bad roads that make accessing hospital in time a big problem.

Save for the training sessions organised by African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) under the “stop the tap” project in 2006, no organisation — not even government — is involved in retraining of health practitioners on management of obstetric fistula.

While in many communities fistula is treated as a curse and survivors stigmatised, the condition can be corrected through reconstructive surgery. Most women can be treated and the injury repaired. With appropriate psychosocial care, the women are reintegrated into their communities.

Few facilities However, there are a few healthcare facilities that are able to provide high-quality fistula treatment owing to the limited number of health-care professionals with the appropriate skills.

“We have only five specialists on fistula treatment hence this shortage is making life more unbearable to women from remote parts of the country like West Pokot, Tana River and Lamu where fistula cases are common,” explains Chirchir.

He says African women are prone to the problem due to the fact that their pelvis are narrow compared to that of women from the west.

“Even though obstetric fistula is one of the most devastating consequences of neglect during child birth and an example of health inequity in the developing world, the good thing is that 72 percent of the cases can be corrected,” reiterates Chirchir.

He observes that prolonged obstructed labour causes low blood flow to the tissues hence causing dead tissues.

Stigma Fitsula leaves women with health problems that include chronic leakage of urine or faeces. However, they also experience neurological disorders and orthopaedic injury, bladder infections, painful sores, kidney failure and infertility.

In some cases, traditional birth attendants are to blame as they normally do not know where the bladder is located in a woman’s womb.

Obstetric fistula is widely reported in West Pokot where culture bars women from delivering in health facilities due to the fact that they will be attended to by men.

The smell from the constant leakage combined with misperceptions about its cause often results in stigma and ostracism by communities leading to the abandonment of many women by their husbands and families as the women cannot participate in daily family and community life.

“The fact that they may find it difficult to maintain a source of income, thereby deepening their poverty is made worse by feelings of isolation that affect their mental health, result-

A woman in West Pokot draws water from a river. Many young women from this region form a huge percentage of those who are survivors of obstetric fistula. Picture: Correspondent ing in depression, low self-esteem and, in some cases, suicide,” he notes.

Key areas In addition, lack of preparedness and deficiencies in other infrastructure including in the areas of transport and communications, further compound the difficulty of accessing maternal and reproductive health services.

Women’s access to health care is further made illusive by the delay in seeking care; delay in arriving at a health-care facility and delay in receiving adequate care once at the health facility.

Emphasis must be put on preventive programmes such as the protection of vulnerable groups, ensuring skilled attendants at delivery and improving access to quality maternal health services.

Communities too must be engaged to address issues such as harmful traditional practices, providing appropriate information, education, communication and counselling to help gain societal commitment to ensure safe pregnancy and delivery.

Chirchir, however, notes the importance of post operation care and total abstinence for a period of six months after the operation.

He recommends that further pregnancies for the victims should be delivered through caesarean section operation. Chirchir explains: “For the affected women to recover fully, there is need for psychological counselling and social support.”

Putting an end to obstetric fistula necessitates addressing its medical and socio-economic determinants, from access to quality maternal health services to the elimination of genderbased social and economic inequities; preventing child marriage and early childbearing; and providing equitable access to sexual and reproductive

“The fact that they may find it difficult to maintain a source of income, thereby deepening their poverty is made worse by feelings of isolation that affect their mental health, resulting in depression, low self-esteem and, in some cases, suicide.”

— Dr Amon Chirchir

health services and basic education.

The cost of health care can be financially prohibitive for poor and low-income families, especially when complications such as obstructed labour occur.

Commitment Efforts of the international community and the United Nations to address it, draws attention to the urgent need for a commitment to address the issue of obstetric fistula within the context of the broader efforts being made towards the achievement of Millennium Development Goal 5, on improving maternal health and achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that each year some 50,000 to 100,000 women worldwide are affected by obstetric fistula, a figure that may be an underestimate, as it is based on facility data, and a significant number of impoverished women from rural and remote areas in developing countries who experience complicated labour are likely never to reach a hospital.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) leads the global Campaign to End Fistula with a wide range of partners. Since 2003 the agency provided support to 47 countries, resulting in fistula treatment and care for some 16,000 women and the training of thousands of health-care personnel in prevention and management.

15

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Red hot pepper empowers women farmers …By Robert Nyagah

A

s the Sabaki River meanders lazily through sections of the dry, bare and extensive chunks of land, from a distance a group of women in total concentration can be seen in the foreground inside a plot thickly covered by a green and red coloured plantation.

Carrying small plastic containers, the women on separate occasions individually walk towards the edges of the vegetation and pour some produce into bigger containers, before returning to continue their work.

From their activities one would think there are just playing but these women, who are about 40, are smiling all the way to the Bank following their acceptance of pepper farming among other horticultural produce rarely associated with the dry area.

Chilli farming Welcome to this normally dry area of Kakoneni location along the River Sabaki in Kilifi County where members of a women’s group are earning thousands of shillings from chilli exports. The pepper production has empowered the women economically and many of them are financially independent.

Through the edges of the land dominated by this particular crop, bright red produce in containers attracts the eyes of any visitor approaching the women. The sudden discovery that the produce is chilli is pleasantly surprising given that the crop is rarely associated with this part of the Kilifi County.

Since the project started towards the end of last year, the women operating in groups have sold 11.25 metric tonnes of African Birds Eye Chillies (Abel) worth KSh674,000 to Equator Products (K) Limited, firm which operates in Malindi.

The women are defying the traditional assumption that the soil in the area can yield nothing of serious economic value especially because of the long periods they go without rain.

Another assumption being openly challenged by the women is that only a few traditional horticultural and food crops normally do well closer to the River during the rains.

Apart from chillies, the now dominant crop here where the sun

at times becomes increasingly hot and unbearable with the soil dry and held together by mere shrubs, horticultural crops like tomatoes, cowpeas kales and cabbages are finding their way into irrigated plots in the area to finally earn the farmers money.

The launch of the Kakoneni Irrigation Scheme, some 50 kilometres North of Malindi town along the River Sabaki under the government initiative of the Rapid Results Initiative (RRI) has seen the start of an interesting and profitable pepper growing project. The project’s objective has been fruitful because the required results, that the harvest of the first crop came before 100 days elapsed.

The women farmers who initially lacked any serious source of income and only tried unsuccessful basic farming along the Sabaki River today have come together in women’s groups and put 7.5 acres of land under pepper farming.

Improved income Josephine Kache, 45, a widow and a mother of three is happy with the project. “Since I joined the other women in the growing of pepper, my income has improved and today I am able to provide for my family with the basics without having to beg from relatives or work in other people gardens for meagre payments.”

The women have also been joined by men who have seen how lucrative the pepper farming is. Karisa Iha confesses he had to abandon his charcoal burning and trade business and join his wife in taking care of the pepper as the earning is better and less demanding than charcoal burning.

Initial earnings for a group at each small plot stood at KSh200,000 during the first harvest but today the project has expanded and has potential for expansion through individual plots where direct income encourages more hard work.

Market The chairperson of the Kakoneni Pepper Farmers Association Mr Charo Kahindi says the farmers had within the first harvest managed to sell at least three tonnes of pepper.

The groups have a ready market locally through Equator Kenya,

A woman sorts freshly harvested pepper. Below: women harvesting pepper on a farm in Malindi.

Pepper farming along the River Sabaki has become a lucrative business.

Picture: Robert Nyagah

which exports the produce to various European countries.

The Malindi District Agricultural Officer Mr Musa Baabu confirms in a report that “since the project started, farmers at the Kakoneni Irrigation Scheme have so far sold 11.25 metric tonnes of the African Birds eye chillies worth KSh674,000 to Equator Products (K) Limited”.

He adds: “Other crops in the scheme such as maize, tomatoes, kales, bananas, cowpeas and green grams have collectively earned the farmers more than KSh1 million.”

Kahindi points out that a number of farmers abandoned the project due to the frequent break down of the main generator. When the generator failed some crops would be at risk of drying unless the farmers fetched water manually in plastic containers to the plots, a task that is demanding.

Apart from the profits accrued from direct sale of pepper, at least 40 people earn reasonable income from the fees paid to them as wages after being hired to harvest the produce.

Water supply Kahindi, however, says there is need for the Government to consider digging boreholes and dams in the area to encourage expansion of land under pepper production.

A steady supply of water to various plots would reduce the demanding task of fetching water from the river for irrigating the crops especially when the water pump generator failed as it frequently did.

There have been interesting bene-

fits as indicated by the leading farmer Mrs Kache Kenga who explains that due to the good income at domestic level, her husband had to abandon his often dangerous work of palm wine tapping and join her in pepper farming.

African Bird’s Eye chilly which has also gained popularity in other parts of Kenya has a ready market in Europe despite being the smallest type of chilli, which is about a centimetre long and red in colour when ripe.

Equator Kenya has a buying centre in Malindi while Mace Foods based in Düsseldorf, Germany, has a branch in Homa Bay town.

Across Malindi and Homa Bay areas, the responsible firms have agronomists who advise farmers on farming and marketing of the crop which only requires four months to mature from seed to fruit. It takes about a month at the nursery and once transplanted, it takes about three months to be harvested.

“Since I joined the other women in the growing of pepper, my income has improved and today I am able to provide for my family with the basics without having to beg from relatives or work in other people gardens for meagre payments.”

— Josephine Kache

The two firms provide seeds to farmers as part of their social responsibility. The produce from Homa Bay is shipped to Amsterdam before it is transported to Germany, Mace Foods headquarters.

Estimates indicate that a kilogramme of dry chilli sells at KSh100 and if a farmer delivers 10 kilogrammes a week, she could easily earn KSh1,000 which is paid on the spot.

Demand Last year alone, Mace Foods collected 14 tonnes of chillies from Homa Bay despite the fact that the crop was introduced late in the year. By end of March this year, farmers had delivered six tonnes, a move which they describe as impressive.

The chilli is of high quality in the sense that its pong is high and its colour lively red, which sells fast in the EU. No chemicals are used, and this makes the Kenyan pepper stronger in the foreign market. The high temperatures enables the chilli to dry without developing any aflatoxins which would otherwise compromise its quality. Kenya is taking advantage of the current suspension from the EU market of Asian chilli.

But that not withstanding, Kenya is rated second in quality chilli production in the EU market and the demand has been increasing. Farmers must work hard and take advantage of the readily available market.

16

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

Why women’s inclusion is important in the Sudan referendum

T

he African Union has declared 2010 the Year of Peace and Security in Africa and has launched the African Decade of Women. What better opportunity to act on these pledges than at the 15th African Union Summit, Kampala, Uganda.

The upcoming referendum in Sudan gives African leadership an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to improving the lives of women on this continent by ensuring that they actively and freely participate in the referendum.

Southern Sudanese will go to the polls in January 2011, to decide whether to remain a part of a unified Sudan or secede and become Africa’s newest country. Given that Sudan is Africa’s largest country — bordered by nine countries, also plagued by conflict, rampant corruption and stunted development — it behoves our leaders to prioritise Sudan.

News coming out of Sudan in the last few months paints a bleak picture: the security situation in Darfur is deteriorating, the Darfur peace negotiations in Doha, Qatar, are barely limping along, and the recent national elections were well below international standard. The Sudan

…By Wangari Maathai

referendum will impact the future of millions of Africans.

Recently the Sudanese government appointed the African Union High Level Panel for Implementation in Sudan led by former South Africa President Thabo Mbeki to facilitate negotiations on Sudan’s referendum.

Mbeki and the panel are charged with leading negotiations between the ruling National Congress Party and the Southern Sudanese Liberation Movement in the south on all outstanding issues in the lead up to the referendum.

Mbeki and the panel have a big responsibility.

They must support the Sudanese government and the Sudanese

Kenya to benefit from GMO production A …By Duncan Mboyah

s South Africa continues to export their Genetically Modified agricultural products such as maize, researchers now say that Kenya too could be on the beneficiary list once it adopts the technology.

With the food insecurity already ravaging most parts of sub-Saharan Africa hence forcing countries to import food mainly maize and beans, the application of biotechnology could be of a solution to the solving problems brought about by pests and other diseases that wipe out millions of crops yearly.

“South Africa has enough maize and also exports the surplus to countries like Kenya because they adopted biotechnology early enough, “said Ms. Virginia Kimani, the Director of Pesticide and Agricultural Resource Centre.

She noted that Kenya’s demand for maize outstrips supply in most cases and this call for the adoption of the new technology in order to be at par with South Africa and begin to supply other countries with maize as well.

With the trials currently going on at the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) on maize, cotton, cassava and sweet potato, there is a high possibility that the country is heading to GMO production and could easily be an exporter.

“Kenyan farmers must first stop viewing maize merely as food crop, but also as a cash crop so that farmers may target foreign markets,” she added during an Open Forum on Biotechnology (OFAB) at a Nairobi hotel.

people to ensure an inclusive, transparent and comprehensive process.

The referendum will be dealing with issues that are of vital consequence to the people of Sudan, including the division of national economic resources, the redefining of citizenship, and border demarcation. The process must be, above all, inclusive.

Frontline And an integral part of the responsibility to be inclusive is ensuring that those most affected by the referendum have a voice — namely, Sudanese women. Achieving lasting peace and security in Sudan is not possible without women’s full inclusion and especially within decision-

making processes. Yet, up to now, women are almost invisible.

Following April’s elections in Sudan, only two of 35 cabinet ministers and six of 42 ministers of state are women. There are no women at the decision-making level in the Darfur negotiations at Doha — a process that is plagued by problems and proving to be ineffectual. And now there is a conspicuous lack of women in formal leadership positions for the referendum. Indeed, of the nine people appointed by the Sudanese government to the Referendum Commission, there is only one woman.

This is far from the 30 percent advocated by Mbeki and his panel, the 25 percent demanded by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and well below international standards.

The year 2010 not only marks the start of the African Union Decade of Women but also the 10-year anniversary of United Nations Security Council’s resolution 1325, which mandates women’s full participation in peace processes. In short, there is simply no excuse for women’s exclusion from current peace negotiations on Darfur — nor from the upcoming referendum

or other decision-making processes in Sudan.

Thus far, the work of Mbeki and his panel has demonstrated an understanding of why Sudanese women need to be at the forefront of all conflict-resolution processes, in Darfur and across Sudan. This commitment to women’s leadership must be renewed and acted upon as the panel’s work on the referendum moves forward.

The panel — and the African leaders supporting Mbeki and his colleagues — have a historic opportunity to demonstrate their support to Sudanese women.

In declaring 2010 the Year of Peace and Security in Africa, the AU set the gauntlet to take extraordinary measures to engage in activities to promote and consolidate peace processes across the continent.

What better time is there for the AU to demonstrate its commitment to Sudan’s peace process by demanding greater space for Sudanese women to play a vital role?

Courtesy of IPS The writer is the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, founding board member of the Nobel Women’s Initiative and a member of the Advisory Council for the AU Year of Peace and Security.

Women plough a sugarcane farm in the Nandi Escarpment. With the current declining food security, most countries are being forced into importing food. Picture: Ajanga Khayesi

Technology Kenya and other developing countries have poor crop yield due to their attitude towards adopting the new technology.

Kenya, just like the United States and South Africa can realise development from its agricultural produce by growing and exporting maize to other parts of the world. This would be a big benefit to women who are the main producers. Women also suffer most when there is food insecurity.

The biotechnology, if well applied, could be one way of empowering women in food production and eventually food security.

The success of Vision 2030 will

be further enhanced if Kenya adopts the new technology in agricultural development. The advantages of the agricultural technology can readily be seen on how tissue culture banana has succeeded.

Kimani says the introduction of tissue culture bananas has greatly reduced the importation of the fruit from Uganda and other countries in a span of five years.

“KARI and other relevant agencies have the scientific capacity to undertake the production of genetically modified crops,” she said.

According to Kimani, the corn soya blend demand in the country

currently presents a huge domestic market that needs some research to ascertain whether it should be grown in plenty.

Kimani calls for a study to be done on the viability of canola as an alternative source of edible oil considering the preference for nonsaturated oils in the country.

“Maize, canola and soya are the current movers in agricultural trading worldwide that all countries are concentrating their research on,” she explained.

Kenya is currently carrying out trials on maize, cotton, sweet potatoes, cassava and recombinant vaccines with

the hope that the crops could help deal with some problems that farmers face and lead to increase in yield.

According to the Coordinator of the Programme Coordinator for Biosafety Systems (PBS) in Kenya, Mr David Wafula plans are almost complete to have a harmonised biosafety policy within the 19 countries forming Common Market for East and Central Africa (COMESA).

Given the likelihood that GMOs may impact in inter regional trade, a committee that was formed by COMESA is currently developing policy and guidance for the member countries.

17

Issue Number 12 • December 2010

A section of delegates during the African Women’s Decade Launch held recently at the KICC. Women’s empowerment was a key concern at the conference. Picture: Correspondent

Nairobi Declaration on African Women’s Decade

A

s the African Women’s Decade was launched, the women gathered came up with a memorandum for heads of state and Government that was read in French. Many grassroots women present, especially those from the English speaking countries failed to grasp the gist of the message.

Below is a full version of the Nairobi Declaration as read in the Nairobi meeting.

1. We the African Ministers responsible for Gender and Women’s Affairs meeting in Nairobi, Kenya on 14th October, 2010 for the Launch of the African Women’s Decade 2010-2020 under the theme “ Grassroots Approach to Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”; 2. Building on the Extra-Ordinary Meeting of African Union Ministers of Gender and Women’s Affairs in Maseru, Lesotho in December 2008, and the 12th Ordinary Summit of African Union Heads of State and Government at Addis Ababa in February 2009, which declared 2010-2020 as African Women’s Decade; 3. Acknowledging the progress made in achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment; 4. Recognizing the critical role that grassroots women play in national development and support the scaling up of these initiatives; 5. Inspired by international, regional and sub regional declarations, protocols and conventions, including the Millennium Declaration and Millennium Development Goals in particular Goal 3 aims to promote and strengthen women’s empowerment and accelerate the attainment of gender equity and equality as part of overall human rights; 6. Recognizing the interrelationship among gender equality, women’s empowerment, human rights, economic growth and sustainable development; 7. Taking note of the outcomes of the African Women’s Non Governmental Organizations fora, including all parallel events and caucuses held on the margin of the Launch of the African Women’s Decade; 8. Concerned that new challenges posed by climate change and environmental degradation, chronic food insecurity, financial and economic crises, the feminization of poverty and human trafficking, migration, high cases of maternal mortality and HIV and AIDS adversely affect the progress made; 9. Recognizing that progress towards gender equality, gender equity and women’s empowerment can be achieved by ad-

dressing the structural and root causes of gender inequality through the enactment and enforcement of constitutional and legal instruments inter alia the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Protocol to the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights on Women in Africa, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Union Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, the African Union Gender Policy and other international, regional and sub regional instruments;

10. Convinced of the need to establish and strengthen institutional mechanisms for mainstreaming gender in all policies and programmes, and engendering budgets and the promotion and protection of women’s human rights; 11. Affirming the critical importance of the principles, objectives and goals of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms of Action for women’s advancement, gender equality, gender equity, sustainable development and poverty eradication in Africa, which will contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the goals of the African Women’s Decade; 12. Stressing the importance of committed and effective leadership at all levels and the role of women and men in promoting the required changes in attitudes, behaviors and practices that limit women’s and girl’s rights, capabilities and access to opportunities, including young women, women with disabilities, elderly women and women with special needs; 13. Encouraging the Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and other sub regional statutory organs to be fully engaged in the implementation and monitoring of all international, regional, sub regional instruments and the African Women’s Decade; 14. Appreciating the importance of strengthening partnerships with all stakeholders, including the public sector, particularly the Ministers of Finance and Economic Planning, other government agencies, the private sector, the civil society, workers organizations, community, religious and traditional leaders, research and academic institutions, local governments, the media and the international community in promoting the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment at all levels: - fully committed to achieving the goals of the African Women Decade 2010-2020; and to fully implement, international, regional and sub regional agreements and initiatives, and; - equally committed to improving the status of the Af-

rican Women at the grassroots level as reflected in the Decade thematic areas

15. Endorsed the ten thematic areas identified by the African Union to guide the activities of the Decade as follows: I.

Fighting poverty and promoting economic empowerment of women and entrepreneurship

II. Agriculture and Food Security III. Health, Maternal Mortality and HIV and AIDS IV. Education, Science and Technology V. Environment, Climate Change and Sustainable Development VI. Peace and Security and Violence against Women and Girls VII. Governance and Legal Protection VIII. Finance and Gender Budgeting IX. Women and Decision-making X. Mentoring Youth (men and women) to be champions of Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

Hereby: Appeal to the African Union Heads of States and Government to continue support the African Women’s Decade and as spearheaded by African Union in consultation with governments and civil society organizations to give African people a greater sense of ownership.

Call on our international partners, both bilateral and multilateral, including organizations of the United Nations system, to provide adequate financial support towards the implementation of the gender equality and women’s empowerment programmes as outlined in the Decades thematic area.

Further call on the African Union Commission, the United Nations system, the African Development Bank and the Regional Economic Communities to strengthen their coordination and harmonization processes with regards to the implementation of the priorities identified in this Ministerial Declaration and African Women’s Decade themes.

Urge the African Union Commission to annually monitor and report on progress made in implementing the thematic areas of the African Women Decade.

Done in Nairobi on 14th October 2010

Executive Director: Rosemary Okello-Orlale

The Kenyan Woman is a publication of African Woman and Child Feature Service E-mail: info@awcfs.org www.awcfs.org

Editorial Director:

Arthur Okwemba

Managing Editor:

Jane Godia

Sub-Editors:

Florence Sipalla, Mercy Mumo

Contributors:

Bendaro Tsuma, Ryan Mathenge, Faith Muiruri, Duncan Mboyah, Dr. Susan Kipketer-Chebet, Robert Nyagah, Wangari Maathai, Odhiambo Odhiambo.

Design & layout:

Noel Lumbama (Noel Creative Media Ltd)

This paper is produced with support from The United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF)