Women in Kenya

The history of the evolution of a traits of women in Kenya can be dual-lane up into Women within Swahili culture, Women in British Kenya, as well as Kenyan Women post-Independence. The condition and status of the female population in Kenya has faced many restyle over the past century.

Kenya was a British colony from 1888 until 1963. before colonial rule, women had played important roles in the community, from raising together with bringing up children to workings on farms and in marketplaces. Under colonial rule, women became increasingly unimportant to the economic system, and their powers and influence soon faded from the public sphere. Despite this, some women such(a) as Mekatilili wa Menza and other women including Muthoni wa Kirima who was component of the Mau Mau uprising fought alongside men during the campaign for independence and are acknowledged in the country's long history for their contributions.

After Kenya gained independence in 1963, women create still faced issues relating to sexism and throw believe non been condition many opportunities in sectors such(a) as education apart from for a small number of young women. Women still face many problems, such as child marriages, arranged marriages, female genital mutilation, the AIDS epidemic as living as a lack of education. Although Kenya still has a long way to go in hearing the plight of women, there maintained to be an usefulness in financial, social and economic inclusion within the country at different stages ranging from dialogue, policy implementation, report and so forth.

In Kenya, women have little opportunities to obtain decision creating roles in the government, despite a gender domination in the 2010 constitution, which further sets women back. Although Kenya is gradual in this case, there are a few influential women who haven taken seats in the Kenyan parliament.

Women in Colonial Kenya 1888–1963

The lives of Kenyan woman changed significantly under colonial rule. The colony was primarily used for the purpose of establishing cash crop plantations owned by white settlers and staffed by Kenyan laborers. Under this system, the role of women became increasingly marginalized, and Kenyan women began losing autonomy in the species unit. Kenyan woman occupied a distant role in this economic system, but still strived to be represent to the men in creating their voices heard by both the colonial authorities and men of Kenya.

In 1922, for example, a demostrate to demand the release of political activist Harry Thuku turned bloody after one of his nearly vocal supporters, Muthoni Nyanjiru, demanded the protestors to do something other than protest outside the police station. Nyanjiru was shot and killed by the police after the protestors stormed the station, and is today remembered as one of the first female Kenyan activists.

Between 1929 and 1932, Protestant missionaries campaigned against the practice of female genital mutilation , and were met with resistance primarily by the Kikuyu. Lynn M. Thomas, an American historian, writes that during the female circumcision controversy, the issue of female genital mutilation became a focal segment of the movement campaigning for independence from British rule, and a test of loyalty—either to the Christian churches of the missionaries, or to the Kikuyu Central Association, the largest connective of the Kikuyu people.