This year, Kenyan Women Professors is proud to be one of about 100 blogs that are taking part in the first-ever Blog for International Women's Day (Blog for IWD) initiative of Gender Across Borders. The idea is to get bloggers across the world to blog about what "equal rights for all" means to them and to describe a particular organization, person or moment in history that helped to mobilize a meaningful change in equal rights for all.
So, since this blog is about celebrating the accomplishments of Kenyan women who have excelled in academia, I'll consider "equal rights for all" within the context of the equal rights to education for both male and female learners, as well equal rights and opportunities for both men and women to advance their careers in academia, with specific reference to Kenya.
I believe that both the girl-child and the boy-child should be given equal rights to receive quality education that will put them in good stead to undertake a career of their own choosing. This means that no parent should deny their child a chance to enroll in school merely on account of their gender. Despite the Kenya government's Free Primary Education initiative, the sad reality remains that school enrolment of girls remains far below that of boys and this is in spite of the population statistics which show that there are more girls than boys.
Several factors are at play to give rise to low enrolment of girls in school, principal among which are out-dated customs and traditions that hold the girl-child hostage to traditional gender roles that bind her to household chores at the expense of her school work. This is particularly so in the rural areas where key household chores such as fetching water, cooking and cleaning are reserved for girls while they are busy carrying out these tasks, their brothers are busy reading and doing their homework.
This is not to say that children should not help around the house. Not at all. Indeed, children need to learn a sense of responsibility at home, and household chores are a good way of instilling discipline and responsibility. But the problem comes when girls are not given equal opportunity in the home to focus on their studies and end up faring worse than their male counterparts in the national examinations.
Equal rights to education also means that as Kenyans we should rise up and reject retrogressive cultural practices like female genital mutilation (FGM) which have contributed to gender inequality.
It is a sad testimony that in this day and age, and despite a presidential decree outlawing FGM, some Kenyan communities (e.g. Abagusii, Meru, Maasai and Somali) still carry out this outdated "rite of passage" which is used as a licence to marry off school-age girls to older men. Invariably, these girls end up quitting school as they are forced to look after their families and since they do not have much education, they are not empowered to develop themselves economically and thus begins a downward spiral of poverty and ignorance which leaves the girl-child worse off.
It is encouraging to note, however, that even among communities that practice FGM, some brave women have decided to fight this retrogressive tradition by working the local authorities and NGOs to stamp out FGM by instituting what they call "alternative rites of passage" that don't involve FGM but focus on empowering girls with life skills and, most importantly, keeping them in school.
Priscilla Nangurai, a Kenyan Maasai woman, comes to mind as one of the earliest fighters against FGM in her community. She has over the years helped rescue hundreds of girls from FGM and early marriages by giving them safe haven in her rescue centre in Kajiado which also doubles as a school where the girls can continue their education. Hats off to her and others with similar initiatives that are giving girls their due right to education.
When it comes to university education, the Kenyan sisters are just as competitive as their brothers in getting admission to both science-and arts-based courses at public and private universities. This is encouraging, though on the whole, for the public universities, enrolment of female students is still low relative to that of male students.
Nonetheless, opportunities like the Bill & Melinda Gates-funded AWARD (African Women in Agricultural Research and Development) initiative of the CGIAR's Gender and Diversity program are helping to bridge this gap by encouraging women to enhance their careers in research and academia in the agricultural sciences by offering post-bachelors, -masters and -PhD career development and networking opportunities. The AWARD program also has a mentorship aspect in which awardees are mentored by senior scientists/researchers and are themselves expected to mentor junior scientists.
As this blog highlights, there are several Kenyan women who have made a name for themselves through their academic accomplishments by rising through the ranks to attain the position of "associate professor" or "full professor", many of whom have done so from very humble beginnings.
However, Kenyan women are still under-represented at the higher echelons. So far, there have been only five Kenyan female Vice Chancellors (Prof Rosalind Mutua, Prof Monica Mweseli, Prof Leah Marangu, Prof Olive Mugenda and Prof Mabel Imbuga) and just one female Chancellor (Prof Florida Karani) in the seven public and eleven private universities currently existing in the country.
Nevertheless, Kenyan women lecturers are just as competitive as their male counterparts; I should know -- I was in the University of Nairobi for my undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses. And thanks to the struggles of Prof Wangari Maathai and Prof Vertistine Mbaya who were vocal against gender discrimination in the University of Nairobi in the 1970s that denied women benefits like pension and insurance, the terms of service of university teaching staff have improved for all -- both men and women.
So while there is cause to celebrate for the Kenyan woman in regard to advances in education, I believe that there is always room for growth and improvement. We need to continue to lobby for increased school enrolment for girls and fight against practices like FGM that put a halt to girls' education. To this end, Kenyan legislators should urgently table the draft anti-FGM bill in parliament and work towards its enactment. In addition, those Kenyan women who have climbed the academic ladder should actively seek opportunities to mentor, nurture and raise up the next generation of Kenyan women lecturers, researchers and professors.
As the saying goes: "Educate a man and you educate and individual. Educate a woman and you educate a nation". Equal rights and opportunities to education for the girl child will lead to progress for the society as a whole.
Happy International Women's Day. Wanawake hoyee!
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