I believe it's only fitting to begin by paying tribute to Wangari Muta Maathai, an indefatigable achiever who bears the honour of being a woman of many firsts. Indeed, she holds pride of place for being Kenya's first woman professor and the first African woman to receive the coveted
Nobel Peace Prize.
In 1971, Wangari Maathai became the first woman in East and Central Africa to get a doctorate degree when she was awarded her PhD from the School of Veterinary Medicine, University College of Nairobi (present day University of Nairobi).
She later taught in the University's Department of Veterinary Anatomy, rising to become the head of department in 1976 (again, the first Kenyan woman to achieve this) and associate professor in 1977.
The story of Wangari Maathai's life is marked by trials and triumphs - personal, professional as well as political - which she talks about candidly in her autobiography
Unbowed .
Of note is her struggle (together with colleague Vertistine Mbaya) against gender discrimination in the university in the 1970s. At the time, married women lecturers did not receive benefits like house allowance, insurance or pension as did their male counterparts. Reason? They were
married so their presumably employed husbands were assumed to be receiving those benefits!
Prof Maathai acknowledges that the situation has since improved. She writes:
Since then, things have changed quite a lot. Now there are quite a few women members of the academic staff at the university and the terms of service have greatly improved for everyone, including women.
Here's more about Wangari Maathai from the blurb of
Unbowed:
Born in the Kenyan Highlands, Wangari Maathai was educated in the US before returning to Nairobi to become the first woman in East and Central Africa to gain a doctorate, in 1971. During the mid-seventies she became involved in politics, founding the Green Belt Movement, Kenya's famous environmental and human rights campaigning group. In 2004, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of her campaigns for democracy and environmental reform during the dictatorship of Daniel arap Moi. Now a leading politician, she lives in Nairobi.
In the disputed General Elections of December 2007, Prof Maathai was unsuccessful in her bid to defend her Tetu parliamentary seat. I believe that the main reason for her defeat was that she chose to stick to a principle-based campaign and not ride on the popular PNU-Mwai Kibaki wave that swept across the Central Kenya region.
But all is not lost. Frankly speaking, I think that because of her international acclaim as a Nobel peace laureate, Wangari Maathai is destined for much greater things and should set her sights on further enhancing her image of quality, principled leadership in international forums.
Wangari Maathai has made her mark in history and continues to be a source of inspiration in Kenya, Africa and beyond.
