Women living in Kenya
Women face many obstacles in Kenya that make their lives very difficult and especially difficult to get an education. The women face specific gender division from men, violence, female genital mutilation, HIV and AIDS, and obstacles while on the campaign trail.
In Kenya, women are expected to become mothers. They are also expected to cook, clean, and be submissive to their husbands. Men there do not carry anything; instead women are commonly seen hauling lumber and such because it is considered a feminine task. It is a man’s job though to own land. Only six percent of titles held in Kenya are by women. It is not likely to even see a woman inherit land; instead when her husband dies she may become
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This procedure is done without anesthesia and with what ever tool is available, even if it is a piece of broken glass, or a dull razor. The woman’s remaining parts are then sewn together for their husband to open on their wedding night. There has been cases when anxious men were in a hurry and not gentle enough on their wives’ stiches, causing them to bleed to death.
Another obstacle that faces Kenyans everyday is HIV and AIDS. Several hundred people die each day from AIDS in Kenya alone. Approximately fifteen percent of all Kenyans that are age fifteen to forty-nine are infected. Thus, the life expectancy in Kenya is low. In many cases this affects the women because they are taken out of school to care for their ailing relatives.
Lastly, when a woman is running for office she is constantly criticized by men. Many men express their opinion that a woman should not rule them. She may also be told that she should be cooking instead, and that her husband will starve. Some women are even stoned. When acts of violence occur however, the police are slow to respond.
Despite the troubles women face in Kenya, there has been positive change taking place. The fact that things are no longer going unnoticed is a positive step in itself. Women seek advancement in beauty contests and in politics. It is recognized that the campaign trail is rough for women, thus there has been some appointed women officials. Celebrations called
Women’s struggle for equality will remain relevant in the future as a global issue because every country today still struggles to obtain successful women’s equality. Women today are determined to fight for their rights, rights that are detrimental to the success of society. The struggle for women’s equality is something that has plagued women for centuries. Societies throughout history have been ruled by the iron fist of men, in royal families, the working class, and even within the households. This is something that is most common in todays underdeveloped countries, women are treated as being less than men and therefore do not deserve the same rights. This however is something that women have recognized as a problem and are unwavering in their fight to establish equal rights, whether it be in the United States or even Africa, the cry for equality is the same.
Although African women continue to make solid progress in becoming part of the political scene, there are limitations associated with this progress. More African women are beginning to enter the political landscape and are making great strides in influencing policies that favors the advancement of women.
to conduct new counts, and "added that the exercise had nothing to do with a tax
In most parts of Africa, women are still seen as "less than" despite the huge part they play in the family and/or community. They are treated as property, rather than people and this method has been set for a while. This idea of power can be seen when Felton Best writes " In most parts of Africa women are still the property of the men who father them or marry them. In some societies it is the uncle who holds sway over a woman's life"(189). This simply illustrates that men are in control. Being that men have the power, women are constantly feeling be little'd, which causes for little or no talk about a change in their lives. With the lack of conversation about sexism, the idea of women being independent is such a hostile topic.
In reality, however, women are equally and in some ways more qualified to hold leadership positions than men. Although there is no single explanation for why women are underrepresented in politics, the gender gap in the political arena stems from the lack of female participation in elections as women are often discouraged or feel threatened by society to run for political office. Young women who aspire a career in politics encounter both structural and emotional barriers, which prevent them from running for political office. Women battle issues of self-confidence, face stereotypes, and derive false perceptions of political campaigns, all of which broaden the gender gap in the political
Many women have faced difficult paths to get elected into office whether they are Hispanic, African American, or White. Even if they had all the qualities or they were overqualified they failed based on their gender, race, or lack of confidence in themselves.
According to the majority of Americans, women are every bit as capable of being worthy political leaders as men (Deane, Claudia; Morin, Rich; Parker, Kim; Horowitz Menasce Juliana; Wang, Wendy 7). They will improve on several different aspects, some of which have brought a new perspective to politics. Countless people believe that there should be a woman president, including men and woman. Studies have shown that countless people believe that more women in power would benefit every person in the nation (Kent, Lauren 6). There are currently 18 female world leaders, including 12 female heads of government and 11 elected female heads of state. Sixty- three of 142 nations have women as leaders (Kent, Lauren 6). Women who are in power will look to mitigate conflicts or stop conflicts before they even arise. A study has shown that female mayor attracts twice as much in discretionary transfers from the federal government as their male counterparts. Women are also less likely to engage in conceptual activities (Jarroud, Marianela 3). United Nations discovered that if women had the same access to employment as men do, poverty would shrink between the numbers of one and 14 percentage points in the countries of Latin America (Jarroud, Marianela 3). Gender roles have taught women that being paid at the same rate as men are acceptable and normal. Women come home from their everyday job to care for children, clean around the
With women being degraded, viewed as simple and incompetent to vote for someone to run the country in which they reside, they faced opposition
America has made great progress in the amount of women in office and who go out to vote. The article explains this by going over the statistics and the overall political culture for women of the '70s until the early 2000s. While there has been improvement, there is still a huge gap between the number of men and women in our political field. And even when women get into a political seat, their chance at moving up to a top position is slim because of the covert discrimination that is still present in our political system. The author lists four aspects of American life that continue to limit women 's leadership, including the sexual division of domestic labor and the persistence of sex role expectations. A study was conducted on those who
Women are often seen as less competent than men, even when they are equally qualified. The number of women holding political office in the United States is dismal. Women, while
Women have been running for president and vice president throughout history, however in recent decades we have seen substantial progress globally in women’s access to electoral office. “Women in politics explores the trajectories of women in and into politics. It injects into a debate dominated by numbers a much-needed focus on the women who run for office, on what motivates and helps them, as well as the barriers and obstacles that they face in entering the arena of formal politics” (Tadros 2014).
The way the article opens shows how some people view women in politics. Women who have great visibility in political spaces has led to the fact that many people, unjustifiably, equated it with women having power in public policy. Therefore, someone can take a look at the fact that women, leading the New York City Council for almost 12 years, are a sign of the great successes that women make as legislators.
Maathai experienced once she returned home to Kenya. Sexism is an issue that many women face all over the world and it is refreshing (but not surprising) that Maathai wanted equal pay and benefits for her work. Being an accomplished and educated woman she would not expect anything less than being treated the same as her male counterparts. During her husband’s election, she faced a lot of criticism because of her Americanized education and was considered part of the elite class because of this. It was acceptable for men to embrace Westerner culture and not criticized for this. But women, being the custodians of culture must always promote their
The paper seeks to understand the political, social and cultural variables that have thrown Kenya into the geo-political limelight insofar as the so-called ‘War on Terrorism’ is
So women’s contribution is very immense in the social & economic development of various communities in the world. Their political involvement may not be that much in the past but current women’s participation in politics all over the world is witnessing huge increase in leaps and bounds.