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Equal Rights for Women in Kenya?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Audrey Wipper
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Extract

During the early years of independence, a militant women's equal rights movement has developed in Kenya. Led by urban, educated women, the movement rejects what is now seen as the traditionally inferior role of women. It wants for them an equal share in the responsibilities and the opportunities of nationhood. This article will describe the message, tactics, and leadership of the early phase of the movement.

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , October 1971 , pp. 429 - 442
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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References

Page 430 note 1 Leadership at the rural community level will not be examined here.

Page 431 note 1 Figures from a study of school children in Kenya in 1965–6 provide some indication of differences in enrolment by sex. In 8 mixed primary schools, with 4,373 children, only 30% were girls. Molnos, Angela, Attitudes towards Family Planning in East Africa (Munich, 1968), pp. 235–9.Google Scholar

Page 431 note 2 East African Standard (Nairobi), 8 August 1964.

Page 432 note 1 The figures in 1964 were 42,447 members and 1,120 clubs. The following year Jael Mboga, the president, stated that its membership was over 50,000; ibid. 15 June 1965.

Page 433 note 1 ibid. 4 February 1964.

Page 433 note 2 Voice of Women (Nairobi), 06 1969, p. I.Google Scholar

Page 434 note 1 Cf. A., Robert and Barbara, LeVine, B., Nyansongo: a Gush community in Kenya (New York, 1966), pp. 17, 21–34, and 40–1Google Scholar; Whisson, Michael, Change and Challenge (Nairobi, 1964),Google Scholar passim; Snell, G. N., Nandi Customary Law (London, 1954), pp. 19–61Google Scholar; Penwill, D. J., Kamba Customary Law (London, 1951), pp. 23–50Google Scholar; Ominde, S. H., The Luo Giol (London, 1952), pp. 20–42Google Scholar; and Kenyatta, Jomo, Facing Mount Kenya (London, 1961 edn), pp. 20–69.Google Scholar

Page 435 note 1 East African Standard, 10 August 1963.

Page 435 note 2 ibid. 13 January 1964.

Page 435 note 3 Reporter (Nairobi), 1 09 1962.Google Scholar

Page 435 note 4 East African Standard, 25 November 1961.

Page 435 note 5 ibid.

Page 436 note 1 Daily Nation (Nairobi), 15 12 1962.Google Scholar

Page 436 note 2 Sunday Post (Nairobi), 1 11 1964.Google Scholar

Page 437 note 1 East African Standard, 17 August 1962.

Page 437 note 2 ibid. 10 October 1962.

Page 437 note 3 An exception to this has been Grace Onyango, a strong supporter of the former opposition party, the Kenya People's Union. For years she was active in the Luo Union, and served as secretary of the Kisumu branch. She led the Luo Women's Wing of K.A.N.U. for a time and made history in 1963, as the first woman elected to the city council, and again two years later, on her election as mayor of Kisumu. By profession a teacher, Mrs Onyango was an Assistant Guide Commissioner and a branch chairman of the Child Welfare Society. In 1969 she became the first woman elected member of the National Assembly.

Page 438 note 1 DuBois, Victor D., ‘The Problems of Independence’, American Universities Field Staff Reports Service (Washington), West African Series, v, 8, p. 13.Google Scholar

Page 438 note 2 Reporter, 22 Desember 1962.

Page 440 note 1 Cf. Sorrenson, M. P. K., Origins of European Settlement in Kenya (Nairobi, 1968), pp. 230–2Google Scholar; Huxley, E., Settlers of Kenya (London, 1948), p. 20Google Scholar; and Cranworth, Lord, A Colony in the Making, or Sport and Profit in British East Africa (London, 1912), pp. 184–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Page 441 note 1 Evans-Pritchard, E. E., The Position of Women in Primitive Societies and Other Essays in Social Anthropoltgy (New York, 1965), p. 49.Google Scholar

Page 441 note 2 Interview on 30 November 1964.

Page 442 note 1 Oloo, Celina and Cone, Virginia, Kenya Women Look Ahead (Nairobi, 1965), p. 56.Google Scholar