Normalizing Patriarchy and the Ridiculing of Kenyan Women
Sage Smudge Enough with this nonsense. Not when lives are at stake. I have had it up to hear with ‘rape jokes’, ‘sexist jokes’, body shaming and the casual normalisation of making a mockery of women and their daily struggles and lived realities. This running for Women’s Rep stunt by Maina Kageni of Kenya’s hard earned affirmative action seats to try and at the very least acknowledge and restore some historical injustices that prevented women from being voices of influence and decision making in this country. It took two decades, insurmountable resources, blood and guts to get a semblance of equity in terms of gender equality in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. It is not perfect and we have a long way to go to adjust our attitudes and norms particularly around women in political leadership but this was a huge moment in the long arduous journey. We got our independence in 1963 and it was not until 1969 that we got the first elected woman Member of Parliament. Several wom...