Lessons to Learn from International Women’s Day

The International Women’s Day was celebrated with much pomp and color just as it has always been the norm. It was the same last year. It was the same the year before. And, it will be the same next year. The question is, what does this day mean to the world? What does it mean to Kenya as a country? Do women have a role in the economic development of a country?

As Kenya celebrated the International Women’s day, a Kenyan woman, despite the fact that there are efforts to protect and empower her, still faces numerous challenges that often hinder her development. If these challenges cannot be faced and solved, the International Women’s Day will always remain an event marked only on calendars for most women in the country.

The new constitution of Kenya, in an effort to integrate women in most sectors, introduced what is known as two-third gender rule. This rule states that for every number of people employed or selected to work or lead or head any public or even private entity, a third of them must be of a different gender. This implies that, for instance, if a board has 12 members, four of them must be either of the female or male gender. That rule, despite the fact that it is firmly enshrined into the constitution is yet to fully take root and efforts are being to root it out. Many quarters in the country, including some of the women themselves, believe that the rule is just fictional and cannot work and, therefore, has to be repealed from the constitution.

Women are very key to the development of any economic sector in the country. Research shows that most of those in the SME sector in the country are women. Currently, the SME sector accounts for more than 80 percent of the employment opportunities in Kenya. Most of these women sell vegetable and cereals and are commonly referred to as mama mboga. Most of these women in the SME sector face numerous challenges that have never been addressed by the relevant authorities. For instance, it is hard for most of them to access loans from most financial institutions especially those that require them to present documents for assets. Whenever traders are harassed by county askaris, most of those affected are women. Go to Nairobi during the county askaris raid on unsuspecting hawkers, and you will see how women are often harassed. To county askaris, these are just hawkers but to others, these are wives, mothers, sisters and friends.

A lot has been done in making sure that the girl child gets access to education. The efforts have in deed bone fruits as the number of girls in schools is tremendously high but a lot still has to be done. In many parts of this country, the girl child is still considered as a vessel for biological entertainment who has no right to access education but only to be born, grow and be married off. Go to Mandera and see how girls are being married off at a tender age, in most of Maasai land the story is equally the same as well as in pokot.

A woman is a mother, a sister, a wife and a pillar. A woman is a community. A woman is the real pillar of an economic thriving nation.