Grace Onyang'o broke the glass ceiling for women, be creative

Eulogised by national leaders and current Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o, Nya'bungu (daughter of the bush) as those that loved her called her, shattered many other glass ceilings to set pace for development projects in Kisumu. While the nation and especially the women can be proud of her lifetime of service, we must ask what we are doing to accelerate the emergence of women in traditionally male-dominated fields.

Sexist stereotypes that the women's place is still in the home and the traditional family has never recovered from mothers leaving for professional occupations, still abound.

What if we imagined and actively worked towards women building not just their homes and families, but housing estates, huge commercial buildings, motorways and cities?

What if women were not only shattering leadership glass ceilings but also designing the floors, walls and ceilings in the first place? What if gender equality was at the centre of 15 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product?

These preoccupations were at the forefront of the Women in Real Estate Legends and Leaders Nairobi event yesterday. Established in 2016, Women in Real Estate (WIRE) has grown into a significant self-empowerment lobby for women architects, engineers, quantity surveyors, project managers, real estate developers, and others in the built industry.

Under the leadership of outgoing President Robyn T Emerson, and a limited annual budget of under Sh2 million, the civic association has intentionally mentored, publicly profiled, and positioned its members to be influential across several of the industry's professional associations and in government.

The last seven years have started to pay off. In 2023, WIRE board member and Quantity Surveyor Jen Musyimi is the first female Institute of Quantity Surveyors of Kenya President.

Engineer Grace Kagondu is the first female Vice President of Institute of Engineers of Kenya. Architect Florence Nyole is Vice President of Architectural Association of Kenya and a current candidate for the presidency. With only two women vying for the presidency, it is predictable a woman will lead the association again, the third in a row of five decades of previous male presidents.

Winnie Ngumi currently chairs the Kenya National Highways Authority Board and Kenya Green Building Society CEO Nasra Nanda is now a Member of the Nairobi County Assembly. Other WIRE members lead various public, business and civic councils and committees.

These efforts have caught the attention of both the State Department of Housing and Urban Development and more recently, State House.

While launching the 22-hectare Mavoko Sustainable Neighbourhood and Housing Programme in December 2022, President William Ruto stated, "This will be the first project we are giving opportunities to female workers. Men have long colonised the construction industry, but it must change. The contractor will give opportunities to women."

The WIRE experience demonstrates the power of horizontal empowerment organising across women in different spaces and the benefits of an open-door policy by state officers for civic associations and NGOs. With voluntary passion and determination, spaces traditionally closed to women are opening up. Challenges that include discriminatory stereotypes, gender pay disparities, safety concerns with lack of separate facilities for women or women friendly equipment, sexual harassment and inadequate family support are starting to break down.

With little resources, it is possible to recreate the legacy of the late Grace "Nya'bungu" Onyang'o and catalyse a new generation of innovative, technologically competent, and patriotic leaders.

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