For many years African women were a muzzled lot. The African traditional society gagged them so terribly that they had no say about any issue that touched on their lives. It was a world ruled by men and women were forced to put up with that harsh reality. Back then, gender equality was unheard of because there were no civil society groups to endorse it and women could not fight for it because apparently, they feared men and the consequences that would come with opposing male chauvinism.
Fast forward to the second half of the 20th century and things started changing. The African woman started seeing the light thanks to adoption of Western culture and formal education by African communities. Human rights groups and civil society groups emerged and started aggressive advocacy for gender equality and women rights. African men, albeit reluctantly, seemed to embrace the idea. The African society had started realizing that an educated woman who has equal rights as her male counterparts would be of more a benefit to the society.
This saw the enrollment of girls in schools and higher learning institutions go up and subsequently, women started infiltrating male - dominated careers such as politics, medicine, law and even engineering just to mention a few. Women had just realized that what a man could do, they could surely do it better. The push for gender equality had started bearing fruit in abundance. All along, men didn't see any threat to them arising from empowerment of women and they continued to support it tirelessly. The support continued up to a point where men and women were for sure equal and the gender equality objective was achieved.
As at this date, rights of the girl child and girl child empowerment seem to have taken the center stage in all aspects of life and have overshadowed boy child empowerment as the society seems to be more inclined to supporting girls more than boys. Boys are assumed to be tough and able to deal with the problems in their lives on their own. They are assumed to be less vulnerable to social misdeeds such as sexual harassment, child labor, violence among many others.
When a woman is stripped naked in Githurai or down town Nairobi by rowdy men for dressing in a skimpy dress, condemnation of the act comes from all quarters, including me. Maendeleo ya Wanawake organization is always in the fore front calling for immediate action against the rogue men and its calls do bear fruit as FIDA- Kenya chips in to drum up support for respect and dignity of women. The media gets awash with headlines and hash tags calling for legal action against those who did the horrible act as well as increased pressure on the concerned government agencies to protect the rights and dignity of the girl child.
That aside, what happens when a male matatu conductor or quarry worker or a Mutura guy is stripped naked in public and forced to bathe by a violent mob by the roadside with allegations that he last took a shower before Christmas day in 2014? People gather around the scene to watch sinema ya sare as the mob mocks the dirty 'hog' while pouring cold water on him and scrubbing his body with brooms and mops. Everyone is amused and the poor man is called all sorts of names. Yes, he may be dirty, smelling like a skunk and a potential threat to public health but stripping him naked and bathing him forcefully in front of other men, women and underage children is uncalled for. It's an act of violence against the man. It compromises his dignity. They should at least whisk him away to a secluded place and order him to wear his birthday suit and take a shower na aache kutia wanaume aibu. The story is aired on TV and published in some of the dailies under the Entertainment section. There are no hash tags calling for protection of the boy child's dignity. Maendeleo ya Wanaume organization stay mum even after getting wind of the incident. No one is bothered to call for legal action against such people who violate such men's rights and dignity. The story is quickly forgotten and life goes on.
Moving on to matters of education, girls are getting admitted to universities and colleges at lower cluster points than boys. This policy was adopted by KUCCPS( formerly JAB) based on the argument that girls have been undermined by the society and they lose study time doing household chores not to mention that they miss school for at least one a week every month due to menses. It's like it was assumed that boys don't face any challenges while schooling and they can't lose study time for any reason whatsoever. These reasons do not hold water anymore because the environment in which the boy child and the girl child grow up in today's world is more or less harmonized. Today, boys do household chores that used to be a preserve of girls. Girls do not (or rather rarely) miss school anymore due to monthly periods thanks to better access to sanitary towels and tampons which are actually provided for free in quite a number of schools. The society no longer undermines girls and they are seen as being equally good (or even better) as boys thanks to modern civilization. So why deny a boy who scored a B- (minus) of 59 points in KCSE entry to university through and admit a girl who scored a B- of 58 points in the same exam done under same conditions? Isn't this a case of victimization based on gender?
In the job market and career wise, the affirmative action seems to be working against men. There is an emerging trend in the world of Human Resource Management where more often than not, women are preferred for job placement over men. It's not rare to see a job advertisement with a caption that says 'Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply' but it's quite seldom to see one encouraging men to apply. A friend of mine, a Human Resource practitioner who sought anonymity, told me that chances of a male candidate getting a job that has such a caption are almost none though she denied when I asked her if the caption is meant to disqualify male candidates out rightly. This trend is taking toll on male graduates given the very stiff competition for the few available job vacancies. It further worsens the disparity between the male and female unemployment rate in our country. According to Kenya National Bureau of Statistics the number of unemployed men is already higher than that of women in Kenya.
Ladies and gentlemen, let's support gender equality and empowerment of the girl child and uphold her dignity and rights and most importantly, let's not forget to do the same for the dear boy child.
