The story of Phoebe Asiyo, Kenya's first woman elder

She became MP for Karachuonyo in between fighting for the education of the girl child, women’s rights and gender equality.

She was the first Kenyan woman to become a Senior Superintendent of the Kenya Prisons and thus pretty instrumental in spearheading its rehabilitation programmes, besides separating male from female prisons. Phoebe Asiyo also became the first African woman head of the giant Maendeleo ya Wanawake, which she later left for elective politics. She became MP for Karachuonyo in between fighting for the education of the girl child, women’s rights and gender equality.

The Chair of the Caucus for Women Leadership since 1997 also served as a member of Parliamentarians of Global Action and Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women for the past 17 years. In 2009, Phoebe Asiyo, recipient of the Order of the Grand Warrior of Kenya, became the first woman elder, a rarity in most of Kenya’s 42 communities, including the Ameru and their Njuri Nceke, and the Mijikenda and their Kaya.