Peace and gender equality begin when stories change

Makini Junior School learning in a cartoon class at Sarit Centre  Nairobi during the 24th Nairobi International Book fair on Thursday, September, 28, 2023. The event was graced by Education and Defense CS Aden Duale among others.[FILE,Standard]

I have been facilitating a workshop on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) and male engagement in the Igad region, in Machakos County. It has been a fulfilling and intellectually engaging experience. The workshop brought together actors from across Igad member states with a shared purpose: developing an action plan for meaningful and sustained male engagement in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (Gewe).

Workshops of this nature often plunge immediately into activism. Participants expect frameworks, commitments and timelines. I chose to begin differently. I invited participants to confront the more uncomfortable task of understanding the roots of Western thought on women, and to begin the difficult process of unlearning inherited gender scripts.