Women in Kenya

Inside Swahili culture

Kenyan women who lived during the Pre-Colonial Era in Kenya were women who existed prior to 1890, which is the period before the arrival of British colonizers. The main functions of women, young and old, were related to farming, child care, maintenance of the household, market vendors, and caring for their husbands, if married.

During British Kenya (1890-1963)

Kenyan women who lived during the period when Kenya was a colony of Britain existed from 1890 to 1963. These women lived in family units that, due to the influence of British colonial institutions, became patriarchal in structure and when cash-crop cultivation were controlled by men.

Missionary opposition to female circumcision

Between 1929–1932, British Protestant missionaries campaigned against the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), and were met with resistance by the Kikuyu people, Kenya's largest tribe. Lynn M. Thomas, an American historian, writes that during the female circumcision controversy, the issue of FGM became a focal point of the independence movement against British colonial rule, and a test of loyalty—either to the Christian churches of the missionaries, or to the Kikuyu Central Association, the association of the Kikuyu people.

Independent Kenya (1963-)

During the Post-Colonial period, women in Kenya continued to live in a society that has a patriarchal order. When Kenya gained independence in 1963, a few young women were able to attain education because of parents who became involved in religious mission activities since the Colonial era. Many of those who were not able to obtain education in schools, even those who were only 12 years old, were "married off". After 1995, due to the Beijing Platform for Action, many Kenyan women have benefited from the introduction of feminist point of views such as "female consciousness", "confidence as women", "gender equality" and justice for women. Many Kenyan women soon became active participants in Kenyan politics.

Polygamy in Kenya

In March 2014, Kenya's Parliament passed a bill allowing men to marry multiple wives. Polygamy is common among traditional communities in Kenya, as well as among the country’s Muslim community.

In parliament, the proposed 2014 polygamy bill had initially given a wife the right to veto the husband's choice, but male members of parliament overcame party divisions to push through a text that dropped this clause. The passing of the bill caused angry female members of parliament to storm out of the late night vote on the polygamy legislation in protest.