Female Empowerment from a Man's Perspective

Of the different economic, political, cultural and social issues I expected to learn about in Kenya, it was a shock to see how many of these tied in to gender issues. I have been disappointed to see that women are not treated equally here but investing in females has proven to be a smart move in the past to fix social problems that have a wide effect. An example of this is Grameen Bank, a microfinance organization started in Bangladesh by Muhammad Yunus that catered almost solely to women. It lent small loans to groups of women because they were dependable and would invest the money wisely and the bank became a cultural phenomenon, leading to Yunus winning the Nobel Prize for Economics. The key to this is giving women a role in decision making with economic impacts at the small scale that causes positive social impacts. Often these improvements start from small initiatives and an example here in Kenya has to do with female sanitary pads.

 Girls in Kenyan schools stay home three to six days per month when they do not have sanitary pads and this can cause a major problem with their education. A small initiative that one fellow student from the University of Waterloo has started here in Kenya has been to bring over reusable pads made out of fabric that can be reused over many cycles along with the patterns for girls to sew the pads themselves. As we are involved with an organization that visits twenty different schools in the slums and teaches them life skills, we can give the pads to girls in need along with teaching them about menstruation and proper hygiene. This is a small initiative that can hopefully educate many women over time about these issues and empower females to depend on themselves. This is often a problem in Kenya, where women are not self-reliant. I have been to classes where girls have been asked when they want to be married and their answers are eighteen because that would mean they can rely on the man and ensure a secure future. How do we empower these women to realize that there is more to their future?

                An organization that has started called the Girl Effect hopes to address the developing world’s young girls and their specific problems. It deals with raising girls out of poverty and investing in education, which will over time increase the standard of living for her and her family while breaking the cycle of poverty. It suggests way to fight the problems that the developing world’s girls have, from fighting illiteracy to the problems of HIV and young pregnancies. These problems are the challenges being faced and the awareness that this organization is trying to spread needs to be paired with grassroots organizations to address these issues.

                When you come from a nation of strong and confident females you notice the vulnerability and shyness of females here. The goal for the Girl Effect is to show what can happen when girls escape poverty, how the power of one girl can change the lives of many through education. Kenya has put out a goal for the country called Vision 2030 that has specific goals regarding the empowerment of women, including a Women Enterprise Fund, increasing the amount of women in political and economic decision-making realms and create a better power equity structure between genders. What is now needed is to combine these goals and the small education initiatives to change how females are treated and how self-reliant they will become over time. Kenya is attempting to invest in women so hopefully the girls I am teaching in class will gain independence from the shackles of their current situation in the future.

For more information on the Girl Effect go to http://www.girleffect.org/learn/the-revolution.