LASOI: Can gender equality be achieved in Kenya?

However, the Kenyan Constitution has been amended and policies like Affirmative Action and the two third gender rule have been put in place to ensure inclusivity of both genders in all fields of life. 

Far from that, there are some professions that people believe are only fit for men. Careers like medicine, engineering, and joining the military are believed to be done best by the male species. It is a lie however because, with the onset of technology, nothing requires as much strength as it did in the past. It is wrong then to assume that women can't perform tasks the same way men can because they are believed to be weaker.

Have you never heard of the saying, ‘What a man can do a woman can do better?’ The world is changing and we as Kenyans should appreciate and embrace it. 

Careers aside, some religions do not allow the leadership of a woman. How then do you expect gender equality to be achieved in this place if it's not allowed? For instance, in places like the Catholic church, I've never heard of a female priest. It could be either because they are not allowed or too intimidated to try. For gender equality to be achieved, some rules of the past need to be forgotten. There also should be a fair ground where everyone has a say and not have things planned out for them. 

It's not only the Roman Catholic church, some protestant churches do not believe in the leadership of a woman. They argue that the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy that their roles do not extend to preaching or serving as pastors in front of the congregation, rather women are called to give support to the pastors and preachers.

Another reason I believe gender equality will remain a dream, is because the women themselves don’t believe in themselves. They were brought up knowing they are helpers and supporters to men. 

It is sad that when a woman tries to vie for a leadership position, her main enemies and those who try to push her down are her female colleagues. For gender equality to be achieved, women should thus empower themselves and keep in mind that they are equal to the task just like everyone else. However, I love where the world is headed. It’s like the female species are woke and are trying to reclaim their positions in life. A country like Tanzania for instance has a female president. As an African country, that’s a big step toward achieving gender equality. I believe that women’s empowerment plays a big role since they will fight for their rights and in the end they may be treated equally. 

African traditional culture clearly states that a man is the head of the family.

By family it could mean society or even an organization.This then depicts the man as a superior human being and women as inferior.

This superiority complex can at times cause violence since the man may feel that their dominance is not appreciated so they resort to violence to prove a point. 

For gender equality to be achieved, men should stop believing that they are bigger and better than their female counterparts, and that they deserve equal treatment. After all, we are all made in the image and likeness of God, aren’t we?

One may wonder, why is she only talking about women? It is because the world has been a male dominated place for so long. However, this doesn’t mean men aren’t being discriminated as well. For instance, I will never understand why there is a women representatives post in parliament but no males representative. Does it mean men do not require representation? As I said earlier, equality is the fair treatment, and equal rights on both genders, not focusing on one and letting the other fend for itself. Just like there are programs to empower the girl child, there also should be others in place to empower the boy child as well. We should remember that our goal here is gender equality, not female superiority. 

I believe the world is harsh and very hard on the male species. In their late twenties and early thirties, a man is supposed to have had their life figured out. By this I mean they should have a family, a stable job and a nice house, probably even a car and everything else people measure success as. While their female counterparts are just supposed to get married to a man with all these things. We should nonetheless understand that just like us, women, they also are human and failure is part of life. We should therefore not identify these men as failures. There are phrases like ‘Be a man’ that have driven many men into doing heinous things just to fit into that bracket that society terms as ‘MEN’. This is wrong and everyone should be treated equally and if there is pressure to be successful, it should be for everyone. 

In conclusion, Kenya is still far from fully achieving gender equality. We are on the right track though and if all the fields of life work on the issues we’ve talked about above, we will be a step closer. We should however keep in mind that we are aiming at gender equality, not female superiority because today, many agencies are very much into helping empower the female species while the boy child is left to their own devices.