Time for Harvest


Book Description

From the bleak days of severe marginalisation; days when words such as womens empowerment or affirmative action were taboo in Kenya, Time for harvest: Women and Constitution Making in Kenya captivatingly traces womens struggles to change their status, their lives and their entire destiny. It is a brilliant exposition of the sheer ingenuity, perseverance and tenacity to contribute to the attainment of an all inclusive Constitution that banishes, inter alia, gender discrimination in all spheres of life, including social, economic, cultural, and political spheres. In this way, it opens up massive space for Kenyan women to exhale. Wanjiku deftly tells the story of many great women actors in the struggle and the nature of their contribution while sparing us the pain that was suffered by individual women and their families as they identified with what at times seemed like mission impossible. They must be the women who, in her words, have names, hearts that ache, eyes that weep, feet that hurt. The books is suitable for the general reader as well as scholars in cultural and feminist studies. Student of politics, law, history, sociology, anthropology and literature who want to know the path travelled by Kenyans - women specifically - in constitution making will find it useful.







Time for Harvest


Book Description

Clearing the fields : background and context of women's struggle -- Negotiating for space in the constitutional review process -- The National Constitutional Conference -- Women's voices from the provinces -- Women's organisations and women in academia -- Women's negotiations at Bomas National Constitutional Conference (2003-2004) -- 2005 Referendum : a dream deferred -- The first season of harvest -- Women, ethnicity and constitution making -- Women's strategic choices -- Emerging from the shadows -- Conclusion.







Gender Equality in the New Constitutional Dispensation of Kenya


Book Description

The new Kenyan Constitution gives a very critical treatment to gender. It seeks to repudiate the historical exclusion of women from the mainstream society. It strikes at the socio-legal barriers that Kenyan women have faced over history. Compared with the old constitutional order, the new legal framework not only creates space for women to maneuver their way in the private and public sphere on an equal footing with men, but also institutionalizes direct gender-specific measures that seek to correct the consequences of women's historical exclusion from the society. Such measures include affirmative action. Through affirmative action, the new constitution seeks to elevate women to a pedestal that has hitherto been the preserve of men. In this paper, we trace the legal position of women throughout Kenya's history. We argue that in the pre-colonial and colonial period women had a more or less diminished legal status. This situation did not change much after independence and throughout the subsequent regimes women's legal status did not improve. The law discriminated against them either directly or in its effect. While multi-partys brought some gains, these were not significant enough to break off the legal and social chains that beset women in Kenya. The new constitution is a culmination of the incremental steps taken by the country to level the socio-legal terrain in favor of women. It provides the same opportunities for men and women. At the same time it seeks to rectify the imbalances that women have suffered throughout years of historical exclusion. The new constitution represents a significant improvement in women's status in Kenya in all spheres of life. We discuss the opportunities and suggest that if women are to make a wholesome contribution to the Kenyan society they must take advantage of the framework in the new constitutional dispensation.




Women's rights in Kenyan jurisprudence


Book Description

Document from the year 2019 in the subject Law - Comparative Legal Systems, Comparative Law, , language: English, abstract: Attaching premium to the rights of women and their enforcement in Kenya, the scope of this book is calibrated on both the philosophies surrounding the existence of the various rights of women, their enforcement and realization. In the above context, the book seeks to foster understanding on the following topical issues - concept of gender parity; concept of gender legislation; feminism theory; reproductive rights of women; women’s property rights in Kenya; and the existence, practice and rights of women living in woman to woman marriages.Gender equality, defined as a numerical concept denotes real or relative numerical and proportional equality of girls and boys and women and men. To address the gender inequalities as a measure to the attainment of the desired equality, the place and operation of legislation has been considered as key. The book also studies jurisprudence on enforcement of reproductive rights in Kenya. Defined as a person’s rights relating to the control of his or her procreative activities, the book queries the numerous cluster of liberties relating to pregnancy, abortion, and sterilization especially the personal bodily rights of women among others. The book tests the woman concern in the making of reproductive decisions free from discrimination, coercion, or violence. As a highly contentious matter in the women rights campaign, the book studies the regime of property ownership in Kenya with specific regards to the rights of women to own, use and dispose property. The book examines Kenya’s jurisprudence to elicit the court’s and feminists’ perspectives in advancing the woman concern. Lastly, the book writes on a silent topical issue of woman to woman marriage which unlike lesbianism, is a practice where a woman marries another woman and assumes control over her and her offspring for the purpose of child bearing. The book finds out the broad features of woman to woman marriage and the dispute resolution process in this institution. Subsequently, the law governing woman to woman marriages and the nature of disputes relating to woman to woman marriage is also subjected into discussion.




Gender Equality and Political Processes in Kenya


Book Description

Chapter One: Gender equality in political processes: An introduction / by Japhet Biegon. Chapter Two: Women and political inclusion in Kenya: a historical overview, 1963 - 2016 / by Effie Owuor. Chapter Three: The quest for equal gender representation in Kenya's Parliament: past and present challenges / by Patricia Kameri-Mbote. Chapter Four: The path towards inclusive democracy in Kenya / by Katindi Sivi-Njonjo. Chapter Five: The role of political parties in promoting women's political participation / by Dickson Omondi. Chapter Six: The roots and effects of electoral sexual and gender-based violence on women's political participation in Kenya / by J Osogo Ambani. Chapter Seven: Beyond Kenya: The impact of Article 9 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa on women's political participation in Africa / by Osai Ojigho.