Top KCPE exam student Goldalyn Kakuya and her father Harrison Webo Tanga
at the Kenya School for the Blind in Nairobi on November 23, 2017.
PHOTO | DENNIS ONSONGO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
By RACHEL WAMBUI
This year has been remarkable for women all over the world in
more than one way. Locally, it has been a year for women as girls
outshone their male counterparts in both national examinations. Three
women were elected governors and three others won senatorial seats,
making history in Kenya’s politics.
But not all was glittery for the womenfolk.
For
the most part of May, Brigitte Macron, 64, spurred heated conversation
on spousal age difference when her husband Emmanuel Macron, 40, won the
French presidential elections.
Sexual
harassment against women by male film moguls, notably Harvey Weinstein
and Kevin Spacey, characterised the last few months of the year.
The
year had both highs and lows to the womenfolk the world over. We recap
the most outstanding incidents that defined the woman’s world in 2017.
THE MILLION-WOMEN’S MARCH
A
day after the inauguration of Donald Trump’s as the 45th president of
United States, women around the world rallied for the women’s march. An
estimated five million women participated in the march, making it one
of the largest single-day protest in history.
“It
was great.” says Angela Ogang’, a lawyer in Nairobi “but I feel as if
the real message was lost in the sensationalism of American media. It
was great that women took the anti-Trump sentiment as an opportunity to
highlight issues, but it wasn’t clear whether the march was to advocate
for women’s rights or to vilify an individual.”
Elizabeth
Oloo, a city resident, says she was disappointed that Hillary Clinton
lost. “I was hoping for a scenario where the three powerful countries in
the world – Britain, Germany and America - would have been ruled by
women.”
The Kenyan chapter of the
march held in Karura Forest set its own local tone, with protesters
appearing with placards reading “feminism is the radical notion that
women are equal”, “sex workers are worker too”, “stop female genital
mutilation” “I will not be gagged” and speeches calling for more
representation of women in politics.
ATHLETICS
In
February, Peres Jepchirchir broke the Half Marathon World record at the
Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates. The
23-year-old athlete knocked three seconds from the previous record set
by her compatriot Florence Kiplagat in Barcelona two years ago. The
women’s race was simply a thriller as eight athletes including
Jepchirchir and former world half record holder Mary Keitany hit the 5km
together in 15:40 minutes.
In
October, Kenya’s fast-rising long distance runner Joyciline Jepkosgei
broke the half marathon world record at Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Half
Marathon. Jepkosgei won the IAAF Gold Label road race in 1 hour, 04
minutes and 51 seconds and in the process smashed her own record by one
second. On April 1, the 23-year-old set a new world half marathon
record, clocking 1:04:52 when she retained her Prague Half Marathon
title at the Czech Capital City.
#METOO
This
was one of the most prominent hashtags of 2017 that inspired a global
movement of men and women to share their stories of sexual abuse and
harassment. It’s objective was to denounce sexual assault and harassment
in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations against American film
producer Harvey Weinstein. “Nothing in 2017 has been more defining for
women than the Harvey Weinstien effect,” Says Diana Ngare, a 36-year-old
real estate agent in Nairobi, “I don’t think much has changed in Kenya,
but it’s a good start. At least now I am more aware or sensitive of
what is unacceptable. I feel like now I would have more confidence to
tell someone his behaviour is making me uncomfortable and I would
appreciate it if he stopped. With this conversation being at the
forefront, he is likely to understand what I am saying.”
‘MINJI MINJI’ VERSUS ‘NDENGU’
It
was anticipated to be the mother of all battles — Martha Karua facing
off Anne Waiguru for the Kirinyaga gubernatorial seat. The two aspirants
came to be known by nicknames; Ndengu for Karua and Minji Minji for
Waiguru. “Minji Minji is something soft and sweet but Ndengu is hard,” a
Kirinyaga resident was quoted. The minji-minji euphoria gripped the
electorate and made it to Kenya’s urban dictionary to symbolise a young
beautiful and mainly light skinned woman. “After all I’ve been through,”
Waiguru said, “it is a good feeling to be liked”. Karua reminded us
that in the name Wangari, ‘Ngari’ means leopard, “…and you can be sure I
have claws.”
“I was disappointed
that this race was reduced to the aspirants’ femininity,” Lynette Kanja
infers, “It’s almost as if there is nothing else that you can say about a
woman other than the fact that she is beautiful or on the other hand,
she is not feminine enough. It’s the same thing that Trump did with
Hillary by calling her a nasty woman. The difference between #nastywoman
and the minji-minji thing is that American women called it out and used
it to challenge how people refer to women. Us, we are happy being
called Minji-minji and slay queens.”
WONDER WOMAN GETS HER OWN STAGE
The
American superhero film is one of the top 10 movies and the 8th highest
grossing of 2017. In May, women trooped into theatres to watch the
Amazonian goddess fronting her own film; as opposed to being a side kick
to DC comics’ male heroes. Speaking of the character she portrays,
actress Gal Gadot said “Diana has the heart of a human so she can be
emotional, she’s curious, she’s compassionate, and she loves people. And
then she has the powers of a goddess. She’s all for good, she fights
for good. She has many strengths and powers but at the end of the day
she’s a woman with a lot of emotional intelligence.”
“I
heard some talk about afro-feminists not connecting with the idea of
Wonder-Woman being empowering because she is white,” says Renee Kaloki, a
city resident, “but frankly I was just too happy to see, for once,
Hollywood romanticising the idea of a woman saving the world.”
SLAY QUEEN VS BOY CHILD
Somehow,
the #metoo trend, and the culmination of both KCPE and KCSE top
performers being female students, seems to have brought the boy child to
people’s attention. On November 1, controversial blogger Cyprian
Nyakundi launched a movement to fight “the systematic attempts by toxic
feminists to diminish opportunities of the boy child”. Thus fanned the
flames of a battle dabbed the ‘Slay Queen Vs Boy child’.
“Likening
the Slay queen to the vulnerable woman is an abomination,” writes
blogger Tony Mwebia, “We cannot purport not to educate or care for the
vulnerable women and girls because they have the potential of becoming
future slay queens. The boy child, especially among the poor and
vulnerable populations, is always at an advantage. This does not mean we
should focus only on the girl child as we risk bringing up men who are
vulnerable. We should advocate for the rights of every child, whether a
boy or girl.”
GOLDLYN KAKUYA
She
scored 455 marks in last’s year KCPE, emerging as the top performing
candidate. She captured the media’s and country’s attention for not only
being outspoken and articulate but also for being a person living with
albinism. Kenyans celebrated Goldalyn for weeks, but some now seem to be
worried that the teen’s exposure is getting out of hand.
“That
Goldalyn girl and her guardians should be advised,” Rosemary Wanjiru
wrote on Facebook, “she comes off as a child celebrity. The world
expects too much from them and they are never told it is okay to fail
once in a while…” Popular blogger Robert Alai reiterated this sentiment
saying “…She is already behaving and sounding like a socialite. Let her
concentrate on becoming a Form One.”
RIHANNA AND HER 40 FOUNDATION SHADES OF INCLUSIVITY
The
beauty industry has claimed for a long time that it was an almost
impossible feat to create foundations with no ashy of grey effects for
dark skin. But Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty make-up line has proved them
wrong.
With over 40 shades of
foundation to its name, the launch of Fenty Beauty created a frenzy,
with darker shades of the foundation instantly selling out. Rihanna was
praised for delivering on her promise and ushering a new era of
inclusivity in the make-up industry.
“Fenty
beauty was created for women of all shades, personalities, attitudes,
cultures and races,” she said, “In every product, I was like, there
needs to be something for a dark skinned girl, there needs to be
something for a really pale girl, there needs to something in between.”
THE REVEREND AND ‘THE FEMALE BODY PART’
There’s
never dull moment on The Reverend Timothy Njoya’s twitter page. The
announcement that he was going to launch a book titled ‘The Divinity of
the Clitoris for men to respect the female anatomy as made in God’s
image’ was no different. Some accused him, especially being a man of
cloth, of being crass and disrespectful to women, urging him to find
another name in place of ‘clitoris’. Others came to his defence,
supporting his intent to speak out against female genital mutilation.
“What is disrespectful of the word clitoris?,” one Miss Wanjiru Njenga
asked, “What should he call it? ‘thing’, ‘female body part’?” The debate
continued, with the Reverend and his supporters maintaining there was
nothing shameful about the female anatomy.
YOUNG WOMEN AND COURTS
In
2015, pictures of a Kenyan teenage girl being strip-searched by police
emerged online. The teenager was in a group of students arrested on
accusations of abusing drugs after the police seized a bus ferrying them
home from school. The girl, whose name was withheld, was sentenced to
18 months probation. Following the strip-search incident, a human rights
organisation filed a suit, seeking a Sh7 million compensation for
violation of privacy. Early this month, the High Court awarded her Sh4
million with the judge concluding that “the search violated the
provisions for the right to dignity and not to be subjected to degrading
treatment…and statutory provision governing police conduct while
searching women.”
Meanwhile,
earlier last month, celebrities Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, Le Bron James
and Snoop Dogg took to social media to call for the release of Cyntoia
Brown, a 29-year-old woman who at the age of 16 was sentenced to life in
prison for killing a man who had picked her up for sex. Adding to the
calls for her release is the argument that at 16, Brown was not only a
juvenile, but also a sex-traffic victim who acted in self-defence. “It
is heartbreaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she has
the courage to fight back, she is jailed for life” read Kim Kardashian’s
post, “I’ve called my attorneys to see what can be done to fix this.”
MELANIN: HIT OR MISS?
Following
the release of Sauti Sol’s video for the song Melanin, Kenya Film and
Classification Board chief executive Ezekel Mutua declared it ‘gross
and not fit to be watched by children’. He wondered why ‘such a
respectable music group would resort to such a video, which objectified
women under the guise of beauty.’
Alice
Cheptoo, a 34-year-old health officer agreed with Mutua. “When I heard
Sauti Sol had released a song titled Melanin, I was excited because I
thought they would be celebrating black and dark skin,” she states, “but
when I saw the video, it portrayed black women as sexual objects. I
expected something better from them; that they would understand the
nuances of the difference between celebrating and objectifying a woman.”
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