The Kenyan Women's Movement in a Changing Political Context

Abstract

Women of Kenya have a long history of exercising their freedom of association and assembly within the context of their women's groups! and organizations. But whether or not women have used the spaces afforded by these groups as lobbying forums for expressing demands and influencing policy and institutional changes in their favor is the big question. This long history of women organizing themselves into groups dates back from per-colonial times. The Ngwatio among the Kikuyu, the risanga among the Gusii, the saga among the Luo and Mwethya among the Kamba are examples of women's self help movements with a long history among different ethnic communities in Kenya. Indeed, the women's group organization is the most dominant and the most deep-rooted form of women's movement in Kenya. Other forms of organizations such as trade unionism and cooperatives are of recent origin and have not yet: attracted significant women membership or activism to a comparable level as women's groups. The former movements remain a male domain, while the latter have entirely or predominantly female participation.