BBAMMKS740521

1. Evaluate four root causes of gender inequality in Kenya

i. Lack of political representation
Gender representation and especially the female gender political representation in our country
has been always a hotly contested debate. Kenya’s Constitution demands that women occupy at
least one third of all seats in parliament and one third of all appointed political positions.
However, this is far from the current reality, laying claim to the question – is the government
serious about bridging the gender political gap? Currently, out of the 350 seats in parliament,
only 80 members are female representing only 1/5 of the total. According to the constitution,
parliament should at least have 117 female members of parliament (MPS) and thus falls short by
41 members. The House of Senate too misses the mark with only 15 women owning seats
instead of the 23 demanded by law. These statistics point out to an insufficiency in female
gender representation in the political class. Such a matter is one of if not the main causes of
gender inequality. And why is it so? The parliament’s main role is legislation, when a majority of
the people making the laws represent a single gender then that means that the other
gender(female) is bound to face gender inequality as they are not adequately represented in
parliament and hence there are not enough legislations in parliament that are aimed at guarding
their interests.
ii. Culture and Traditions
Culture and traditions are a sociocultural variable and can be described as a socially perceived
set of characteristics that distinguish between male and female and determine what is expected
and what the allowed values between males and females are. Gender roles are learned through
socialization and are instituted by systems such as education, politics, economy, legislation,
culture and tradition. In our country Kenya, harmful traditional and cultural practices against the
female gender within the family manifest as violence, genital mutilation, honour killings, early
marriage, polygamy and covering. In as much as these practices may have gone down, there are
still traces of such practices. Such injustices against women are justified by cultures and
traditional beliefs. Traditional and cultural practices can be harmful to women's health; they
cause material differences; they create the dire situation of women being viewed as being
available for the benefit of men which hamper women's equal rights.
iii. Religion
Religious arguments, books and stories, practices and laws have always seemed to support
injustice towards women. For example, prescriptive dress codes keep women invisible; they are
restricted in their movements in the private and public spheres and therefore also restricted from
holding positions of authority in the church. Women are often constrained from receiving
education and from working outside the home, and their rights are violated in their choice of
marriage partner, whether to have or not to have children, to divorce and to express themselves
sexually. Such practices create a gender bias against women.
iv. Patriarchy
Kenya as a country and a society is patriarchal which is a society where father or eldest male is
head of the family and descent is reckoned through the male line. The status quo is further
cemented by historical happenings where patriarchy shaped societies in the history of humanity,
both in the past and the present. Patriarchy has been a mode of life and is considered a historical,
eternal and endorsed by God. As an ideology, patriarchy upholds the view that the male has
superior control over women and all others under their care. Culture, religion, social structures,
the media and educational institutions have played a major role in the creation and perseverance
of the patriarchal ideology. Such an ideology causes a gender disparity which affects women in
Kenya.
2. Analyze the socio-cultural factors that have sustained demand for FGM in Kenya in
spite of governments efforts to eradicate it
Female genital Mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice that has been fought with both success
and failure, resistance and acceptance. Since Kenya banned the practice in 2011, FGM is now
conducted increasingly under the radar and secretly in homes or in clinics by healthcare
providers and workers. This essay probes into why such cases continue to be sustained in spite of
governments efforts.
i. Traditions and customs
As a way and means for communities to preserve their cultural identity, communities still
provide contradictory reasons for the continuation of the practice such as
cleanliness/hygienic, religion, being ostracized sexual control, tradition, and holding onto
cultural roots.
ii. Markers of Life transitions
Communities such as the Maasai in Kenya believe FGM to be a rite of passage and they only
consider women who have been circumcised as adults. Older women who have passed through
this culture are the main proponents of this practice.
iii. Social status
For societies where FGM/C is widely practiced, not participating in the practice results in
stigmatization, being treated as non-adults or exclusion from the society because they are not
part of the norm.
iv. Chastity and marriageability
FGM is often driven by beliefs that the girl needs to be pure before marriage or that it reduces
their sexual desires or libido avoiding promiscuity before and during marriage. For example in
Kenyan Somali societies, the primary aim for girls and women is marriage and a girl is supposed
to be a virgin at the time of marriage with her state of virginity being checked to ensure this.
v. Cleanliness, Hygiene and Beauty
FGM is associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that
girls are clean and beautiful after removal of body parts that are considered unclean, unfeminine
or male. In the Maasai community for example, its believed that the clitoris will grow unless cut.

vi. Promotes fertility

Some communities stil have the myth and misconception that FGM prepare girls for future
childbirth and that if baby’s head touches the clitoris during childbirth the baby will die.
vii. Religious identity
Despite Islam and Christianity predating FGM, it is still a religious practice and requirement in
most conservative communities of our country