1. Meghan Gilmartin
Casey Brannon
Maria Thompson
Sydney Solano
10th Hon World Lit
Mrs. Lester
27 October 2010
Feminism in Kenya
Unbowed is a memoir written by a woman named Wangari Maathai. It tells the story of
her life and the changes that occurred in her nation. Kenya has grown substantially from the
troubles that had once enveloped the nation. Segregation among natives, blacks, and whites, was
at once prominent in Kenya. Whites dominated over the others, they often had the natives and
blacks working for them. Due to urbanization, Kenya’s environment had suffered immensely.
Erosion and deforestation were major problems that were occurring as a result of modernization.
Alongside racism, and environmental deterioration, women were also treated poorly in Africa.
Women worked equally as hard as men. However, they were not treated with respect, or taken
seriously. Women did not have the same rights of Kenyan men, or the same privileges. For
example, most women never attended school, it was proper for only the boys to go. Wangari
helped to improve women's rights and their way of life in Kenya. Which begs the question, how
have activists in Kenya helped women gain more rights and freedoms?
To begin with, feminism in Kenya drastically limited a woman’s abilities and
opportunities. A Kenyan woman named Oyeronke spoke about the struggles of an African
2. woman, “African women arguably are one of the most maligned groups of women in the world.
We continue to labor under debilitating stereotypes weapons of mass deception that refuse our
humanity, and ignore our accomplishments” (Oyewumi). She speaks of the troubles that African
women face, and the struggle they have with respect. African women have made sufficient and
important achievements; however, people will not recognize them just because they’re a woman.
Years ago, powerful women were often considered as “wild cards”, and society did not
appreciate their assertiveness. They were considered destructive, and there ideas often were not
welcomed. Wangari Maathai was a woman who aimed to gain women’s rights. “Her work was
often considered both unwelcome and subversive in her own country, where her outspokenness
constituted stepping far outside traditional gender roles”(“Wangari Maathai”). Wangari was an
exception to most women in Kenya, who were normally uneducated, and did not step out of their
“assigned” roles. When women did step out of their roles they were often times threatened.
Women were looked at degradingly if they were to speak up for themselves or other women.
Men were dominant and had all the power, women were not allowed to question them.
However, those who did step outside the boundaries, helped pave the way for the independent
Kenyan woman. Even though they faced troubles and hardships, they still bore through it for
their people. Mwangi was quoted as saying that he wanted a divorce because I was “too
educated, too strong, too successful, too stubborn, and hard to control”(Maathai 146). Wangari’s
husbands reaction was typical of what most men would do if they were involved with a powerful
woman. Women were known to stay in the shadows in a society. Wangari’s power and
determination was found odd and caused others to draw judgements about her. Undoubtedly,
feminism was a prominent dilemma for women in Kenya.
3. Essentially, there are many questions that can be asked about the issue of feminism in the
world. Feminism refers to movements that are aimed at establishing individual rights and
freedoms to women. To begin, what is feminism? All around the world, women are fighting for
their individual rights. As portrayed in the memoir Unbowed, Wangari Maathai faces many acts
of feminism in her childhood and adulthood. In the mid-1800s the term “feminism” was used to
refer to "the qualities of females", and it was not until after the First International Women's
Conference in Paris in 1892 that the term was used regularly in English for a belief in equal
rights for women. However, feminism now, as in the past, entails a variety of widely different
approaches. When feminism is presented in just every day discussions, it is taken in many
different lights. It can be seen as an “equality” issue, that men believe they are above and beyond
anything that a woman could ever be. Continuing, this takes us further into the issue. Feminism
is grounded on the belief that women are oppressed or disadvantaged by comparison with men,
and that their oppression is in some way illegitimate or unjustified (Harman). Women simply
have a different set of values from men. Power, domination, selfishness, physical strength,
aggressiveness, control, exclusive physical and gender discriminatory sexuality, are male.
Nurturing, giving, emotionality, protectiveness, vulnerability, healing and loving, and
nondiscriminatory sexuality are female. Feminism is the recognition of these females values as,
at least, equal to male values. It's just about empowering us, as women, to define for ourselves,
who we are and act accordingly. Feminism is a striking and harmful issue that affects women all
over the world. Feminism is defined as simply "blaming the patriarchy”(Wiener). Patriarchy is
an andocentric social system in which the role of the father is central to social organization, and
where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. In the area of Kenya, a woman
named Wangari Mathai grew up having to deal with the intense issues of feminism. She was a
4. direct victim of growing up in an area where feminism was not directly displayed. It was until
she moved to America that it impacted her life, her studies, and her heart intensely. To start, who
was impacted greatly by the issue of feminism? Wangari Mathai was born in the village of
Ihithe, Nyeri District, in the central highlands of British controlled Kenya on April 1, 1940.
When she was a young girl, she started attending school with her brothers. It was not normal for
a young girl to attend school with her brothers. Young women and girls were to stay home with
their mothers to cook and keep the house kept, which is a perfect example of feminism, and what
was expected of the women and young girls. After Wangari attended college and received her
master’s in Biology, she planned on receiving a job at the University of Nairobi, but it was
denied to her. This is also another direct example of strong feminism. Mathai believes this was
because of gender and tribal bias. Being that, they did not accept her as a woman, to educate
their students. They secluded her from her teaching position, because of her sex, and she
believes, because of her origin, or the tribe that she grew up with, which would be tribal bias.
When Wangari’s husband ran for parliament, the fact that she was a woman teacher thoroughly
affected his campaign. Just because Wangari was a woman, it made the voters think poorly of
her husband running for president. Wangari had many academic achievements that would, if she
was a man, be honored and praised. But because she was a woman, all the blame was put on her.
She was shamed because she was not the model housewife that society had shaped all women to
be. Therefore, a woman who went through so much to get to where she get in the education field,
was cast out because of her race and tribal ethnicity. Surely, feminism has impacted not only
Wangari Mathai, but many women and young children in the past and still today.
Not only have there been strong feminist ideas and portrayals in the past, but they are still
occurring today, all across the nation. So this brings up the topic, when in history has this been a
5. major issue? What events in history portrayed a fight against feminism? The Green Belt
Movement was also a large event that allowed women and others to save something that means a
lot to them. The Green Belt Movement organizes women in rural Kenya to plant trees, combat
deforestation, restore their main source of fuel for cooking, generate income, and stop soil
erosion. Wangari has incorporated empowerment for women, and economic development into
the Green Belt Movement. This showed women’s determination to stand out against feminism
and bond together to be given their individual rights and freedoms. Campaigns gave women the
opportunity to test their new political skills, for disparate elements to come together, and to join
forces with other social reform groups. Not only has feminism affected women and young girls
in the United States, it has affected many different places outside of the United States. Therefore,
where is feminism striking the hardest? In the memoir, Wangari thoroughly describes her
struggles in rural Kenya and in the United States when she would be rejected constantly because
of her race and sex. When Wangari went to America, which is where she encountered feminism
the most. She was never given any chance to prove she was a correct choice for the position of
education. She was always judged because of her gender and race. Strong feminism is shown
throughout the book, especially when Wangari was in America. Historical economic or social
disparity is alleged to be a form of discrimination which is caused by past racism and historical
reasons, affecting the women in present day (“Topics in Feminism”). For decades, African
American farmers said they were unjustly being denied farm loans or subjected to longer waits
for loan approval because of racism, and accused the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) of
not responding to their complaints (“Racism”). Just 30 years ago black people couldn't use the
same restroom and the same drinking fountain as white people. The sensitive memory of white
supremacy is still fresh. One generation hasn't even passed yet since the civil rights movement.
6. The truth is minorities in the US just like anywhere else harbor inferiority complex. There is an
invisible social ladder in this country. Why is racism and feminism being used? Women are
being portrayed as week, and sentenced to house work and maids for a household because of the
discrimination of females. Also, people of a dark skin tone are cast out of society just because
their outside appearance makes them seem inferior or wrong. Evidently, feminism is a harsh,
and cruel issue that demeans women, and effects more than most people know. Wangari Mathai
made such a large contribution to ending this throughout her life, which is documented in her
memoir Unbowed.
Foremost, Wangari Maathai was one of the first fighters against feminism. Her actions
helped develop a country were women have had greater rights than women in other countries.
First, Wangari Maathai showed us in her memoir that feminism didn’t just apply to women, but
applied to young girls too. For example, when Wangari was a young girl it wasn’t considered
strange to send the male family members to school, but not the girls (Maathai 39). If her brother
hadn’t been curious as to why Wangari wasn’t in school with him, then she may never have
continued her education and may never have been able to achieve the things she has. I found it
hypocritical that parents would say they wanted their children to want better lives, but only
provided the means to for the boys. It was also the young girls job to help her mother gather
wood and cook. It was never considered for Wangari’s brothers to do this job ( Maathai 37). I
believe that the boys should have at least helped the girls bring in the firewood, because it was a
grueling task for a young girl to bring firewood up a hill. In addition, many people throughout
Kenya expected women to be house wives. When something was wrong in the marriage it was
the women’s fault. When Wangari’s husband ran for parliament, many people expected her to be
the perfect housewife. Even with all her degrees and awards she was supposed to act less
7. intelligent than her husband, in case voters thought she was too “modern”. When Wangari’s
husband left her, all the blame was put on her. She wasn’t a good enough women or she either
criticized her husband. This led to the end of her marriage and the court granting her husband the
divorce. To add, Wangari made many academic and social achievements that would have made
her admired if she were a man. She was hardly recognized because she was a women. Wangari
was the first women to receive a doctoral degree in eastern and western Africa (Maathai 113).
These remarkable feats went largely unnoticed by everyone. The media didn’t report it mainly
because she wasn’t a man or connected enough. I was disappointed when I read this because she
put so much hard work into her achievements, that I thought she deserved recognition. Wangari
became the first women to be appointed senior lecturer in anatomy, chair of the Department of
Veterinary Anatomy, and associate professor. Yet, there wasn’t a big deal made out of it.
Wangari states that she wasn’t even going to aspire to become vice-chancellor because that
would have been too ambitious for a women. That really blew my mind that she wouldn’t even
think about aspiring to something because she didn’t think she would ever achieve it.
Undoubtedly, Wangari was an amazing fighter against feminism and her accounts paint an uphill
battle women had to climb to gain equal rights with men.
Primarily, Ruth Habwe of Maendelo ya Wanawake, a parliament candidate in 1964,
battled feminism against her male counterparts. To start off, she felt that men were afraid that if
women somehow achieved the same level that they were at, then men would loose their higher
statue that they had exploited so much ( Mikell 237). If a women was in parliament just like a
man, then men couldn’t say that they held a better position than women, or that they were just
better than women. One of the reasons she wasn’t elected to parliament was because the male
dominated KANU denied her support. These men didn’t want to endorse a women because then
8. all women would be on the same level as men. Next, government officials tried to keep Ruth
Habwe out of parliament any chance they could. When she decided to contest the elections as an
independent candidate, she was suspended from the KANU (Mikell 235). The government then
justified their actions by arguing that women were not yet qualified for political office; hardly a
convincing excuse given the fact that male politicians themselves had just entered political office
for the first time. Furthermore, Ruth fought very hard through her organization, MYWO, for
women to have the same rights as men (Aubrey 56). One of the resolutions MYWO fought for
was equal employment terms with men in the public and private sector. Another resolution was
for an increase in the number of places for women students at the University of Nairobi. Indeed,
though Ruth wasn’t elected to parliament, she accomplished so much for women through her
organization.
Charity Ngilu has been involved in politics for many years and has come into many
conflicts dealing with feminism, and woman’s rights in this field. In the 1997 elections, she ran
for Kenya’s president, along with Wangari Maathai, for the social democratic party (Tripp). She
also used her candidacy to promote improvements on women’s health rights. Some of those
include the FGM movement along with the spread of aids. Ngilu, being the first woman
presidential candidate in sub-Saharan Africa, had to deal with the many hardships that come with
working in a field known for it’s "corrupt big men". She wanted a female touch added to the
male-run government. Charity Ngilu had to have very thick skin in order to ignore what people
were saying and move on with her work. This gave her an advantage when it came to her leading
other small town woman trying to get ahead. From 2003 to 2007 Charity Ngilu was the minister
of health in Kenya. In 2008 she was named minister of water and irrigation. And since 1989 she
has been a leader of the Maenbeleo ya Wanawake organization, the National Women’s
9. Organization (Kihiu). For 20 years Mrs. Ngilu has been greatly concerned with the condition of
Kenya. Whether it be with it’s well being or its social conditions. Charity was first concerned
with the condition of health and water within her country when she was confronted with a
woman who was carrying her 9 year old son who was dying of a very rare disease he received
from playing in a creek behind his school. The woman said the hospital would not see her son
because they did not have enough money (Kihiu). From there Ngilu was determined to improve
the overall cleanliness of Kenya. During the time Ngilu ran for president, many people still held
the mentality that a woman was meant to stay quietly in the home and succumb to what men tell
them ("Kenyan Women's Anger"). Throughout her campaign many of her opposers tried to
sabotage her at her rallies by pointing out to others that what their country has always know was
women were meant to stay at home and take care of the children. Many women didn’t even vote
for Charity. They agreed that tradition should stay the same and a woman did not belong in
politics. Without a doubt, Charity Ngilu, as well as many other powerful women, had to
overcome numerous obstacles to get to where they wanted to go with their career.
Many of the problems dealing with feminism in Kenya has either been resolved or greatly
improved. Primarily, because Wangari fought so hard for women, the lives of girls in Kenya
today are much better. More women today are receiving higher educations just like men. For
example, Wangari never considered sending only her sons to college. She sent all her children to
school, and they all had the opportunity to go to the United States to further their education.
Also, women in the political system has changed immensely. When Wangari first started dealing
with the government there were only two women in parliament. However, in 2004 there was nine
women in parliament, including Wangari (Mikell 235). Even though nine isn’t a big number in
comparison to the whole parliament, nine women in parliament in Kenya was a great
10. achievement when only thirty years earlier women were barely educated. Moreover, Ruth Habwe
was one of the first fighters for women to be involved in parliament. When she first ran for
parliament she was one women against one hundred and fifty four men. She had to have had a lot
of courage to stand up and take the insults they threw at her. All her hard work paid off when in
1974, five women were elected into parliament (Mikell 235). I believe Ruth Habwe running for
parliament inspired those women to run. She created the groundwork for women to be in
parliament. Plus, Charity Ngilu’s main work at this time is her involvement as Kenya’s minister
of Water and Health. In May she was quoted saying, "Nothing now stops us from using the
waters as we wish. It is now up to Egypt and Sudan to come on board in the spirit of cooperation
on the basis of One Nile, One Basin and One Vision. Two states out of nine cannot stop us from
implementing this framework" (Menya). The reason Charity is concerned with the conditions in
Kenya is because they cause many fatal diseases. In Kenya many doctors refused to treat certain
people; therefore Charity is trying to get everyone the right to be treated by a doctor at any time.
It is obvious that these exceptional women have helped make Kenya a better place.
Doing this project has changed our perceptions of Africa immensely. A misconception
Meghan had about Africa was, that it was all just people in clans fighting. What really surprised
her was the fact that most governments were the ones that instigated the fighting. Also, she
hadn’t realized such prominent cities, such as Nairobi, existed in Africa. Reading the memoir
was a more enlightening experience for her because she got to read firsthand about the struggles
in Africa. Prior to reading the memoir and doing research, Casey wrongly thought of Africa and
it’s people as dirty, ill-mannered, and full of poor aborigine tribes. However, after reading the
memoir she realized that Africa, Kenya specifically, is in reality a neat and growing continent.
What she learn from National Geographic about the aborigine tribes that dance around in loin
11. cloths with bones through their noses is not true about the majority of Afrikaners. Upon doing
research she also discovered that the government of current Kenya is not that different from our
own. The memoir, Unbowed, has been a more enlightening experience for Casey. She feels like
she learned more about the seriousness of feminism in Kenya as well as it’s affects on all people
of Kenya, not just women. Casey believes that she will not jump to conclusions in the future now
that she has read this book. She has realized there is always more that she can learn about a
specific topic, especially one as huge as feminism. She also thinks what she has learned,
specifically from Wangari, will help her stand up for what she believes in. In addition to all of
this, Casey has realized the true meaning of being fearless and will try to live to be more fearless.
In the beginning, Maria believed that this story would be about slavery in Africa and how it was
overcame. Surprisingly, she found that slavery in Kenya was not anything like what she
imagined it to be. The relationship between blacks and whites resembled a social order rather
than enslavement. This Memoir made her realize the truth about segregation and feminism, and
how far women have come from when they started. Also, she realized that feminism was not
only a struggle in America, but in countries all over the world. After reading this, she has
learned to appreciate her freedoms and rights, and not take them for granted. A lot of things have
surprised Sydney about about feminism. The fact that Young girls were even expected to stay at
home and be more a less, a model house wife, “in training”. She believe that the group has come
to realize that we shouldn’t take the privileges that we have for granted. Like going to college,
and taking high positions of power in the government, are privileges that were never given to
Wangari. Therefore, she will always remember about the things that weren't given to her that she
has the opportunity of getting in her future. She believes that reading this memoir has affected
12. her future immensely. She has learned to stand up for what she believes in no matter what the
consequence is. Always push for the best, and use her capabilities to the the best she can.
