INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY- IWD 2010

Equal rights, Equal opportunities: Progress for all.

Does that woman at the grassroots who is illiterate and unempowered realize that its International women’s day, what impact will it have in her life, will this day be different from the other days…or will it be just like one of those days when they will still have to struggle to be a mother, wife, a sister, a bread winner in most families and yet still face discriminations in the society, will she ever acquire any equal rights and opportunities as her male counterpart?

 As we sat at the event with my colleague, we pondered over the theme; Equal rights, Equal opportunities. Progress for all and thought about that woman who could not afford to make it to the event. As the other women danced and celebrated together despite their religion, race and cultures, the women had the chance to meet their women leaders, two government ministers among other guests who were present at the national event that took place at the Mombasa Stadium.

Women celebrating at the stadium on the International
Women’s Day 2010

It was a day in the year when the women who understood the relevance of the day reviewed how far we have come from in terms of ending the gender based violence on women and children, the successes we have made as well as the challenges we have met as we lobbied for equal rights and opportunities.

Leadership.
As we review our successes, politically we have gone a milestone, women parliamentarians have actively participated in the political arena and we currently boast of 23 women in parliament, the highest number of women parliamentarians since independence.

We also have women MPs who have shown interest in vying for presidency in the next presidential election like MP Martha Karua, this is a clear show that women are ready to stand up strong and vie for the top political positions in the country, the question everybody asks is, is Kenya ready for a woman president? Are the women empowered enough to vote in their fellow woman in that top seat knowing very well that we have the potential because majority of the votes are women’s.

And with the new constitution yet to be passed, women leaders are sensitizing the women on the ground to vote for the new constitution because it is women friendly and if it goes through it will provide more opportunities for women. Though it has other flaws, women are out to secure the gains the new constitution is offering them but will fight for more.

Girl child Education.
It is clear that the girl child still has not obtained a better opportunity to showcase her potential education wise. There has been concerns about the poor performance of girls in the national examinations, this indicates to the fact that the girl child needs more support from the government and the society to face the challenge tabled by her male counterparts.

Children matching at the arena ready to sing the national anthem before the IWD-2010 celebrations began.

Communities needs to be sensitized to create opportunities for the girl child as well as the boy child, it is alarming that until now some communities still deny the girl child the right to education leading to early marriages, early motherhood and child prostitution because they cannot be independent.

Reproductive Health.
There are concerns that young women were still dying during birth due to poor medical facilities, poor infrastructure, lack of awareness on proper health care and the expenses at the hospitals during child birth.

Employment.
Quite a number of women still have to pay in one way or the other to access job opportunities, women still lack equal opportunities in the work places in both private and public offices. Top positions in the public offices are also dominated by men. 

Equal employment opportunities, education and training as well as violence against women were the top three areas Kenyans felt the government had failed to address to facilitate gender equality. 

People with disabilities- PWD
 The Kenyan government has for long avoided tackling disability issues even after the passing of the Disability act in 2006. On this event PWDs stated that they have not gained anything from it, even at the provincial level, they do not have a government office to address their concerns.

Tunaweza Disabled Women Group on the IWD.

In most of the ministries PWDs are not recognized, most of the facilities placed in the public offices are not friendly to PWDs thus making it inaccessible for them to access the public services. 

The harmonized draft constitution.
The women leaders urged women to support the draft constitution as it is women friendly, it has a lot of gains for the women in terms of dual citizenship, land ownership and women leadership. One of the women leaders, Mrs. Sureya Hersi said ‘Women will only be free from poverty if the draft constitution goes through.’