MEN FOR GENDER EQUALITY

The day will come when men will recognize women as their peers, not only at the fireside, but in councils of nations. Then and only then will there be the perfect comradeship, the ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development of the race” these are the words of one, Susan B Anthony.

Kenyan women need men’s support to attain gender equality. Gender equality has been perceived as women wanting to outsmart men, however this is not the case, women just need equal sharing of opportunities in different fields in the society, through these opportunities they will be able to utilize their great potential which can contribute to development in families and country in general.

 Where our ancestors had good intentions when they formulated traditions and practices that would come to define particular communities, several generations of male leaders and elders have distorted the good intentions and imposed their mistaken belief on the women folk.

It is time to force society to change attitude towards girls and women. Women have been petitioning for equality for so long yet it is a right  that should not be taken away from them.

Gender equality lost its significance when the rights of the girl child were violated, let all children regardless of gender, be assigned household chores equally. This will slay the discriminatory mind-set that perceives labor-intensive and tedious domestic chores as belonging to women while men lazy around.

Boys will grow up knowing how to take care of themselves while girls will have the time to pursue their carrier dreams that will eventually empower them, the level of reliance will reduce and as the boys and the girls grow up they will learn to respect each other’s minds and potential than discharge each gender into stereotype boxes.

Ladies and gentlemen, In development fields where women have had opportunities, we have seen them prosper, in education we have seen women professors like Olive Mugendi, Leah Marangu, Mabel Imbuga among others, we have seen poor women get into small scale business and ended up educating their children to the university level.

Women need gender equality in leadership, they need to be represented in decision making tables so that their can be addressed. Apparently, majority of voters are women but it is discouraging to note that they are always left out during assigning of positions, sometimes they are allocated minor posts that do not befit them. 

And in the positions where election is not needed, they are totally left out, this is evident in the political chief positions like the Vice President, Deputy PM 1 and 2, all the positions were allocated to men while we believe there are some women leaders who are more potential than some of the men who are sitting in those positions

Even at the grassroots level, male chiefs and their assistants have dominated our villages, women also need to sit in those positions to address women matters. While we believe that women need not to be present for their issues to be addressed, we know for sure that their presence is of great impact since we have witnessed women issues being left out in the male dominated leadership. 

Women need gender equality in accessing job opportunities. Women have to acquire jobs not because they are women but because they are qualified for the jobs. Most women still face a lot of challenges before obtaining jobs, while others are abused sexually, others are judged according to their physical appearance. At work, some women receive less salary compared to their male counterparts.

Globally we have seen women being discriminated in the kind of jobs they do, the employment fraternity has opened jobs for women in fields such as secretarial, nursing and those on maternal health, we are forgetting that they are capable of handling technical jobs such as electrical engineering, neurosurgeon, architecture among others, it is surprising that gynecology involves women but most gynecologists are men and only God knows what goes on during such treatments.

Women need gender equality in education. It is alarming that some societies still prefer to educate boys than their daughters. They are forgetting the say that when you educate a girl, you educate the whole community. People have not realized the potential they have.

Women need gender equality on reproductive health. Women should not be left to carry the burden of family planning on their own,  men should also be involved, we are glad that there are several male contraceptives but we wonder when men will have the guts to try them. Women should have a right to decide when and when not to involve into sexual intercourse in their marriages and how many children she wants to have.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to force society to change attitude towards girls and women. Women have been entreating for deference for so long yet this is a God given right, it is not something that women have to work for and earn.

It is encouraging to note that men organizations are coming up to support the discriminations on gender. It is time to define and create a new national culture that will open doors for women to have a say and participate in all the development fields.

It is time to stop all kinds of violence and discriminations against women, and it has to embark on from the core, that is home, since this is the origin of gender based violence.