Kenya

Citation:

Nyangueso, Samuel Ouma, Samuel Oyoo Orwa, Margaret Ombai, and Salma Sheba. 2020. “Effects of Gender Mainstreaming Efforts on Rural Transport Institutions in Kenya.” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Transport 173 (2): 76-86.

Authors: Samuel Ouma Nyangueso , Samuel Oyoo Orwa, Margaret Ombai, Salma Sheba

Abstract:

This paper reports on an investigation into the effects of gender mainstreaming efforts on the institutions that deliver and support rural transport infrastructure and services in Kenya. It comes at a time when the nation is implementing robust policies, supported by enabling legislative and institutional frameworks for gender mainstreaming as required by the Constitution of Kenya 2010. A multi-level case study was conducted at national and county levels where many institutions were surveyed. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected, covering gender analysis in staffing, decision-making and procurement for a sample of rural transport institutions. Results show that gender mainstreaming efforts have transformed rural transport institutions towards gender-responsive staffing, human resource practices, budgeting, procurement and implementation of transport-related works. However, achieving the constitutional two-thirds affirmative action policy in staffing remains a challenge, more so in technical and decision-making bodies. The study found that the meaning and purpose of gender mainstreaming is not sufficiently understood by the majority of transport sector institutions. Additionally, gender-disaggregated data are neither readily available nor applied to rural transport programming and implementation. A change of strategy and long-term progressive efforts are required to realise gender equity in rural transport institutions in Kenya and beyond.

Keywords: procurement, recruitment, transport, planning

Topics: Gender, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Governance, Constitutions, Infrastructure, Transportation, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2020

Citation:

Camlin, Carol S., Adam Akullian, Torsten B. Neilands, Monica Getahun, Anna Bershteyn, Sarah Ssali, Elvin Geng, Monica Gandhi, Craig R. Cohen, Irene Maeri, Patrick Eyul, Maya L. Petersen, Diane V. Havlir, Moses R. Kamya, Elizabeth A. Bukusi, and Edwin Charlebois. and Charlebois. 2019. "Gendered Dimensions of Population Mobility Associated with HIV Across Three Epidemics in Rural Eastern Africa." Health & Place 57: 339-51.

Authors: Carol S. Camlin, Adam Akullian, Torsten B. Neilands, Monica Getahun, Anna Bershteyn, Sarah Ssali, Elvin Geng, Monica Gandhi, Craig R. Cohen, Irene Maeri, Patrick Eyul, Maya L. Petersen, Diane V. Havlir, Moses R. Kamya, Elizabeth A. Bukusi, Edwin D. Charlebois

Abstract:

Mobility in sub-Saharan Africa links geographically-separate HIV epidemics, intensifies transmission by enabling higher-risk sexual behavior, and disrupts care. This population-based observational cohort study measured complex dimensions of mobility in rural Uganda and Kenya. Survey data were collected every 6 months beginning in 2016 from a random sample of 2308 adults in 12 communities across three regions, stratified by intervention arm, baseline residential stability and HIV status. Analyses were survey-weighted and stratified by sex, region, and HIV status. In this study, there were large differences in the forms and magnitude of mobility across regions, between men and women, and by HIV status. We found that adult migration varied widely by region, higher proportions of men than women migrated within the past one and five years, and men predominated across all but the most localized scales of migration: a higher proportion of women than men migrated within county of origin. Labor-related mobility was more common among men than women, while women were more likely to travel for non-labor reasons. Labor-related mobility was associated with HIV positive status for both men and women, adjusting for age and region, but the association was especially pronounced in women. The forms, drivers, and correlates of mobility in eastern Africa are complex and highly gendered. An in-depth understanding of mobility may help improve implementation and address gaps in the HIV prevention and care continua.

Keywords: HIV, mobility, migration, gender, Kenya, Uganda, population-based

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Health, HIV/AIDS, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya, Uganda

Year: 2019

Citation:

Bergman Lodin, Johanna, Amare Tegbaru, Renee Bullock, Ann Degrande, Lilian Wopong Nkengla, and Hyeladi Ibrahim Gaya. 2019. "Gendered Mobilities and Immobilities: Women's and Men's Capacities for Agricultural Innovation in Kenya and Nigeria." Gender, Place & Culture 26 (12): 1759-83.

Authors: Johanna Bergman Lodin , Amare Tegbaru, Renee Bullock, Ann Degrande, Lilian Wopong Nkengla, Hyeladi Ibrahim Gaya

Abstract:

Social norms surrounding women’s and men’s mobility in public spaces often differ. Here we discuss how gendered mobilities and immobilities influence women’s and men’s capacities to innovate in agriculture. We analyze four case studies from Western Kenya and Southwestern Nigeria that draw on 28 focus group discussions and 32 individual interviews with a total of 225 rural and peri-urban women, men and youth. Findings show that women in both sites are less mobile than men due to norms that delimit the spaces where they can go, the purpose, length of time and time of day of their travels. Overall, Kenyan women and Nigerian men have better access to agricultural services and farmer groups than their gendered counterparts. In Southwestern Nigeria this is linked to masculine roles of heading and providing for the household and in Western Kenya to the construction of women as the ‘developers’ of their households. Access and group participation may reflect norms and expectations to fulfill gender roles rather than an individual’s agency. This may (re)produce mobility pressures on time constrained gendered subjects. Frameworks to analyze factors that support women’s and men’s agency should be used to understand how gendered mobilities and immobilities are embedded in community contexts and affect engagement in agricultural innovation. This can inform the design of interventions to consider the ways in which norms and agency intersect and influence women’s and men’s mobilities, hence capacity to innovate in agriculture, thus supporting more gender transformative approaches.

Keywords: Gender, mobility, agriculture, innovation, Kenya, Nigeria

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Households, Infrastructure Regions: Africa, East Africa, West Africa Countries: Kenya, Nigeria

Year: 2019

Citation:

Collier, Mary Jane, Brandi Lawless, and Karambu Ringera. 2016. “Negotiating Contextually Contingent Agency: Situated Feminist Peacebuilding Strategies in Kenya.” Women’s Studies in Communication 39 (4): 399–421.

Authors: Mary Jane Collier, Brandi Lawless, Karambu Ringera

Abstract:

Keywords: agency, Kenya, peacebuilding, situated feminism

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Intersectionality, Peacebuilding Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2016

Citation:

Verma, Ritu. 2007. Without Land You Are Nobody': Critical Dimensions of Women‟s Access to Land and Relations in Tenure in East Africa. International Development Research Centre. 

Author: Ritu Verma

Annotation:

Topics: Caste, Gender, Gendered Discourses, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Land Tenure, Livelihoods, Post-Conflict, Political Participation, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda

Year: 2007

Citation:

Meroka, Agnes K. 2012. "A Feminist Critique of Land, Politics and Law in Kenya." PhD diss., University of Warwick.

Author: Agnes K. Meroka

Abstract:

Land in Kenya has social, economic and political dimensions, which overlap and conflict. Land conflicts are one of the root causes of political crises which the country has experienced since the formation of the modern state through colonialism. Although the link between land and politics has been much studied, the gender dimension has been neglected. Where it has been addressed within the women‟s land rights discourse there has been a failure to appreciate the multi-dimensionality of land, addressing only the economic implications from a gender perspective. As a result there is little analysis of the way in which women experience inequalities arising out of political processes which shape and influence Kenya‟s land system. In 2008, the Commission of Inquiry into Post Election Violence (CIPEV) reported various types of inequalities which women faced with regard to land, and which arose as a result of distributional land problems in the country. It raised for the first time the way in which gender and ethnicity intersected to produce the inequalities and disadvantages women experienced during the period of election violence. This thesis addresses this intersectionality. It argues that the nature of women‟s inequality with regard to land in Kenya is much broader than questions of rights of access, control and ownership and consequently that gender inequality relating to land is Kenya is mis-framed. It analyses the nature of this mis-framing and drawing on the fieldwork conducted within three communities argues that what is needed is a contextualised understanding of intersectionality. Such an understanding of intersectionality requires analyses of the interplay between law and politics, and how this interplay produces experiences of inequality and disadvantage amongst women.

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Conflict, Resource Conflict, Economies, Ethnicity, Feminisms, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights, Violence Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2012

Citation:

Kimkung, Pamela and Cristina Espinosa. 2012. "The Gender Dimensions of Violence and Conflict: The Case of Inter-Ethnic Land Conflict in Mt. Elgon, Kenya." International Journal of Development and Conflict 2 (3): 1-16.

Authors: Pamela Kimkung, Cristina Espinosa

Abstract:

The violence displayed during the inter-ethnic land conflicts in Mount Elgon–which started in 2005 and escalated in the midst of the nation-wide 2007 Post Election Violence–reveals not only the limits of post-colonial states to reverse the colonial expropriation of land that destroyed indigenous land tenure systems and accentuated inter-ethnic conflicts; it reveals the gender dimensions of the conflict, where men and women were differently affected before, during, and after the conflict. While gender and sexual based violence (GSBV) was not restricted to women there were important differences that confirms the subordinated status of women and the heavier cost they had to pay. While men were also subjected to GSBV in the form of torture and/or castration it was mostly some young men who were targeted for this abuse. By contrast, women raped and sexually abused ranged from little girls to old women, since women of all age were targeted for GSBV; while men experienced GSBV only during the conflict as inflicted either by enemies or the army, women experienced GSBV before, during, and after the conflict. Not only did they experience it from the militia, the army or the camp's guards but also from their own husbands in the form of domestic sexual violence; women also carried the stigma of rape and abuse forever after the episodes. While SGBV seriously challenged the masculinity of those individual men affected, it did not challenged the patriarchal hierarchies that keep women and girls subordinated, unable to find a nurturing environment to heal their wounds after the conflict. On the contrary, after the GSBV and abuse, women faced stigma and isolation and severe health issues in a context of social disruption of family, kin, and clan structures. The different ways men and women were affected by the conflict has severe implications for the post-conflict interventions which being gender-blind, have not been gender neutral, reinforcing female subordination and trauma among the survivors of the conflict. Some reflections on how to make post-conflict interventions more gender-sensitive are also presented.

Keywords: gender and sexual based violence, gender and post-conflict interventions, inter-ethnic land conflict and gender

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Conflict, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Land Tenure, Post-Conflict, Rights, Land Rights, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, Torture Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya

Year: 2012

Citation:

Ombati, Mokua. 2015. "Crossing Gender Boundaries or Challenging Masculinities? Female Combatants in the Kenya Defence Forces’ (KDF) War against Al-Shabaab Militants." Masculinities and Social Change 4 (2): 163-85.

Author: Mokua Ombati

Abstract:

Few institutions have historically presented more defined gender boundaries than the military. This study examines gender and war through the lens of military combat roles. Military combat roles have traditionally relied on and manipulated ideas about masculinity and femininity. Women arrive in the army with different types of capital and bring with them a shared cultural ‘tool kit’ (womanhood). Following the military’s labour allocation process, they are assigned combat roles, which is at variance to their gendered character. Assignment in non-traditional feminine roles means crossing gender boundaries. Ethnographic studies of the Kenya Defence Forces operations in Somalia reveal the different gendered characteristics of the military roles as reflected in the women’s soldiery experiences. The encounter with military power and authority challenges the women soldiers to redefine their feminine capital, to interpret the military reality via a gendered lens and, therefore, to critically (re)examine the patriarchal order. Grounded on the twin theoretical frameworks of socio-cultural capitals and cultural scripts, and structured on a gender framing of women’s military roles, the study illustrates the complex and contradictory realities of women in the army. The study unpacks the relationship between masculinity and femininity, and, war and the military. It underpins the value of the female soldier as a figurative illustration of the complex interrelations between the gendered politics of masculinity and femininity. It considers what the acts, practices and performances constitutive of female soldiering reveal about particular modes of governance, regulation and politics that arise from the sacrifices of soldiers in combatant.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Femininity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya, Somalia

Year: 2015

Citation:

Dzanku, Fred Mawunyo. 2019. “Food Security in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the Nexus between Gender, Geography and Off-Farm Employment.” World Development 113: 26–43.

Author: Fred Mawunyo Dzanku

Abstract:

How to eradicate hunger and achieve food security remains a key developmental issue, particular in countries south of the Sahara. Most of the empirical literature focuses on agriculture-based interventions although it is well known that rural households have a gamut of income generating activities that constitute their livelihood. This article uses panel data for six African countries to examine the association between off-farm income and household food security and tests key hypotheses that have not been previously explored. We hypothesize that the association between food security and off-farm income is neither gender-neutral nor the same for households living in low and high agroecological potential areas. Because a nontrivial number of households do not earn off-farm income, we also hypothesize that the food security effect of nonparticipation differs by gender and geography. The results show that although off-farm income has a strong statistically significant association with food security the correlation magnitudes are not as strong. However, off-farm income has a significantly stronger association with food security among female-headed and poor region households than it has among male-headed and rich region households in most countries. The gender-related result supports the notion that households tend to benefit more from women's greater control over resources than when such resources are controlled by men. We also show that nonparticipation in off-farm income is more costly, food security wise, for female-headed households and households who live in low agroecological potential regions than it is for male-headed households and those who live in high potential regions. The rural nonfarm sector in high agroecological potential areas tends to be associated with greater poverty reduction among female-headed households than among male-headed households. From a policy and development practice perspective, the results suggest that focusing rural development policies on factors that raise farm productivity alone (e.g., input subsidies) may not lead to gender-neutral welfare outcomes. This means that interventions such as rural nonfarm microcredit schemes that targets female-headed households or women in general could help achieve gender-equitable poverty reduction, as others have shown.

Keywords: Sub- Saharan Africa, off-farm employment, Gender, geography, food security, panel data

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Poverty, Gender, Households, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia

Year: 2019

Citation:

Shackel, Rita, and Lucy Fiske, eds. 2019. Rethinking Transitional Gender Justice: Transformative Approaches in Post-Conflict Settings. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.

Authors: Rita Shackel, Lucy Fiske

Annotation:

Topics: Conflict, Democracy / Democratization, Education, Gender, Masculinity/ies, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Indigenous, International Law, International Criminal Law, Justice, Transitional Justice, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, MENA, Central Africa, East Africa, West Africa, Americas, South America, Asia, Middle East, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Kenya, Liberia, Nepal, Peru, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka

Year: 2019