The history of the evolution of the traits of women in Kenya can be divided into Women within Swahili culture, Women in British Kenya, and Kenyan Women post-Independence. The condition and status of the female population in Kenya has faced many changes over the past century.
Kenya was a British colony from 1888 until 1963. Before colonial rule, women had played important roles in the community, from raising and bringing up children to working on farms and in marketplaces. Under colonial rule, women became increasingly unimportant to the economic system, and their powers and influence soon faded from the public sphere. Despite this, some women such as Mekatilili wa Menza and other women including Muthoni wa Kirima who was part of the Mau Mau uprising fought alongside men during the campaign for independence and are acknowledged in the country's long history for their contributions.
After Kenya gained independence in 1963, women have still faced issues relating to sexism and have not been given many opportunities in sectors such as education except for a small number of young women. Women still face many problems, such as child marriages, arranged marriages, female genital mutilation, the AIDS epidemic, poor quality of maternal healthcare, as well as a lack of education. Although Kenya still has a long way to go in hearing the plight of women, there continues to be an improvement in financial, social and economic inclusion within the country at different stages ranging from dialogue, policy implementation, representation and so forth.
In Kenya, women have little opportunities to obtain decision making roles in the government, despite a gender rule in the 2010 constitution, which further sets women back. Although Kenya is behind in this case, there are a few influential women who haven taken seats in the Kenyan parliament.
Women in Pre-Colonial Kenya
The main functions of women in most pre-colonial societies of Kenya were related to farming, child care, maintenance of the household, market vendors, and caring for their husbands, if married. There were a few matriarchal societies, but the power structures often favored men. In a few societies such as the Akamba, Kuria and the Nandi, women could marry women, often to protect them after their husbands died, or they discovered they could not bear children. In such settings, a woman would marry another woman and have children with a man of her choice.
Women in Colonial Kenya (1888–1963)
The lives of Kenyan women changed significantly under colonial rule. The colony was primarily used for the purpose of establishing cash crop plantations owned by white settlers and staffed by Kenyan laborers. Under this system, the role of women became increasingly marginalized, and Kenyan women began losing autonomy in the family unit. Kenyan woman occupied a distant role in this economic system, but still strived to be equal to the men in making their voices heard by both the colonial authorities and men of Kenya.
In 1922, for example, a protest to demand the release of political activist Harry Thuku turned bloody after one of his most vocal supporters, Muthoni Nyanjiru, demanded the protestors to do something other than protest outside the police station. Nyanjiru was shot and killed by the police after the protestors stormed the station, and is today remembered as one of the first female Kenyan activists.
Missionary opposition to female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C)
Between 1929 and 1932, Protestant missionaries campaigned against the practice of female genital mutilation, and were met with resistance primarily by the Kikuyu. Lynn M. Thomas, an American historian, writes that during the female circumcision controversy, the issue of female genital mutilation became a focal point of the movement campaigning for independence from British rule, and a test of loyalty—either to the Christian churches of the missionaries, or to the Kikuyu Central Association, the largest association of the Kikuyu people.
Women in Post-Independence Kenya (1963–) During the post-independence period, women in Kenya continued to live in a society that had a patriarchal order. When Kenya gained independence in 1963, a few young women were able to attain education because of parents who became involved in religious mission activities since the Colonial era. Many of those who were not able to obtain education in schools, even those who were only 12 years old, were "married off". After 1995, due to the Beijing Platform for Action, many Kenyan women have benefited from the introduction of feminist point of views such as "female consciousness", "confidence as women", "gender equality" and justice for women. Many Kenyan women soon became active participants in Kenyan politics.
Education The extent of education women received in pre-colonial Kenya was how to do the jobs women had been doing for years such as wife, caregiver, child birth and housekeeping. Playing this role gave many Kenyan women a sense of identity which most women cherished. During and after colonial rule, however, educating the youth became a more commonly accepted idea. Although there was access to education, it was difficult for Kenyan children, especially girls, to receive a formal education simply because parents did not find it necessary to send their daughters to school. The education that young girls were receiving was similar to that of what they would learn from their mothers in the pre-colonial era. That included skills such as child care and sewing and if the girls were lucky, they would be taught how to read and write. In the late 1900s it became more common for a girl to receive a primary education, but men, on the other hand, were going off to earn degrees and get jobs whereas women were staying at home taking care of the home.
By the 1990s, almost 50% of the students attending primary schools in Kenya were girls. This large jump occurred over time due to Kenya's independence and the development of easier accessible public primary schools throughout Kenya. The Kenyan government has put a larger focus on educating the youth because they believe that it will lead to an overall more prosperous country. According to the Republic of Kenya Embassy's website, they concluded, "...it has been established that by providing primary education to women, a society is able to hasten its development."
The situation for Kenyan girls in secondary school is slightly different than how it was for primary school. At the time of Independence, about 32% of enrollment in Kenyan secondary schools was young women and 68% young men. Over time, those numbers have gone up, but in the most recent studies, it is still 40% to 60% favoring young men attending secondary schools in Kenya. This gap can be explained by the gap between schools available for boys and girls. In 1968 in Kenya, there were 148 government funded primary schools for boys, 61 government funded secondary schools for girls, and 28 co-ed secondary schools funded by the government. Because young men in Kenya have more than twice the number of schools available for them to attend than their female counterparts, many more boys end up going to school because it is easier for them to access secondary schooling. More secondary schools have been built in Kenya since 1968, but that large gap still remains.
Property rights Kenyan women's rights to own and inherit property are challenged, threatened and suppressed by customs, laws, and individuals, such as government officials. Many leaders, both of the nation and individual households, believe women to be incompetent to manage land. This is juxtaposed by the fact that, in Africa, women constitute 70–90 percent of the agricultural labor force, meaning that they manage most of the lands already, but are made unable to own any. In addition, African women receive about 7% of agricultural extension services and 10% of credit for small-farmers.
When women are widowed, they are often evicted from the lands and houses on which they reside, as they belonged to the husband, and women are not given any rights to the land. If a husband dies from an AIDS-related illness, wives are more often evicted with more vigor, as she is blamed for his death. Once evicted, some women end up begging for water and food, living in dangerous slums, and sleeping on cardboard with their children, who are also forced to leave school.
Widows are entitled to none of their husband's estate or assets when they die, and so women are often left virtually powerless under the rules of their in-laws. Often the in-laws feel entitled to do whatever they will with their late sons wives, as they consider the dowry paid for the marriage to be an act of purchasing the woman.
Divorced women often leave marriages with no property or items at all. It is common for them to return to live with their parents.
Widows and separated women with HIV often have a hard time receiving medical care, as they have no health insurance and no means of income, especially when their lands and all their possessions are taken from them.
Governance In the 2010 constitution, gender discrimination in law, customs, and traditional authorities was officially prohibited. In 2011, a court case determined married women have the rights to inherit their parents' land. However, these practices are often not enforced. When women reach out to police and other officials for aid regarding abuse or infractions against their rights to property, they are commonly told to pay a bribe.
Effects A 2009 publication by the World Bank, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development found that improving women's land rights would grow agricultural output and better nutritional intake and child schooling.
The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) found a large disparity between the rates of domestic violence against women who held property and those who did not. The study found that 49% of women with no property had experienced violence from a partner or family member, as compared to 7% of those with land and a house. Women in Kenya play a vital role in agriculture production, in Kenya they represent between 42 and 65 percent of the agriculture labor force.
Maternal healthcare Maternal healthcare has improved recently for Kenyan women. Generally, maternal mortality rates have reduced, however, difficulties within the rural parts of Kenya persist as healthcare can be inaccessible in rural areas because of distances. In Western Kenya, healthcare institutions often do not have electricity or clean water, and are unable to provide women with the necessary services. In 2016, only 16% of its healthcare establishments were equipped to deliver emergency obstetric services. Additionally, the rate of maternal mortality, referring to deaths linked to pregnancy, was reported to be 355 per 100,000 live births in 2024. Maternal mortality remains heavily influenced by poor quality healthcare, with over 80% of deaths still linked to this issue, despite an increase in skilled midwives assisting births from 62% to 70% from 2017 to 2024.
In 2022, an initiative known as Boda Girls was launched in rural Kenya, where transport was an overlooked barrier to women's health and economic empowerment, as access to a clinic was both expensive and difficult. The initiative consists of women riders trained not only in motorcycle riding but also basic maternal health and patient care, where many of the women riders are nurses or community health workers.
Economic empowerment and contributions