Dame Nita Barrow Lecturer strives for equality in Kenya

December 6, 2012

by Fred Michah Rynor

Living in Canada, we often take gender equality for granted and while we realize there are a number of battles still to be won, we're confident justice will prevail. Similar victories are the goals of Patrica Nyaundi, an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, an Executive Officer of the Kenyan Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission and this year's guest speaker at the 15th Annual Dame Nita Barrow Lecture presented by OISE on November 21.

Her topic, 'Same Song , Different Notes: Opening Truth Commissions to Women's Truths' focused on the agonizingly slow pace of gender equality in Kenya and how truth commissions can advance women's rights.

Just getting an education is an often formidable hurdle for women in Kenya Nyaundi revealed. Men, she reported, are most likely to be sent to school due to limited family funds as well as the reality that men usually become property owners whereas women are simply seen as wives. As well, there is a general fear, Nyaundi added, that women won't know their place should they get educated.

"So what did Kenyan independence from the British in 1963 mean to women?" Nyaundi asked the audience. Her answer -- it simply translated into added benefits for men, a continuation of physical and mental domestic abuse and few options for gender advancement.

Female circumcision is still practiced in some communities and laws still favour men. "When we celebrate independence does that independence include women? No," Nyaundi stated emphatically. "We thought it would mean no more tears for us but we were wrong."

Abuse became even more 'normalized' after 1963, she stated, and many women simply considered it their lot in life. "We were not allowed to speak out and the new Constitution protected the elite," Nyaundi told the crowd. "When women sang the new national anthem we discovered the word 'all' did not mean all and 'everyone' didn't mean everyone."

Nyaundi served on the Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commission from February 2010 to August 2012. As the Chief Executive Officer/Secretary, she demanded that women's concerns be represented.

"We told the Commission that we are people too and we must be included," Nyaundi recalled. "Women want to be part of this republic and we expect to be treated as human beings."

Though many challenges remain for women, Nyaundi is hopeful that important changes are taking place and things are slowly getting better although she ruefully admitted that the biggest challenge to women's equality often comes from women themselves due to fears that those who demand their rights will not be deemed good wives.

"When people say that granting women full rights is a denial of Kenyan culture, I reply that human rights are universal and you don't abandon your national culture by denying these rights," she says.

The Dame Nita Barrow Distinguished Visitorship has been welcoming renowned speakers since its inception in 1997 through the auspices of the Adult Education Program and the Centre for Women's Studies in Education at OISE. Barrow (1916-1995) was the former Governor General of Barbados and studied nursing at U of T from 1944 to 1948. Throughout her life she was a strong advocate for women's rights and higher education for all.

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