Who Edits These Voices?

We rarely hear them. But a few times we see them. Dancing. Or standing nearby, mute, as their male counterparts talk the talk at press conferences. Until Ngilu brought them back. The subject? A dance.


Why did Ngilu bring them back? To fight a political war?

Michuki rattled. And Ngilu rose to the occasion, to remind us of the existence of these silent voices.

Michuki was criticising the way women dance. While the attack was particularly aimed at Ngilu, it remains for a fact that all we ever see of women when it comes to politics, is dance.

Women in the political arena are rarely heard. And their issues sometimes appear to be trivialised, to such an extent that they are always dumped together with those of children and youth.

Women are always silent on the political front. The few of them who manage to appear at press conferences with certain “luminaries” are always silent. The face of one Julia Ojiambo at ODM meetings is very common. But I haven’t heard her voice in a long time I wonder how it sounds….And the name Jael Mbogo sounds familiar. At one point I thought it was a man…until Lifestyle demystified the face behind the name last week. I have never heard her voice! Not to forget Mumbi Ngaru. She was vocal as a mayor at Thika. When she lost the position, her voice disappeared. Although those who know her would recognise her face at LDP press conferences. Even local comedians know how to imitate politicians in their ridiculous moments. None imitates a woman politician.

Women now appear to be flowers to make press conferences more beautiful. And of course, dancers. And now, the dance is being criticised. Do they want to take away the little role that is left for the women to play?

Women in politics in Kenya seem to be under threat. And the women’s movement seems to be lacking an ideology. Women have the numbers. But these numbers have failed considerably to turn into more female representation through elected positions. While neighbouring countries like Tanzania and Uganda seem to be increasing the numbers of their political representatives, in Kenya the numbers seem to be decreasing. The few women in politics seem to be more interested in jostling for the few parliamentary nominations.

And now they are regrouping. At least going by the past weeks event. We are now seeing responses to an issue they consider “theirs.”

At a recent round table discussion on women’s issues, participants wondered whether women folk are better of 21 years after the phenomenal Nairobi 1985 meeting. The 1985 meeting aimed to see women on an equal footing with men, and its main agenda was inspired by the fact that women’s reproductive and productive roles were closely linked to the political, economic, social, cultural, legal, educational and religious conditions that constrained their advancement. It was seen that factors intensifying the economic exploitation, marginalization and oppression of women stemmed from chronic inequalities, injustices and exploitative conditions at the family, community, national, subregional, regional and international levels.

The Nairobi meeting aimed for full integration of women in the total development effort and to eliminate the structural imbalances that compounded and perpetuated women's disadvantages in society

Yet, as we ask ourselves, have the past 21 years seen an increase in participation of women in the economic and social development of those countries?

There are days when a husband would castigate his wife saying, “…who wears the trousers in this house” whenever she perceived her to be threatening his power position. Now we are all wearing trousers, and equality in homes seems to be increasing. More women are working and more and more of them are getting financially secure. Yet in the political arena, women seem to be missing out.


In many work places, it is common to find women doing the same job as men and being paid less.

What is the women’s movement planning in 2007?

Have they already started on their agenda? Dance? Approved styles and disapproved styles? Perhaps we will see another Sierra Leone, another Johnson Sirleaf?

Are we seeing a renaissance from the 1985 Nairobi conference and the years after… when ‘Beijing’was on the lips of everyone and empowered women were said to have gone to Beijing even if they have never set foot outside the borders of the country?

Kenyan women’s movement is still weeping from the losses that could have been earned in the draft constitution, which promised to give a legal framework for their participation in elective politics.