Deconstructing the myth of helpless, poor women of northern and north eastern Kenya

The northern and north eastern regions of Kenya are one of the most vulnerable region in the country. This is due to climatic, institutional, livelihood, environmental and cultural contexts that have shaped the development pattern in the area. The recurrent of droughts, inter clan conflicts and other forms of insecurity in the region has led to heightened vulnerability of the populations and hence underdevelopment. These communities, diverse as they can be, have experienced insecurity, cattle rustling, malnutrition, and droughts, among other things that have made them vulnerable. The most affected by these events are mostly women, children, disabled and the elderly.

In as much as women are highly affected, they are also one of the most resilient groups in these parts of the world. Thus, their efforts, desire for change, and ability to make the best of out of the challenging situations that they face are occasionally overshadowed by the mainstream narratives. The communities that reside in these regions are highly patriarchal, women are often sidelined in community development and decision making processes and are denied opportunities that are usually easily available to men. With this in mind, it is also important to acknowledge the roles that women h­­­­­ave played in their respective communities, by taking on roles that were originally men’s, like providing for households. Conflicts that have made women widows have thrust them into a new role of breadwinners for their families, droughts have put them in a position of taking up trading, small scale farming in order to provide for the children as men go looking for pastures.

Although it is well documented that women are disproportionately affected by violent clashes and conflict, labelling them as victims in every scenario can lead to missed opportunities for successful community building and peace. In as much as they are caretakers, victims, peacemakers and civilians, they can also be combatants, and inciters. Ignoring their roles in the community and reducing them to “poor, vulnerable victims” negates their massive role in peace process, and community building and leads to continuous gender stereotyping in an already patriarchal society. These assumptions and stereotyping are one of the reasons why women are sidelined in the most important stage after a conflict; peace talks and reconstruction processes. How can society go back to normalcy and rebuild when an important section that could have played an important role in the process is sidelined and not involved? Women, are not just victims, they are peacemakers, caretakers, citizens and above all agents of change.

There are many ways unique to the local communities that can be used to assist the communities vulnerable to drought, conflict, and climate change without overly portraying the women as “poor, helpless, vulnerable beings”. These can be done by relying on the local knowledge, learning from the practices that the women had in place during such events, by localizing, and by working with the these groups, both parties benefits, without constantly dehumanizing, and painting the other in another light and overlooking their abilities, and accomplishments. Studying the underlying causes of such vulnerabilities and assisting the communities to adopt is the best way forward. There are a lot that can be done to assist the vulnerable communities and most if this can be achieved by engaging with women and involving them in the processes.

The recurrent clashes and the failing processes should serve as a lesson that recreating past structures, systems and processes to solve recent problems have failed, and a new inclusive and locally inspired post conflict reconstruction is needed. There are many opportunities to do things differently in northern and north eastern Kenya as we move towards building peaceful, inclusive and prosperous societies. With presence of many civil societies, NGOs and local women groups in these regions, there is already a foundation that different groups can stand on as they join the communities in rebuilding, and also work towards preventing another incident in the future. Excluding women in the processes, be it informal or formal undermines the effectiveness of efforts put by different groups working towards reconstruction, and ultimately stable, peaceful communities.

Inclusive approach that goes beyond local meetings at town halls, to the ones that actually takes into consideration the concerns raised by different women groups all the way to the policy level will have more support. And a process that has more inclusive support from the community members will surely not be a failure.