Double discrimination in East Africa

Amina Zuberi

Amina Zuberi is the District Convenor of the Mombasa Women’s Regional Assembly, a member organisation of the Kenyan Caucus for Women’s Leadership. The Caucus works on issues such as good governance, HIV/AIDS and poverty eradication.

Amina is a member of the Chonyi tribe, from Kilifi district in the northern part of Kenya’s Coast Province. She is also a Muslim. Muslims make up the majority in her home province, but are a minority in Kenya as a whole. In her own words she is “a victim of double discrimination – both of cultural practices towards women within her tribe and as a member of a religious minority.”

In the past, Muslim culture traditionally denied girl children education in Kenya – most of Amina’s older sisters didn’t go to school. After her parents died Amina was brought up by her grandmother, who had no intention of ever sending her to school. Destined for a similar fate to her sisters Amina was saved when one of them intervened and took her to school when she was 9 years old, and so, she says, “began her journey to where she is today” as a respected community leader.

"Educating girls can serve to lift families out of poverty"

Yet cultural habits cannot solely be blamed for the marginalisation of women in Kenya - poverty sidelines them even further. Although universal free primary education is available throughout the country, poor families are unable to find the funds to pay for uniforms, or transport to often distant schools – they will regularly prioritise the education of boys, whilst girls are forced to stay at home or go out to work.

However Amina is optimistic that things will change. Women’s groups such as the Mombasa Regional Women’s Assembly are engaging with influential religious leaders within the Muslim community and showing by good example that educating girls can serve to lift families out of poverty.

Ruth Adul

Ruth Adul works for Action for Relief Development Assistance (AFREDA), a microfinance organisation which provides small scale loans to women. She is a member of the Luo minority from Mara province in northern Tanzania and women within her tribe “have traditionally been seen as men’s chattels, passed on to our brother-in-laws if our husbands die, with no right to land or property.”

Nevertheless Ruth says that the traditions of her tribe that marginalise women are changing. She attributes these changes to the education of girls, who grow into women fully aware of their rights and able to demand equality before the law.

According to Ruth the business ventures of the single mothers and unmarried women who receive loans from AFREDA tend to do much better than those of married women – whose husbands often “fritter away” the money. Her dream would be to see every woman who receives a loan from AFREDA be able to buy a house and afford to send all of her children to school.

Dr Abdullahi Haji Wako

Dr Abdullahi Haji Wako is a member of the Borana community from northern Kenya. A former MP, he is Chairman of the Regional Elders Council, an MRG-backed forum of pastoralist leaders from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

Along with other elders, Dr Wako commands great respect within the traditionally rigid structures of pastoralist societies and is using his influence and to try and rid his community of customs, such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and the early marriage of girls, which are internationally recognized as a violation of the human rights of girls and women.

By no means have the problems been eradicated, according to the World Health Organisation, about three million girls are at risk for FGM annually in Africa. Nevertheless, Dr Wako and his colleagues are determined to “bring about a change in attitude amongst our communities” through education and dialogue, which they hope will ultimately free women from these brutal traditional practices.