The media has lately been awash with very scary stories of how women have been lured to their deaths by sexual predators and, unfortunately, organ predators. Others are facing domestic violence from their own marital partners. Young girls are being married off early and the list of gender-based violence and abuse is endless.
So, the argument is, are we women a lesser gender, and why are we so prone to harm? Can we achieve full development with what’s happening to Kenyan women? The government should now do something quick, to end this crisis. To find some answers, those in leadership can enhance some of the approaches in development in their policies and legislation.
Nussbaum and Amartya Sen, both theorists who developed the capabilities approach in development, argue that for a society to develop fully, then a woman should be strengthened, her needs catered for. She should also be able to make her own decisions. This is how the approach can apply to the current crisis.
First, we women, regardless of our status, need to have capacities to live to the end of our human life in normal length and not die prematurely, especially at the decision of our spouses.
Women need to have good health through adequate nourishment and a roof over our heads. Good access to reproductive health and education is core in reducing most of the hurdles some of our fellow women face.
We as women need to be accorded the integrity we deserve and be able to move freely wherever we want and whenever we want. We should be able to leave our homes to fend for our families, get an education and to achieve our desired careers and leisurely goals without fear of attack.
Mothers of girls should not live in fear of their daughters being sexually abused. Women in this sense should also not fear making their own reproductive choices, and it should not be entirely at the permission of our partners.
We should also be free to have our own thoughts, senses and imaginations, with freedom to have our own informed opinions in all fronts. We should be able to feel attached to the things we love and the people we love, by all means. Both the urban and the rural woman should be able to engage their emotions fully and laugh, play and enjoy the recreational activities they want.
In terms of affiliation, we women should be able to engage in what we feel is right for ourselves, especially politically. We should not be swayed and bribed to maintain status quo in our respective communities. Why should patriarchy in that sense take over even when we women have our individual rights to the ballot anyways?
The writer is a communications researcher and scholar, currently pursuing Peace and Development Work Studies in Sweden; [email protected]