Wednesday, June 08, 2005

what the hell?

Two things that have left me bewildered this week

1. A comment by Raju Umaheshwar in the Watchman Daily Nation
Women in the Nairobi club now have voting rights 104 years after it’s establishment.

2.The marriage of a 15 year old
“She is now ripe for marriage”, the men were heard to say.

Meanwhile a fight ensued at a roadside involving a man and two women who were heard to say “wacha turarue mwanaume’ let us tear off this man.

Are we having a battle of the sexes. To me all it looked like the women were
committing assault (a crime in Kenya) but to the men it was almost abominable that a man was being beaten by women.

I would like actually love to think that Men are the cause of women’s problems but the truth glaring at me, is that women are actually the biggest cause of women’s problems. Look at the case of the 15 year old, if her mother never wanted her to get married she could have what was there to be done to ensure that did not happen. After all she is a direct beneficially of whatever problems early marriages cause. It is actually arguable.

Meanwhile I continue to sit here, keep working for MY BETTERMENT and like everyone else curse those who did that to poor little girl and within a week I will have forgotten. Infact she got lucky that the press highlighted her situation because donor aided NGO’S will move with a supersonic speed to rescue her. That will be good press for them.

6 comments:

  1. sasa Shiroh!

    funny about the NGOs.. they do have a knack for appearing whenever the press is around..

    i wouldn't blame them however, they need the same press to survive too.

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  2. Actually, they call the press to alert them that they will be going somewhere.

    Shiroh, tis too easy to blame the woman. You must remember that most of these societies are still deeply patriachal and realistically, short of running off with the daughter to a very uncertain and disadvantaged future, there was nothing much the mother could do. Women are still seriously handicapped when it comes to decision making. Imagine then, how bad it must be for a woman in Maasai society.

    Cut the mother some slack. Besides its possibly all she's ever known. This issue goes much deeper than blaming just one person/gender.

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  3. Agree with MsK on the issue of the mother not having much say largely due to the constraints of patriachal patterns in society PLUS the fact when women remain economically powerless & rely on the sole breadwinner (man,husband, whoever)their decisions don't go further than the kitchen door.
    Am not implying that that's the woman's place but it saddens me to note that it is in most male dominated households.

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  4. @soray...what u doin here. :-)

    @the 15yr old
    i don't know what disgusted me the most.
    -the passive mother
    -the money minded father
    -or the ignorance of the whole community;their argument was that since she is not in school it is ok for her to get married since there is nothing else she was doin anyway....

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  5. @saurabh!m sawa,of course the NGO'S need press to survive but there is more they can do don't you think so..
    @ms k i believe anything is possible when you have a will
    @akiey, for how long will they live like that
    @nick, i think it was the passive mother.

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  6. @ Shiroh - i agree with you.. and i feel all too often when NGOs get mixed up in politics then they seem to lose their original focus..

    @ Nicko - kwani i'm not allowed to be here.. kwenda! ;-)

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