The
formation of the Kenya Truth Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC) was a
recommendation of the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Committee
after the aftermath of the 2007 post electoral violence. The commission was
formed in 2008 with a mandate to investigate past human rights abuses since
independence in 1963 until February 2008. Its constituting Act (the Truth,
Justice and Reconciliation Commission Act, act no. 6 of 2008) gave the
commission the mandate to carry out investigations, to foster truth telling and
reconciliation; reparations for victims; gender justice and elements of
institutional reforms. It would also recommend prosecutions of those found
responsible for gross violations of human rights.
In
its final report, the Commission places a special focus on women. The Chapter
on Gender and Gross Violation of Human Rights: Focus on Women highlights the
different ways that women experience historical injustices and gross violation
of human rights. It also focuses on the
special burdens such injustices and violations placed on women as well as the
resilient, even triumphant, spirit that many women exhibited in the face of
such adversity. In this chapter, the report starts by commenting on the unequal
status of men and women in Kenya. It avers that ‘Women have always constituted
slightly more than half of Kenya’s population. Despite their strength in
numbers, they have not enjoyed equal status with men.’[1]The
report states that with the recent constitutional, legislative and
institutional reforms aimed at tackling gender discrimination, women have made
a gradual advancement but they still continue to be subjects of discrimination.
A
testimony by Florence NabwalaWanamole confirmsthe status of women within the
Bukusu ethnic community. In this community, preference is given to the boy
child. Florence narrated that:
‘The
Bukusu girl child is marginalised from the time she is born. When the mother
goesto deliver in hospital or at home and the family hears that it is a baby
girl, they fold their faces and start saying they wish she had been a boy. If
this woman continues getting female children up to the third or fourth born,
the husband will not discharge her from hospital. Even her mother in-law will
not go for her. They will leave her there because she only bears girls and she
is bringing shame to the community. A female child in the Bukusu community
starts being discriminated right from birth.’[2]
From
this statement we can see that a female child is born into a society that is
structured to discriminate her. Thus discrimination against women in Kenya
finds justification within cultural spheres.
According
to the report discrimination against women has often been manifested through
cultural practices. Some of the practices include the payment of dowry or bride
price, widow inheritance, child marriages and female genital mutilation.The
Commission heard stories of women who testified before it as being victims of
these negative cultural practices. These women found the practices undermining
as they keep them in a subordinate status and exposes them to human rights
violations. One woman who testified on the subject of bride price stated that:
‘Dowry
payment has contributed to the abuse [of women]. Some have commercialized it by
saying, ‘my daughter is a university graduate, so bring Ksh 400,000 as dowry’, and
you can see people discussing as if they are selling something and the men are the
ones who discuss, not even the women. […] When it comes to the dowry of our daughters,
we should be the ones to talk, not them and it should be minimal, just to seek
blessings and not for somebody to think that they own you. Because they paid
that dowry, now you are his property. No, we do not want to be the property of
somebody.’[3]
Other
practices noted by the commission include disinheritance, preference for boys,
polygamy, cultural traditions relating to burial and chastisement of wives.
According to the commission, greater consequences of violations of human rights
were felt by the most vulnerable women. These include: women with disabilities,
women living with HIV/Aids, women in the rural areas and women from minority and
indigenous communities.
The
Commission finds that although discrimination is deeply rooted in patriarchal
cultural practices, the state failed to curb these practices. The Commission notes
that the state can play a very important role in eliminating this practices as
well as empowering women. Among its many recommendations, the TJRC calls on the
government to the Gender and Equality Commission to step up measures to raise
awareness about harmful cultural practices that adversely affect women’s
enjoyment of human rights.
By Brenda Mwale
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