A UNESCO report has shown that most women and girls from developing and underdeveloped countries cannot manage their menses and associated hygiene with dignity and ease. Especially those living in rural areas and the urban poor. This results from a lack of finances to afford menstrual products, illiteracy, lack of awareness of menstrual health hygiene, inadequate facilities, poor infrastructure, and cultural and social menstrual beliefs.

In Kenya, for example, in Communities living in the coastal Kenya and Eastern region like Wajir, Turkana, Mandera and Marsabit, Maasai and Samburu communities, menstrual health and talks are still considered taboo. To date, these cultural and social influences are a major barrier in ensuring that girls and women access proper knowledge on menstrual health and hygiene. Unfortunately, they are forced to isolate themselves from everyone during their menstrual days as they are perceived as unclean and embarrassing. Hence, prohibiting them from their day-to-day activities such as schooling and working. In sub-Saharan Africa, one out of ten girls do not go to school during their menstrual cycle, with some dropping out of school entirely after getting their first cycle (UN report,2016). Some are forced to stay in the bushes until the last day of menstruation and are purified before returning home. This predisposes them to various health risks since they do not shower, cold chilly nights, risk of being attacked by wild animals and even rape. Basically, in these communities\’ menstruation, a natural and healthy process comes with rules, restrictions, and isolation.

The societal perception that menstruation should be a secret is also a limiting factor. This \’menstrual etiquette\’ encourages discomfort communicating to girls the importance of menstrual health hygiene, hiding from men and boys due to fear or embarrassment on their way to purchase menstrual products. Most girls find it challenging to share their experience, especially the first time they experience this process.
Persons living with disability are highly disadvantaged when it comes to access and use of menstrual products depending on the disability. Those living with a disability or mentally challenged often need help and a lot more care during this period, limiting them from experiencing the process with dignity since their privacy is invaded.

Menstrual Products

Women and girls around the world use various products to help them manage menstrual periods.

Holes on the ground
According to research done by Water Aid, women of the Karamoja region in Uganda dig holes in the ground during their periods and sit on top of the hole to collect blood. In Wajir, Turkana, and Samburu, their girls and women stay outside until their cycle is over.

Goatskin
In some African communities, women use goatskin to trap the blood, which they then wash away privately with cow ghee. They claim that the goatskin skirt works for the whole day and is economical compared to other menstrual products.

Cow Dung
Women and girls from the pastoral communities in Kenya and other African communities collect cow dung from surrounding fields and use a pestle and mortar to grind it down to a fine powder before stuffing it into a pouch which they use to absorb blood. It is a method that has been passed through generations.

Lint Cotton
Lint cotton is the short fibers that cling to the seed after the lint is removed. The cotton can attract insects, is sometimes itches and irritates the skin when used as a menstrual product. Unfortunately, some women and girls in Africa still use this due to a lack of finances to purchase menstrual products.

In western countries, there are a plethora of options for managing menstruation. This is not the same case in underdeveloped and African countries.

Sanitary pad
They are the most commonly used period products. over the decades,
the design of disposable sanitary pads and reusable pads has evolved to a much more comfortable and absorbent nature, with a wide range of suit all flows from light flows to heavy flows.
The downfall of disposable pads is that they are not environmental- friendly. They must be changed after every 4 hours to prevent bacteria growth and odor. This means that they are expensive as one may need a packet or two every month. On the other hand, reusable/washable sanitary towels are much more environmental- friendly and cost-effective as they are reused multiple times.

Tampons
A tampon is used internally by insertion into the vaginal canal. Most users prefer using tampons to pads due to their small nature and are not visible on underwear, and they feel comfortable while sitting. Since they are disposable, they not environmental-friendly neither are they cost-effective.

Some tampon brands and specific materials are linked with Toxic Shock Syndrome. This happens after tampons absorb the vagina\’s lubricant and bacteria in the process of absorbing blood. One is advised to use the lowest absorbency rating possible to suit their menstrual flow.

Menstrual cups
It is a small silicone or latex cup that works by being folded and inserted internally to rest on the vaginal wall, where it collects blood. It takes time to master the correct positioning, and it usually is very comfortable once the technique is mastered. It stays in for up to 12 hours. It is then removed, emptied, rinsed and sterilized in hot water and re-used. They are one of the most eco-friendly and wallet-friendly options. The downside of these cups is that they require a high standard of hygiene to prevent bacterial infections. There have been cases where the cup gets stuck in the vagina if wrongly places and not recommendable for virgin girls.

Menstrual discs
They are made of plastic or silicone, inserted in the vagina, and rests in the base of the cervix. It can stay in for up to12 hours and works by collecting blood in the disc. Most menstrual discs are not re-usable hence not environmental- friendly or cost-effective. They are also a bit complicated to use and not advisable for virgin girls and women.

Period underwear
They look like regular underwear, except they have a special absorbent layer that prevents leakages to clothing and is also washable. They are not the cheapest option. If not well cleaned or dried, one can be at risk of getting bacterial infections. However, they are environmental- friendly since they are reusable.

Despite most people being aware of sanitary towels, most people are not aware of the rest: tampons, discs, cups, and undies. Most insertable products such as menstrual cups and tampons are still considered taboo by most communities and are associated with women\’s purity and virginity. Period products are costly, and some people cannot afford them every month, especially those living below the poverty line. For the reusable pads, women and girls living in areas where water is scarce, e.g. Turkana, some parts of Laikipia, are likely to suffer from bacterial infections due to poor hygiene and reusing uncleaned pads. They also require soap for washing as well as private spaces for drying to prevent contamination. Due to the lack of Comprehensive Sexual Education (CSE), most rural communities choose to remain on traditional methods. They are less likely to know hygiene basics, such as how often to change products and the importance of taking a bath using soap and clean water.

 Interventions On Menstrual Health In Kenya

Girl Child Network: -Teacher Training Program;

1. Support transition to puberty and support menstrual health management.
2. Supports girls/ boys health clubs.

Kenyan Ministry of Education: – National Sanitary Towel Programme has been in place since 2010.

1. Provides sanitary towels to school girls.
2. Trains teachers on unhygienic usage and disposal of sanitary towels,
3. Monitors and evaluates impact work.

WaterAid

1. Practical toolkit and education on resources for improving menstrual hygiene around the world.
2. Construction of gender-separated toilets.
3. Menstruation education to address taboos and misinformation.

WASH UNITED

1. Knocking down menstrual taboos in Kenya.
2. A game-based learning approach to menstrual health management education empowers girls to
3. overcome silence, shame and stigma.

Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council

1. Menstrual Hygiene Management
2. Three pillar approach; breaking the silence on taboos, menstrual health management, safe reuse and disposable solutions.
3. Emergency workshops
4. Qualitative and quantitative research on menstrual hygiene.

Steps were taken to create a more supportive environment for menstrual hygiene. They include;
Several key government\’s ministries and NGOs are focused on improving the state of menstrual health education and awareness for adolescent girls: Political support garnered through civil society, parliament, the ministry of education, the prime minister\’s office led the national recognition of the need for puberty education, teacher training, and sanitary pads and allocational of additional funds for the ministry of education to implement the program.
Small and medium-sized products companies seek to provide basic education to girls such as Zana Africa through comic books, booklets, and in-person training. Ministry of Health is currently leading a collaborative process to draft national menstrual hygiene management.

In 2011, government policy allocated 240 million Kenyan shillings annually to provide free sanitary pads to girls in public government schools through the National Sanitary Towel Programme. Unfortunately, private schools do not benefit from this programme and some public schools, especially those in marginalized areas, barely get access to these sanitary towels. In some schools, teachers do not distribute the products to the students, and in some cases, these products do not last for the whole term and holidays.
The Kenyan government removed import duties and value-added sales tax on menstrual hygiene products in 2011.

Private sectors, NGOs, CBOs have also played a significant role in providing sanitary products and creating awareness. Various non-governmental organizations and community-Based Organizations are also playing a big part in combating period poverty countrywide. Some examples of these organizations include Sister speaks, Drawing Dreams initiative, Rays of Mercy Kenya and Inua Dada foundation. In 2016, Speak Up Africa created the \”No Taboo Periods\’\’ a campaign that focuses on ensuring that everyone in society understands the role of menstrual health management in enabling women and girls to reach their full potential.

The issue of menstrual health in Kenya has gained momentum over the past few years, with new supportive policies, an increase in advocacy and awareness, and growth within menstrual products. However, the most vulnerable girls are still not benefitting from these initiatives. Taboos related to menstruation are still common. Menstrual health products remain unaffordable and inaccessible to teenage girls, especially during school holidays or in COVID 19. There is still a lot that needs to be done by reaching out to the marginalized girls.

References

Delaney, J. (1976). The curse: A curse: A cultural history of menstruation. 1st ed.New York: Dutton.

Vastral, L. (2008). Underwraps: A history of menstrual hygiene technology. Latham editor. Lexington Books.

UNICEF. (2009). Guidance-menstrual hygiene-materials.

Most available data focus on rural women who inform research data that gets funding. Women\’s issues have been bundled up to the rural setting, and little attention is given to the urban woman. It does not mean that rural women should be left out, far from it. For the longest time, rural women have been disproportionately marginalized because of the physical location, economic status and level of education. However, it is fair to consider that with changing times, women in urban settings are facing discrimination just as the women in the rural setting.

In urban areas, women are becoming the majority, and many people live in female-headed households. Women\’s experiences in cities differ based on their circumstances and profiles, such as age and living space, which are primarily determined by income, education levels, household profile, networks, and health (Tacoli & Satterthwaite, 2013).

In the urban setting, the focus shifts to women and girls living in an informal settlement (slums). The gap, however, is that women and girls in the slums are more marginalized but then again, the women in \’rich\’ environments are as marginalized as the people in the slum area.

Women who are viewed by society to have \’made it\’ get the societal pressure to have it all figured out. They should be good wives, be leaders in their respective organizations, be a good sister and most importantly, wear the veil of motherhood with uttermost appreciation. However, is this even feasible? Let us look at a scenario of a woman in an 8am -5 pm work environment. She ought to be up early, get the children ready, have the husband peppered out, have breakfast ready before she takes care of herself and be at work on time. In the evening, get home on time, ensure the children have done their homework, and serve dinner. This is worse if the woman is pregnant. Society expects nothing less. Besides, an educated woman is supposed to build a community, isn\’t she?

Women are viewed differently from men. Ruth Shays states: “The mind of the man and the mind of the woman is the same. But this business of living makes women use their minds in ways that men don\’t even have to think about”. Gender disparities are felt in many facets of everyday life, including access to decent job opportunities, increased workloads due to the dual responsibility of earning a living and caring for others, access to financial assets and housing protection, equitable tenure rights, access to services, wealth accumulation, involvement in public government processes, and personal security, the latter due in part to inadequate infrastructure. (Chant & McIlwaine, 2016).

In the urban setting, the focus is on sexualizing and politicizing the woman\’s body. The pressure for the urban women to achieve their reproductive, productive and community roles leaves them vulnerable to the ‘society police’. Women are frequently urged to fulfill the roles of ego stroking girlfriend, stoic wife or nurturing mother. Not forgetting Gender-based violence which has a significant impact on women\’s economic empowerment, especially in urban settings where gender norms may be challenged.

In specific ways, changing gender roles in urban environments would necessitate greater community engagement and, in some cases, collective action to support group priorities and entitlements. (Moser, 2016).

When women have increased wealth accumulation and diversified asset portfolios, coupled with supportive structural policy initiatives and tools, they can increase their empowerment and agency to make decisions and manage assets – this can lead to a transformation of gender power relations and more gender equality (Moser, 2016).

Understanding the intersection of poverty and gender roles in urban environments involves a multi-dimensional and multi-sectoral lens. This approach will illustrate how urban prosperity does not always favor women and how they are marginalized in income poverty, asset poverty, time and power (Chant & McIlwaine, 2016).

References

Chant S. & McIlwaine C. (2016) Cities, Slums and Gender in the Global South. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge

Moser, C. (2016) Introduction: towards a nexus linking gender, assets and transformational pathways to just cities. In Moser, C (Ed.) Gender, Asset Accumulation and Just Cities: Pathways to transformation (pp. 12-37). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

Tacoli C. & Satterthwaite D. (2013) Editorial: Gender and Urban Change. Environment and Urbanisation. Vol. 25, 3-8. Retrieved from: http://eau.sagepub.com/content/25/1/3.full.pdf+html. DOI:10.1177/0956247813479086.

The men spoke of social cohesion and the need to act selflessly and responsibly. The women  — who take on the greatest burden of housework, childcare and responsibility for ageing parents — sighed, took a deep breath and got to work.

In the past year, people worldwide have had to rethink the way they work, travel, educate their children, interact with their communities and maintain family ties.

And research has shown that during that weird year of stress, stillness and grief, women’s voices have largely disappeared, even though it is clear that while the long-term impacts of COVID-19 resonate through the whole of society, women have been hit the hardest financially.

How women consume news matters.  Women are citizens and access to accurate, timely news is necessary for their democratic participation. It is also important as a channel to give people information about regulations, services, rights, and protections that affect them directly.

This is true at all times but particularly so during a pandemic when there are extraordinary controls on people’s behaviour and movement, and new advice on how to react to health-related issues. The pandemic has also brought with it new dangers for women: domestic violence and abuse in homes where they often feel trapped with their abuser.

A UN report on the impact of COVID-19 on men and women highlights how it has affected women disproportionately, “forcing a shift in priorities and funding across public and private sectors, with far-reaching effects on the well-being of women and girls”.

The report also warns that women worldwide have been hit harder economically by the crisis and that their lesser access to land and other capital makes it more difficult for them to weather the crisis and bounce back. In other words, there is a real danger of the pandemic leaving women weaker, poorer, and pushing them further out of the political sphere than they were before.

In such a climate it is vital that women have access to news and information that will help them survive and recover. This can be immediate, practical information about, for example, places of refuge and emergency legislation that allows them to leave their home and stay with a friend if they are in danger, even during a lockdown. And it can be broader: news about the efficacy and health impacts of vaccinations, about school closures, and the trustworthiness of politicians.

News, and in particular news organisations, can also serve another more social function: as a source of companionship, solace, identity, and entertainment. Again this is true at all times but it is particularly so with the restrictions necessitated by COVID-19 that have upended so many traditional networks and community spaces.

The first thing to understand is that men and women consume news differently, at different times of the day and in different ways. The traditional print model revolves around the idea of a man reading the paper at the breakfast table, with his wife preparing breakfast, possibly with the radio or television on in the background. Traces of these habits still remain in some countries, and many editors in Latin America, especially in Mexico and Brazil, find that print is still more popular among men, while women use TV and radio more. Overall, however, patterns of use are changing.

Patterns of news consumption are now determined by access to mobile data, broadband, and enabled devices, as well as the commute to work, types of employment, and, crucially, the time available — how women consume news has often been shaped by their domestic responsibilities. Many women also say news is a low priority for them, not something they believe they need in the course of their everyday life, and something that should not supersede other tasks.

News does not provide them with what they need; it provides neither escape nor information they feel they can utilise, and the emotions it invokes are negative. Instead, avoiding the news is often a strategic decision by busy caretakers to narrow their “circle of concern” — the things they have to think about on a daily basis.

It is clear that one of the structural inequalities COVID-19 has increased is women’s “time poverty”. Even before the pandemic, women did nearly three times as much unpaid care and domestic work as men, and in the past year, as schools and nurseries closed, women found themselves trying to juggle yet more responsibilities at home.

Women and news: an overview of audience behaviour in 11 countries, a report published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford, shows that women are more likely to use TV and radio — media that can be consumed while multi-tasking — while men use print and magazines.

Men and women interact with news differently, partly through personal choices and partly in response to the way in which they are treated when they do venture into public debates.

Men often receive more comments directed at their opinions and attitudes, but women who come under attack are likely to change their behaviours and become more wary of expressing opinions publicly. And while men tend to be attacked for what they think, i.e. their arguments and political attitudes, women are attacked more for simply being women.

Data shows that in most countries women are far less likely to read news via Twitter, which can often be a prime site for trolling and harassment, than men.

Percentage of respondents who use Twitter for news

Online harassment towards women uses hyperbole and sexualised language, along with more subtle suggestions that women are somehow lesser beings, undeserving of resources, and less capable than men. This online environment may well explain the differences in how women engage with news, and how they comment and share news with their networks.

Kenyans as a rule are very interested in news. The study showed that the number of both men and women who said they are extremely or very interested in news is higher than in the other countries covered and, significantly, 73 per cent of women said they were very or extremely interested in news — a figure that is much higher than in all the other countries surveyed.

Percentage of respondents extremely or very interested in news

And while women in many countries rely on a trusted friend or relative, or their partner, to tell them the news, passing on the snippets they feel may be interesting or relevant to them, this is especially true in Kenya, where they rely on friends and family rather than news editors to curate their news consumption.

Percentage of respondents who talk with friends about a news story (face to face)

It is worth spending some time looking at just where women do build communities and share, and where they are likely to feel comfortable in the company of others in their network. While men are more likely to be counted as news lovers in most countries, women are still likely to spend vast amounts of time consuming news and information, albeit on different platforms, often those that are linked to their caring responsibilities.

In many countries, a portion of some women’s time is spent on other forums — often ones about parenting — that still play a significant role in how women consume news. While not all women are parents, many still join these sites to participate in a female chat forum.  As a result, many women occasionally consume news through links to the original article but more frequently through summaries and the ensuing debates.

Trust in news is a multi-faceted concept and a quick glance at the data shows that, in most of the countries analysed, women and men are almost equally likely to trust or distrust news. But it is worth looking at the patterns of how people share news, and how much they trust the news they receive through social media and through private messaging apps from their close friends and family.

Percentage of respondents who say they trust the news

There is usually a positive correlation between interpersonal trust, trust in the media, and trust in other institutions.

Wealth and education matter in this area too. A person’s level of education is the strongest sociodemographic predictor of trust in the media, with men and women with lower levels of education trusting news more than those with higher levels of education.

There are some differences between how much men and women trust the news they see on social media and the news they receive through their personal networks, but overall, the trends in the trust in news move in the same direction for both genders.

But what women want from news and crucially, what they are prepared to tolerate, is also changing.

Social media has helped here. Feminists have used new platforms and new activist tools to speak out and organise against sexism and misogyny, sometimes in the news media too. We see this with the #MeToo movement, but also with important specific mobilisations around, for example, #EleNão in Brazil, #ProtestToo in Hong Kong, and many more.

In Kenya this activism comes from Kenyan women’s anger over the country’s high rates of domestic violence and femicide, and the media’s portrayal of victims as somehow complicit in their own deaths has sparked a nationwide conversation about the role of women in newsrooms.

Some recent high-profile murders have acted as lightning rods for the protests. The rape and murder of university student Sharon Otieno in 2018 is a case in point. Much of the media used her case as a hook for writing articles about sugar daddies and female students, much to the fury of women who felt the coverage took away her dignity. Protests also erupted the following year after medical student Ivy Wangechi was murdered by a man who was stalking her and the media spent a disproportionate part of the coverage on her killer’s motivations.

The anger generated a series of social media movements including the Twitter hashtag #TotalShutdownKe and the Counting the Dead project (which keeps a tally of femicide victims) which sprang up and coalesced around the Women’s Day demonstrations. Attention also turned to the dangers faced by women living with abusive partners during lockdown.

This is part of a broader trend where historically disenfranchised populations in many countries are using digital media to work around male-dominated established news media spaces they have long been excluded from. Our audience data shows that women engage with established news media in ways that are sometimes quite different from those in which men engage with news.

The growing number of women-led protest movements against femicide, sexual assault, and online harassment around the world has also created new conversations about who in the newsroom is deciding the agenda and framing the news.

Newsrooms in Kenya are still dominated by men at the higher levels, and while there have been a handful of senior newspaper editors who are women, “Kenyan female journalists have tended to cover the more traditional beats of health, science, and lifestyle”.

This has meant that the news agenda has been decided by men with women portrayed under the male gaze. There is a new generation of female investigative and political reporters who are building up impressive reputations but they frequently find themselves the target of online attacks.

Two respected female news anchors, Lulu Hassan and Kanze Dena, were subjected to an absurd level of trolling in 2017 after they interviewed Kenya’s president Uhuru Kenyatta in a wide-ranging interview that included a few soft questions about football and how he spends his free time. The comments focused on how they were asking silly questions, and were unsuited for political interviews, even though the resulting programme was a hit in terms of ratings with both men and women.

There are some initiatives to serve women audiences, but they tend to be external. The BBC has partnered with many media stations in Africa to create She Word, and The Nation, one of Kenya’s main newspapers, has a donor-funded gender desk. These initiatives have created space for news aimed at women, often by women, but they are generally seen as separate from the main news desk and their existence has little impact on the wider culture of Kenyan newsrooms.

Many media organisations are struggling to remain relevant to their readers and crucially, to persuade people to pay for journalism. Women are the great untapped potential here — a large, invested group of potential readers and viewers who want information that is relevant to their lives and those of their families and communities. In order to survive, journalism and journalists need to recognise this fact and change their message accordingly.

Source: https://www.theelephant.info/data-stories/2021/01/29/journalism-and-the-second-sex/

When international NGOs working in Kenya, such as IWHC (International Women’s Health Coalition) and Women Deliver, found evidence of racist behavior towards employees of colour, they did not dismiss perpetrators (all of whom were white women) or even distance the organizations from them. Instead, they said that the perpetrators had chosen to step down, but nonetheless deserved to be celebrated for their achievements. There were no genuine apologies or reparations towards the affected. Even worse, some of the organizations hired other white women (who had also been implicated in racist behavior) to replace those who ‘stepped down’.

What about the Kenyan-based NGOs active in the African women’s rights sector, where I’ve worked for five years? I was shocked at first, and remain deeply disappointed, that the majority of these organizations replicate the same attitudes as the western organizations I mention above. I have witnessed not only verbally offensive behavior from employers towards employees, but also economic and socially oppressive tendencies. I have seen young African women asked not to speak when their experiences deserved to be heard, and I have also seen young African women brazenly fired for doing the right thing in particular situations.

One friend recently worked for a white woman who runs a small local foundation in Nairobi.(1) Her office was a space within her employer’s large home. My friend regularly reported to the office at 7:00 am. One morning, the traffic was fairly light and so my friend arrived early, at 6:30 am, and rang the bell. Starting earlier would allow her more time to work and she was happy with that. She waited 5 minutes, rang it again, then her employer came to the bedroom window and yelled that she should have arrived at 7:00 am, not 6:30 am. Even worse, she would not open the gate until 7:00 am. My friend sat on the pavement on a cold Nairobi morning for half an hour. She quit the job that day.

This is just one example of many interactions between what NGOs call ‘local/national staff’ and ‘international staff’. These interactions are mostly anchored in white supremacy, which needs to be eliminated if women’s rights organizations truly want to achieve equality.

In one organization I previously worked for, I frequently witnessed these superiority complexes first-hand. Whenever representatives of a donor organization visited, everyone was walking on eggshells that day. We had a preparation meeting to discuss who would say what, the kind of impression to create, gifts to offer the donors, etc. And while I am grateful that this organization gave us all opportunities to speak for our work directly, I always grappled with the intensity of preparation for these specific visitors.

Over time, I realized it was because there were unspoken expectations between donors from the global North, and funding recipients in the global South. Our gratitude always needed to be reinforced to placate these white donors’ savior complexes. I often wondered, doesn’t the work speak for itself? Why did we need to organize gourmet lunches and stretch ourselves to this extent? If we stood for the ideals of gender equality and fought for the achievement of the same, why was it that white women and African women were treated very differently? While I have indeed met amazing white women who embody the ideals of equality within the African context, they are a minority.

Further, I made the mistake of opening up about my pansexuality while working there and this was met with mixed reactions. It was my first experience being in a space where I wasn’t sure I would be protected. This put me in a constant space of anxiety, wondering whether an organization working for all women would be there if I were attacked or even arrested for who I chose to love. Some saw it as a monetary ‘positive’, since it would enforce their diversity narrative, but there was nothing set in stone to ensure my personal safety. Others saw it as something that needed ‘no addressing’ because nobody had to know if I had just kept it to myself.

Another problem we must address is matronizing. I have met many young African women who’ve been held back by older African women, who tend to hold the top positions in these organizations. These older women tend not to foster dialogue and cross-learning between themselves and younger employees, but instead dictate what should be done. And should you dare offer fresh ideas, you shall find yourself on the streets with no job.

This behavior mimics the superiority ideals carried by white women at the top of many international women’s rights NGOs. It retains power for a certain group of older women, while providing little or no growth opportunity for younger women. Is this not how patriarchy functions?

Even economically, white-led women’s rights organizations continue to suppress ‘other women’. One of my friends was working as a HR assistant within a certain international women’s rights organization. Over dinner, she told me she had been shocked to learn that over the previous 4 years, her direct boss (the African HR manager) had received no salary increase, while the white Country Director’s salary had tripled. Yet, these directors were the same women appearing on international panels to discuss how much impact they were making to advance equality within disempowered communities.

Salaries are a huge indicator of inequality. When ‘international staff’ move to an African country, they get multiple allowances as well as a salary, which is often not adjusted to match the lower cost of living. Along with housing, car expenses, etc., these expat gender-equality staff are routinely paid according to New York or London salary scales, while a Kenyan woman’s salary is based on the cost of living in Nairobi. Despite platitudes about diversity and antiracism, African women remain ‘the other’ within these organizations, even as white women ‘champions of gender equality’ grow richer.

There is also the issue of job qualifications. International NGOs tend to hire less qualified white women in positions of power (whether locally or internationally) even when more qualified African women apply. I personally experienced this in the first half of 2020. I talked about it with peers, and we agreed that hiring is often based on personal networks. This undermines the narrative of equality, and keeps African countries dependent on aid.

Finally, I will say that cishet women in Africa, like in the global North, tend to be preferred in hiring decisions because they are less likely to question the level of protection they would receive from organizations that claim to fight for all of us. A majority of these organizations only want that kind of ‘unproblematic’ labor because they really don’t offer a safe environment to queer women for work, which for me as a queer-identifying African woman, is an issue. How then, do we negotiate these protections? How do we focus on work when we don’t know whether we are valued in workspaces or are just disposable statistics? As I move into my 30s, I need answers, and INGO Gender Equality organizations need to provide tangible solutions. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Decolonize. Have diversity at all levels of power.
2. Compensate fairly across the board.
3. Let women from each community lead initiatives in that community, and listen to them when they suggest how to improve the work.
4. Stop creating little cliques that exclude some women from conversations that affect their lives.
5. Organizations often ‘head-hunt’ — they ask friends within the movement who they should hire for certain positions. Hire based on the quality of the candidate and not based on your networks. If you are head-hunting, do not post the vacancies as if they are aimed towards the public.
6. Provide true safe spaces for co-workers to speak their minds without fear of repercussion. We cannot say we value honesty, diversity, authenticity and all these other big words if we do not embody those ourselves.

While the above suggestions may not be exhaustive, I believe they’re a solid start.

The author: Mwikali Mutune is a development communications specialist in Nairobi.

Source: https://karmacolonialism.org/gender-equality-ngos-stop-patronizing-us-an-african-womans-perspective/

The 16 Days of Activism Campaign is used as an organizing strategy by individuals, organizations and governments around the globe to advocate for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls. The campaign calls on women and men, old and youth in all parts of the world to take action in their communities, play their role and stand up against violence against women and girls. Since its inception in 1991, the campaign has generated increased awareness about the negative consequences of violence against women and girls.

The 2020 global theme for the Campaign is “Orange Africa: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!”.  Mobile Gender-Based Violence theme is: “Orange Africa by Youth: We the 70’s Percent can build a better World!

Women\’s empowerment is a process through which a woman is transformed from a position in which she has limited power fueled by barriers related to inequalities between men and women, to a position in which she has unlimited power the same power as men. On the other hand, according to UN Women, the economic empowerment of women includes their ability to participate equitably in existing markets; their ability to access and manage productive capital, access to decent jobs, control over their own time, lives and bodies; and increased voice, agency and active involvement in economic decision-making at all levels, from the household to an international institution.

Women still encounter obstacles relating to strengthening their economic status and as entrepreneurs. This includes discrimination in education, training, employment, access to financial resources, the right to own or inherit the land, and lower wages. Women have suffered from unjust social heritage fueled by patriarchy in addition to discriminatory practices both in terms of gender equality, in the market, and the economic development sector. They are also subjected to harmful traditional practices such as early marriages and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which impedes their ability to exploit their full potential.

However, reducing social inequalities benefits the whole of society, not just women.

The observation is very different; partial consideration is given to the weight of the contribution and, in particular, the active role of women in economic growth. It is not that they were not economically significant; however, it is only that women \’s efforts were mostly unable to demand or formally account for the profits of their labour. As an example, the significant influence that grassroots women have on building resilience in the field of climate change is evident. Also, in their society, rural women are pioneers in agriculture, food security and nutrition.

No statistical data documents the contribution of women to economic growth.  Yet, these women are more active in the informal economy sector to support their household, children, their husbands and the community. This still reveals a form of gender inequality that needs to be addressed. There is a need to recognize unpaid care work.

Economic development can only be inclusive if all categories of the population (men, women, youth, persons living with disabilities, refugees), regardless of their sex, ethnic origin, age or status or religion, contribute to the country\’s economic growth. In short, it is based on equal opportunities and the non-discriminatory participation of all sections of society.

Promoting equality between men and women in African societies must be the keystone to achieve real inclusive economic development, to ensure no one is left behind and that no group is disadvantaged in the race for sustainable development.  Also, it is essential to highlight that the economic empowerment of women has emerged equally as an important and sustainable aspect of accelerating the development process in developing countries.

The solution to this problem comes down to correcting the inequalities by offering access to quality education and vocational training opportunities to women and young girls, which will undoubtedly reduce the illiteracy rate and reduce the rate of economic dependence to men. Also, allowing women to participate actively in the decision-making process on economic issues and enable women to participate in the formulation of economic development policies, which will undoubtedly create a sustainable impact on women’s economic empowerment.

Likewise, it is essential to provide small grants or micro-credit to women living in rural areas so that they can develop small income-generating activities and support their households. Educating girls increases their income potential and reduces poverty in their communities. These benefits are passed on from generation to generation because girls who have received a good education have healthier, fewer, and more educated children. This will contribute positively to the economic development of the country.

We cannot achieve sustainable development without input from all segments of society. Economic growth cannot be inclusive and sustainable if each party does not play its part legally.

Women\’s empowerment is a process through which a woman is transformed from a position in which she has limited power fueled by barriers related to inequalities between men and women, to a position in which she has unlimited power the same power as men. On the other hand, according to UN Women, the economic empowerment of women includes their ability to participate equitably in existing markets; their ability to access and manage productive capital, access to decent jobs, control over their own time, lives and bodies; and increased voice, agency and active involvement in economic decision-making at all levels, from the household to an international institution.

Women still encounter obstacles relating to strengthening their economic status and as entrepreneurs. This includes discrimination in education, training, employment, access to financial resources, the right to own or inherit the land, and lower wages. Women have suffered from unjust social heritage fueled by patriarchy in addition to discriminatory practices both in terms of gender equality, in the market, and the economic development sector. They are also subjected to harmful traditional practices such as early marriages and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) which impedes their ability to exploit their full potential.

However, reducing social inequalities benefits the whole of society, not just women.

The observation is very different; partial consideration is given to the weight of the contribution and, in particular, the active role of women in economic growth. It is not that they were not economically significant; however, it is only that women \’s efforts were mostly unable to demand or formally account for the profits of their labour. As an example, the significant influence that grassroots women have on building resilience in the field of climate change is evident. Also, in their society, rural women are pioneers in agriculture, food security and nutrition.

No statistical data documents the contribution of women to economic growth.  Yet, these women are more active in the informal economy sector to support their household, children, their husbands and the community. This still reveals a form of gender inequality that needs to be addressed. There is a need to recognize unpaid care work.

Economic development can only be inclusive if all categories of the population (men, women, youth, persons living with disabilities, refugees), regardless of their sex, ethnic origin, age or status or religion, contribute to the country\’s economic growth. In short, it is based on equal opportunities and the non-discriminatory participation of all sections of society.

Promoting equality between men and women in African societies must be the keystone to achieve real inclusive economic development, to ensure no one is left behind and that no group is disadvantaged in the race for sustainable development.  Also, it is essential to highlight that the economic empowerment of women has emerged equally as an important and sustainable aspect of accelerating the development process in developing countries.

The solution to this problem comes down to correcting the inequalities by offering access to quality education and vocational training opportunities to women and young girls, which will undoubtedly reduce the illiteracy rate and reduce the rate of economic dependence to men. Also, allowing women to participate actively in the decision-making process on economic issues and enable women to participate in the formulation of economic development policies, which will undoubtedly create a sustainable impact on women’s economic empowerment.

Likewise, it is essential to provide small grants or micro-credit to women living in rural areas so that they can develop small income-generating activities and support their households. Educating girls increases their income potential and reduces poverty in their communities. These benefits are passed on from generation to generation because girls who have received a good education have healthier, fewer, and more educated children. This will contribute positively to the economic development of the country.

We cannot achieve sustainable development without input from all segments of society. Economic growth cannot be inclusive and sustainable if each party does not play its part legally.

A recent special report – The Missing Perspectives of Women in COVID-19 News – shows that too few women experts have been quoted on the pandemic in the media. The study looked at South Africa, Kenya, India, Nigeria, the US and the UK.

Put together by the International Women’s Media Foundation and commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the report found that even when a woman’s voice is heard in the news on COVID-19, it is drowned out by the voices of men. And that when women are given a platform in stories about the pandemic, it is seldom as authoritative experts or as empowered individuals. Rather they appear as victims of the disease.

The findings are consistent with studies conducted before the pandemic. For example, one showed that women only made up 24% of people featured in the media as experts on various subjects.

The media foundation report locates the problem within a broader social and economic frame in each of the countries. One metric it used was the fact that women were in the background of leadership. This was a reflection of the fact that there were too few women in political leadership roles. Not even women leaders like Angela Merkel (Germany), Jacinta Adern (New Zealand) and Tsai Ing-wen (Taiwan), who have shown great leadership in handling the COVID-19 outbreak, prompted the news media to give more attention to women experts.

The report paints a bleak picture of how bad the situation is in each of the five countries. Among the developing countries, Nigeria and India fare the worst. Only 24% of the 25 most frequently featured protagonists in gender equality coverage in Nigeria are women, while it is 28% in India. On these measures South Africa has better women representation at 56%.

Muting of women’s voices when reporting the COVID-19 crisis, even though they bear the brunt of the pandemic, further marginalises women.

The findings are important because the media have an important role to play in achieving gender equality in societies. They can do this by creating gender-sensitive and gender-transformative content and breaking gender stereotypes.

The report makes a range of recommendations that can help rectify the situation. For example, newsrooms should ensure that women are featured prominently as sources of information. In addition, media organisations should factor in hiring more women to ensure a better gender balance in newsrooms.

The report also points to the role that universities that offer media courses can play. Curricular integration of a gender awareness module into journalism studies will result in journalist who are gender-responsive. There is a lot of scope for improvement in South African institutions offering courses in journalism.

Plugging the gaps

In the age of abundant digital communications technologies and consequent infodemic (excessive amounts of information about an issue, often unreliable), journalism schools are working to equip their graduates with relevant expertise.

This includes making sure they can design webpages, are well-versed in multiple forms of software and are alert to fake news and disinformation.

What is missing is a firm grounding in the need for gender representation in media content.

One possible answer would be to make gender representation a compulsory seminar course where trainees deliberate on issues of gender equality in news.

The module could also cover how to use non-discriminatory and gender-sensitive language. Also included should be ethical reporting on gender-sensitive issues, gender-based violence as well as gender portrayal in advertising.

The United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation’s Gender-Sensitive Indicators for Media – developed in collaboration with the International Federation of Journalists – should form part of journalism training.

Worthy of note, Rongo University in Kenya, recently reviewed its Communications and Media studies curriculum by adopting the UNESCO model. This is worth emulating.

Educators should also ensure that practical sessions or project work reflect gender sensitivity. Gender responsiveness must also be integral to assessment criteria of courses.

Besides this, educational institutions can promote gender equality in media through research. Empirical evidence could highlight prejudices and insensitivity in journalistic practices.

Journalism educators can also collaborate with media organisations and provide refresher courses on gender-sensitive reporting.

Tackling the problem

Notable collaborations between academia and industry have resulted in databases like SheSource and WomenAlsoKnowStuff. SheSource is a multi-field database with more than 1300 women experts available to journalists for free.

Women Also Know Stuff was initiated by political scientist Samara Klar and is run by women academics in the US. They maintain an expanding database of women experts in political science sub-fields. The database contains about 2000 women experts.

In South Africa, the under-representation of women as news sources prompted communications strategist Kathy Magrobi to start Quote This Woman+, with the mentorship of Wits University’s Media Accelerator Project Journalism and Media Lab.

The non-profit initiative aims to create a comprehensive database of women experts and thought leaders in varied fields. The database is made available as a resource for journalists and journalism students through a website, newsletter, WhatsApp and social media.

At the early stages of the outbreak of COVID-19 in South Africa, Quote This Woman+ circulated the contact details of eight COVID-19 women experts. This had grown to 90, and had been used 900 times by journalists and content producers worldwide, at the time of writing.

These efforts are laudable. But more still needs to be done to minimise the gender gap in news sourcing. Gender-sensitivity has been identified as vital to sustaining the journalism profession itself. Publishing stories that reflect a diversity of constituencies helps ensure the media remain relevant to society.

Source: https://theconversation.com/the-media-have-muted-the-voices-of-women-during-covid-19-can-the-tide-be-turned-148010

Reading about Coronavirus outbreak and watching the news made me worried that the crisis could put women at a disproportionate risk, exacerbating gender, social and economic fault lines.

Public health responders are facing a barrage of questions about the Coronavirus. Most are of a scientific and technical nature, crucial to containing the outbreak, such as how infectious is it? How long does it incubate in the body before you get sick? And can it be spread by people who have no symptoms? And many other questions related to prevention and response.

There are unanswered questions that also need to be addressed but are rarely asked. These questions should be considered in our analysis in order to take a gendered approach to fight the Coronavirus, improve outcomes for people affected by it, and save lives.

A gendered approach means including gender analysis and using a gender lens in both preparedness and response. The gender analysis will give us an overview of the outcomes of the outbreak at medical, social, and economic levels and also asks how socially-constructed roles and identities affect vulnerability to and experiences of the outbreak. The coronavirus response has the chance to integrate gender analysis immediately by asking questions such as:

1. Who is making the decisions about the outbreak response? It is probably mostly men, and these men likely represent the dominant social group within their countries and societies. The Global Health 50/50 Report from 2019 finds that 72 percent of executive heads in global health are men. Equity issues are only meaningfully integrated into emergency responses when women and marginalized groups are able to participate in decision-making.
2. Are those caring for the ill-being fairly compensated and supported? Globally, women are usually the main caretakers of children but also of the ills within the family. As responders, they might feel \’sandwiched\’ between personal and professional responsibilities.
3. How can stigma be countered? How will different groups of people, particularly marginalized communities, be affected by the stigma associated with the outbreak? It’s clear that stigma can spread more rapidly than the virus itself.
4. Are there specific groups, such as vulnerable minorities, that might avoid surveillance, testing, and care because of distrust of government and/or healthcare services? How can they be reached and protected?
5. Do men and women feel the effects of the Coronavirus differently? Is data being disaggregated by sex? Is there a difference in terms of infection and mortality rates? If so, what are the biological and social factors causing this?
6.  Who is caring for the ill both in formal healthcare settings and at home? Who provides the majority of home-based care, and who makes up the majority of the global health workforce?

These are types of catalyzing questions that need to be asked to embed a gendered approach in the strategy we are using to tackle the Coronavirus, to improve outcomes for people affected by the virus, and to save more lives. Experience from past outbreaks shows the importance of incorporating gender analysis into preparedness and response efforts to improve the effectiveness of health interventions and promote gender and health equity goals.

The coronavirus fallout may be worse for women than men. Here\’s why:

The roles that women have in society could place them squarely in the virus\’s path. Around the world, women make up a majority of health care workers, almost 70 per cent according to some estimates, and most of them occupy nursing roles — on the front lines of efforts to combat and contain outbreaks of disease. Nurses\’ level of exposure to the risk of infection is higher than doctors\’ because they are much more in contact with patients. They are the ones drawing blood and collecting specimens.

Women around the world are also more likely to take on the burden of care at home, particularly if someone in their family is sick and bears most of the responsibility of childcare. When schools are closed and sick people stay at home women are exposed to even higher risks of exposure to the Coronavirus. Pregnant women are faced with a whole different set of challenges — especially the stress of not knowing exactly how Coronavirus might affect their child.

Looking at the effects on the economy, outbreaks could have a disproportionately negative impact on women, who make up a large chunk of part-time and informal workers around the world. These are the kind of jobs that are usually the first to get sliced in periods of economic uncertainty. During a crisis, such an outbreak, women are the ones expected to sacrifice their jobs and careers to stay home and care for the rest of the family, but when the crisis ends, it’s very hard for women to get back what they have been obliged to give up.

The Covid-19 epidemic poses a once-in-lifetime challenge that is already causing widespread panic and economic paralysis. While the epidemic appears to be spiralling out of control now, it is clear that gender considerations should not be neglected if we want to address crises fairly and effectively, and the Coronavirus outbreak is no exception. Governments and leaders must remember that, for their response to be truly effective and not reproduce or perpetuate gender inequities, it is important that gender norms, roles, and all other factors that influence women\’s and men\’s vulnerability to infections and access to treatment in a different way, are studied, analyzed and properly addressed in the implementation of national plans executed across the globe to fight this #COVID19 #coronavirus epidemic.  

What I remember is hunger. And being afraid that I would lose my child because I couldn’t provide. It’s hard to take a rich woman’s children; it is remarkably easy to take a poor woman’s. But as a society, we treat poverty itself like a crime, like the women experiencing it are making bad choices for themselves and their children on purpose.

I am talking about feminist issues, though you may not recognize them as such. We hear about career advancement and dating while feminist and body hair and last names, but rarely does mainstream feminism center the conversation on issues that concern most women in this country. Can they afford food? Do they have access to health care? Are they safe in their homes? Do they have homes at all? Can they meet all of their basic needs?

Overwhelmingly, the answer to that last question is “no.” For a movement that is meant to represent all women, feminism frequently focuses on those who already have most of their needs met. All too often it’s not about survival but about increasing privilege.

According to a 2017 report by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, women are more likely to be food insecure than men in every region of the world. The United States Department of Agriculture reports that in 2018 households with children headed by a single woman were the most likely group to experience very low food security – more than double the national average. The affordable-housing crisis disproportionately impacts women as well. Women earn less on the dollar than men doing similar work, which means households supported by women are paying larger-than-average proportions of income toward rent. Across a lifetime, this means much less disposable income and greater difficulty achieving financial security and independence. This is especially clear when you look at people in abusive relationships.

Alleviating women’s poverty is a critical feminist issue. Yet mainstream feminism has said little about the most recent plans to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), much less the long history of slashing budgets on the backs of poor women. Pushing low-cost housing or other means of combating homelessness never seems to rise to the top of the agenda either. Sure, you can find a handful of articles, perhaps one or two activists bringing it up as a feminist issue. But there are no glitzy campaigns, no programs with catchy slogans backed by famous names. Instead of acting as a collective movement to improve conditions for all, mainstream feminism has largely treated hunger and housing as problems for someone else to solve.

The same can be said of gun violence, another feminist issue that’s rarely discussed as one. The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed. Women get killed by these guns because they are available, because their partners are violent because an accident with a gun is more likely to be fatal, because of a dozen mundane reasons made worse by the availability of weapons. I believe the only reason I escaped even worse injury – or even death – in one relationship is because my ex didn’t have a gun. Research also suggests that while the rate for boys is slightly higher, both male and female students who have been exposed to gun violence are more likely to drop out of high school than their peers. We can’t pretend that the education of girls abroad is important and ignore how many girls are undereducated or uneducated in America as a result of gun violence. And of course mothers bury their children because of gun violence.

If feminists care as much about gender equality as they claim, ending the poverty cycle and improving the quality of life for all women should be the primary focus. After all, for women who are struggling to keep themselves housed, fed and clothed, it’s not a question of working hard enough. They are leaning in, but not in search of equal pay or “having it all”; their quest for equal pay starts with equal access to education and opportunity.

It’s not that power isn’t important. Someone with power can change the lives of millions with the stroke of a pen. But it doesn’t make a difference if the person at the helm of this experiment we call America—or in any influential leadership role–is a woman, if that woman replicates the same oppressive structures that disenfranchise most women. A feminist perspective that exists without reckoning with the impact of race, class, gender, sexuality or ability is one that will spout all the right words but do nothing for the conditions facing women without the power to write policy or effect broad change. Replacing narratives about bootstraps and rugged individualism with ostensibly feminist ideology only works if feminism doesn’t rely on accumulating power and privilege for the chosen few while continuing to lean on the idea that some women can afford to wait indefinitely for safety and support.

Far too often, the few women who get to the top of the patriarchal heap have used feminism to get where they wanted to go, yet don’t seem aware that the political strength associated with feminism can be used for more issues than those that matter to them. They have chosen to take a seat at the table instead of trying to build new ones. Feminism has to serve the interests of all those it relies on to sustain it or it risks becoming a movement with no purpose for most, and an outright weapon against those it claims to represent.

From Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall, to be published on February 25, 2020, by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2020 by Mikki Kendall

Source: https://time.com/5789438/feminism-poverty-gun-violence/