Women's work

Creating a Merry-Go-Round of Job Training

The Nyeri Upendo Women's Group

In a cornfield in the mountainous district of Nyeri, a three-hour drive southwest of Meru, women's laughter pierces the cool air. The weekly Saturday morning meeting of the Nyeri Upendo Women's Group is commencing. Gladys Mwai, a tall woman who started the group in 1999 to support other women, explains how the group operates.

"We created a merry-go-round system. Every member must pay a joining fee of 500 shillings (about $9) plus a monthly fee of 200 shillings ($3.65). Then the pool of money goes to one member for training she needs to get a job. The following month, the money goes to the next woman and so on. Every woman must pay us back with interest." The rest of the money goes to buying supplies for the group. There are currently 20 members who meet twice a month to create baskets, purses and jewelery to sell at local markets. They keep some of the profits and give some to the group. Foster Parents Plan supports approximately 30 such women's groups in Kenya at the grassroots level. It trains them in income generating project management and has also created long-term solutions to development problems, which other groups can learn from. According to Carol Wilding, president and CEO of Foster Parents Plan, past projects prove women work well with micro-finance projects such as this one. "Sustainability doesn't happen overnight, but empowering women who are committed to helping their children is a very powerful force," she says.

Agnes Maina, who joined the Nyeri group last year, says it has changed her life and given her hope for the future. Every day for the past 25 years, Agnes has walked 13 km through fields and muddy roads to and from her job as a telephone operator at the Nyeri Hospital's Training Centre. "We [women] work for years, but we make so little, we cannot improve our living standards," she says. With a loan from the group this past year, she is taking exams to become a supervisor and increase her salary.

Although Agnes is married with a nine-year-old son, she has not seen her husband in seven years. "Shortly after we were married, he would take off for days and weeks at a time to work in Nairobi, because there was no work here. But he never brought any money back. He would spend it all," she whispers in shame. Then one morning he left and never came back. She knows he is still alive because people see him. However, she cannot divorce him because she will lose her home. Traditionally, women inherit little or no property. After a divorce or the death of a husband, women are often dispossessed, ending up seeking shelter in slums.

Looking around at the other women, Gladys says, "We do everything that a man can do. There is no job today that a woman cannot do in Kenya." Women make up about 75 per cent of the agricultural workforce. Yet a Kenyan woman's average monthly income is about two-thirds that of a man's. It is still very difficult for women to move into non-traditional fields such as politics. Barriers are being broken, though. Currently, women hold 17 positions out of 222 in the National Assembly, strengthening the voice of women. Before the last election in December 2002 there were only nine female parliamentarians, and in 1997 there were just four.

Annie Corcoran, whose parents are European, has lived in Kenya her entire life and owns a Nairobi travel company with her husband, Richard. In her role as managing director, Annie encounters discrimination every day. "There is still a huge lack of respect. People just can't get their heads wrapped around the fact that I am the company's managing director, not Richard," she explains. "I'll answer the phone and someone will ask for the managing director. When I ask how I can help, they say ‘No, I'd like the managing director.' When I say ‘I am the managing director,' there is a stunned silence. The attitude needs to be changed."

Gladys sums up the lack of respect for women this way. "I had my baby on my back, a huge bucket of water on my head, firewood in my arms while climbing up a hill from the river when my husband came along and said, ‘Hey, you, woman! I want to eat,' as though I had a pot of food cooking on my back!" The other women nod in understanding. "This is why we say the donkey work is left to the woman in Africa," Gladys adds with a wry smile.

It is the determination of women like Gladys that inspires other women to push forward. Their unfailing struggle for financial independence, control over their own bodies, access to education and improvement in their quality of life is a testimony to the will of women. The road is still long and bumpy, but these groups, along with others that are cropping up all over the country, have the wheels of equality turning in Kenya. There is no looking back.

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