Gender

I was never super interested in gender issues, but consider myself nearly obsessed at the moment. It’s become a topic I can’t justifiably ignore in Kenya. I haven’t formulated everything I want to say yet, but here are some points I want to be sure I don’t forget in my post-Kenya life.

·      A female friend’s experience being ignored during meetings with male colleagues, even those of the exact same qualifications and job position

·      Marriage proposals

·      All-too-common statements that us girls should find Kenyan men to marry

·      Asking about gender relations at the sugar factory – the way it elicited way more responses than I’d expected. The way Grace (who lived in Alabama) and others defended the gender equality provided by the new constitution.

·      The incredible bias in the Saturday pullout women’s section of the Daily Nation newspaper. These have lots of articles about what you (the woman) are doing wrong if your husband cheats on you and about how to be a good wife. Admittedly, there are similar trends in crappy American women’s magazines like Glamour or Cosmopolitan, though I haven’t read those in years so I can’t make a very thorough comparison. One Daily Nation headline caught my attention; it was something like “Treatment Options for Herpes.” Then the article proceeded to dismiss herpes as not that big of a deal, something unlikely to be contracted if a person doesn’t have a visible breakout, so not really worth concerning ourselves about too much. Then the last two sentences actually mentioned that treatment options were available and that one should talk to her doctor to find out more.

·      Women cook. Men know absolutely nothing about cooking and they seem to be terrified of it. In the EIA class the male students reported not even knowing whether food was cooked over an open fire, gas stove, etc. because that was “women’s” stuff.

·      While ordering food in a Kisii restaurant, the waiter told me my order would take about 20 minutes. I said that was okay, that I’d wait for it because I really wanted the beans and chapatti. The waiter turned to Sam, a guy, and asked him if it was okay that I waited. Sam laughed and said it was up to me. The waiter re-asked whether it was okay with Sam.