WOMEN EMPOWERMENT OR DISCIPLINE



HUSBAND BATTERING IN KENYA- NYERI COUNTY



In the past few days the Kenyan media has been airing stories on the women Nyeri county who have decided to punish their husbands for indiscipline they claim. Most of the men come home drunk and they are battered.Most of the people attribute this to the empowerment women are exposed to.Is it really empowerment?



The Maendeleo Ya Wanaume - which means Development for Men claims that the government concentrated more on the girl child and forgot about the boy child and that's why women know their rights.If a man comes home drunk yet he wants to eat meat yet he left you with nothing, what does he expect?The group says the problem is growing as Kenyan women become more economically independent - in part, it says, because of government initiatives to improve the status of women by providing women's fund and leaving out the men.



This has now led to the group advising the men to boycott meals which have been prepared by their wives and instead eat in hotel while sharing and consoling each other.In most of the Kenyan culture men eat food prepared by their wives as a sign of appreciation.



I think there is a gap somewhere either in communication among the couple or laxity and irresponsibility on the men's side.or can it be termed as women assuming their rightful position in marriage as in being the neck you are able to tilt the head to any direction and through whatsoever means?



I think the Provisions in the Bill of Rights which seek to break the hold of custom on women’s emancipation require more engagement and mutual appreciation between men and women. Effecting the provisions on land inheritance that break with the customary law of most Kenyan communities will require unusual patience and unlearning the assumptions of young women as tradable goods the way many of our societies have inculcated into us.

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