The fight for women rights has been going on for a long time. In the early twenties, American women movement pushed for the rights of women to vote! Imagine that women had no say in the running of their governments to which they were citizens! Even after the declaration of independence, American men dominated the political and policy arena!
After the passage of the right for women to vote act, it did not translate into a major movement since hundreds of years latter, women still fight for their rights. In fact very few women are senators in the United State!
The thing that concerns many though is that even though women have the right to vote, they do not vote for women. Majority of women in the world vote for men. The group that suffers more discrimination, not only in power sharing, or distribution of funds, positions, or in every aspect of human existence, is women. I watched as India evacuated its population. Those who were walking with the cold and miserable looking children were women. Women bare the greatest of burdens.
In Africa, two women have taken the helm of power. But the majority of those who are policy makers are men. In Kenya the only woman candidate, Martha Karua, though being one of the smartest among the candidates, got fewer votes, per margin, than the men; yet women are the majority. It begs the question, why do women refuse to vote for women?
It is this question and more that Challenging Patriarchy: New Spaces and Strategies for Advancing Gender Equality in Africa, a forum geared at bringing women together to discuss issues that relate to this question is trying to understand.  By login in to
www.challengingpatriarchyafrica.org
Women in the Diaspora and across the globe can participate. One can also participate through:
Twitter handle: @CPAfrica13
Face book page: CPAfrica13
Hashtag: #Endpatriarchy
If women can unlock the reasons why they reject themselves as leaders, then they can participate in writing policies that can help them remove these barriers that has oppressed them for generations.
Teddy Njoroge Kamau (PhD) ttp-international. IMANISHA listen to tnk on atg 91.1 Fridays EST. Nairobi to Arusha through Mombasa.
