Kenya: Peace and security imperatives for women

INTRODUCTION

The concepts of peace and security in Africa in general, and in Kenya in
particular are closely linked to electoral processes. The electoral process is an embodiment of the idea of structural conflict, which presupposes an un-peaceful situation that exists between the dichotomies of peace and war.

It is, however, evident that structural conflict that at times ends in structural violence, is about correcting the situations of extreme deprivation of one or several communities at the expense of another or others. The link between political affiliation, ethnic belonging and access to resources is also evident and is a result of longstanding interactions of these three dimensions.

A discussion of electoral processes falls within the ambit of the meaning of conflict as an incompatibility of goals between two or more parties[1], as the parties in the electoral process each have a distinct reason for taking part in the process often at variance with each other.

The incompatibility of goals between the various parties plays out in the electoral processes, which are an embodiment of the role of bringing about change in the social structure and institutions, the distribution of resources and in the relationships between the conflicting parties.[2] Political conflicts involve different groups and are characterised by a high level of organisation that can also alter the context of hitherto social conflicts into political conflicts.[3]

Structural conflict incorporates elements of the human security, which in turn embraces a broader meaning of security, separate from the traditional view, which considers security as a function that is limited to the state; where states are the only actors in international relations who then exercise the security function in times of peace and war.[4]

The realist view of the state as the primary actor limits the opportunity to examine matters such as the composition and constraints of the state and the constituency it represents. It could also lead to an erroneous interpretation that the state is secure; yet the reality could be that individuals and communities suffer and die from famine, disease, genocide, ethnic cleansing, assault and discrimination in the distribution of state resources, amongst other factors, which are, after all, the components of the human needs approach.[5]

National security, however, remains the preserve of the state but is necessary for the attainment of human security. Human security implies protection against, or safety from, a future of risk and deprivation, injury or death and encompasses the important elements of predictability and control.[6] The notion of human security entails the creation of systems that allow for survival, dignity and livelihood, and which are also closely linked to development.[7]

In many African countries, insecurity has to an extent been linked to bad governance and lack of democratic practice. Democracy is therefore a means of conflict resolution and an opportunity for addressing divergent views through various means, including through elections. Electoral violence occurs where the rights of groups are not protected nor economic interests fulfilled, and may lead to the breaking away to assert and claim self-determination. Good governance leads to peace and stability, which are prerequisites for sustainable development.[8]

In multiethnic societies, ethnic bias is evident in the implementation of development policies that should in principle create sustainable improvement in the quality of life of all people. Thinking around development has evolved from planning and economic discourse to the current thinking of development as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy. These freedoms include political freedoms, economic facilities, social opportunities, transparency and protective security.[9]

The three phases of the electoral process – the pre-election, the election and the
post-election phases – overlap, and structural conflict in the pre election phase breaks out into structural violence in the election and post election phases. In Kenya, the announcement of the presidential election results was the trigger to the structural violence. This paper focuses on the gender dimensions of Kenya’s electoral process, as against the standards of protection of the rights of women in international and regional instruments.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER AND CONFLICT

The gender dimensions of electoral conflicts encompass the socially constructed gender relations in the society, which connote the socially constructed designation of women and men, their roles in the culture-specific context and the relationship between the two sexes.[10] Reference to gender connotes the social construction of the gender roles and relations between men and women that is dynamic and changes over space and time. This reference also includes the state of being male or female, distinguishable by the physical, biological or sexual characteristics by which all members of the society are identifiable.[11] The causality of gender considerations in the differentiation of individual and societal interactions is evident in the cultural and political relations. At the individual level, the differentiations are very pronounced on the basis of opportunities and constraints based on sex category and the resultant consequences.[12]

The impact of the conflict on men and women entails much more than the general notion that women are primary ‘victims’ and ‘peacemakers’. Generally, men are considered as primary actors in conflict, whereas women assume a peripheral role.[13] The prevailing gender relations in the society result in differences between the experiences of men and women in violent conflict, their coping strategies and how the gender relations are reconfigured as result of conflict.[14]

The social roles of men and women have been different in all known human societies. The differentiation has been primarily on the basis of division of labour, which has predisposed men to access and control valuable resources in their societies, which has in turn made it difficult for men and women to share power, privilege and status on the basis of equality.[15] The relevance of gender analysis in electoral conflict is premised on the fact that elections are about access to and the exercise of power at the different levels that the elections happen, whether at national or local authority levels.

THE GENDER DIMENSIONS OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN KENYA

The gender dimensions of conflict are based on the human security approach. Gender considerations underlie basic needs that are intrinsic to biological and physical survival, self-esteem and autonomy, and are considered universal and primordial. Conflict threatens the very existence of people under circumstances of oppression, discrimination and isolation.[16]

Men and women participate differently in electoral processes where they also interact differently between and across the genders. These differences are influenced by several other factors including the laws and institutions that govern elections.

The experiences of men and women in the electoral process are not isolated but are rooted in the gender relations in the society that exist outside the electoral process. An analysis of the gender dimensions of electoral conflict involves a discussion of the power relations around the patterns of women’s and men’s access to control over resources, authority and social legitimacy.[17]

Resources are an element of human security that is understood in terms of human development, which is a process of widening people’s choices in a broader and more integrated sense to include freedom from fear and want. Human security has significant inherent gender concerns that are presented largely in a gender-neutral way, except in the aspects of personal health and security, where women’s vulnerability is highlighted.[18] The electoral process is one of the means by which the power relations are gauged in society.

STRUCTURAL CONFLICT IN THE PRE-ELECTION PHASE

One of the determinants of peace and security in Africa is ethnicity. This is linked to resources and struggles around access to resources are rooted in the electoral processes. The root causes of the tribal clashes in Kenya brought on by the introduction of the multiparty electoral system had not been addressed by the 2007 elections, and even though they constituted the post-election phase of the previous conflict, they also formed the pre election phase of the electoral conflict in 2007.[19]

In the pre election phase, gender dimensions are discernible in the institutional and legislative frameworks. The actions of individuals within these two contexts are influenced by the structural arrangements in the society, some of which are deep seated and mirror the post election phase of the previous electoral cycle. An example is seen in gender stereotyping, where men are seen as aggressors and women as victims associated with peace.[20]

The Constitution of Kenya guarantees freedom from discrimination on the basis of sex or any other basis.[21] The electoral law, as enshrined in the constitution[22] and other statutes, does not prevent any man or woman from participating in the electoral process. To that extent, it allows for equality between men and women in the political arena of elections. The principle of equality espoused is not absolute as the constitution contains some claw-back clauses that make exceptions to its application. These exceptions are on issues of personal law, such as marriage, divorce and property.[23]

In the pre-election phase, the application of the exceptions allows for discrimination on the basis of gender. This is because social interaction and relations between men and women extend to the electoral process. As such, a woman seeking to be elected must first get clearance from the existing leadership structures in the community. These structures are, for the most part, male dominated, and the woman has to get the endorsement of the male family members and the wider community. The same does not always hold true for men, who endure a lighter level of scrutiny than women in their quest to vie for electoral posts. This is because women’s social and political interactions are pegged to that of men, particularly husbands.[24]

Female aspirants face the challenge of choosing where to vie for election, as they have to convince the members of the communities of their marriage and their communities of birth that they are fit enough to lead. Overcoming the hurdle of family and societal endorsement to present oneself for nomination leads directly to another hurdle with strong gender dimensions: The party nominations. Political parties are an integral part of the institutional and legislative framework in the electoral process in Kenya, as there are no provisions for participation without the backing of a political party.

Indeed the Political Parties Act 2007 interprets a political party to mean:
‘Any association or organisation of persons which has for its objects or purposes or one or more of its objects or purposes the proposing or supporting of candidates for national or local authority elections, with a view to forming or influencing the formation of the Government of Kenya or any local authority within Kenya.’[25]

The nominations on the party ticket must therefore be weighed against the possibility of winning the particular seat. In many instances, women are sacrificed at the altar of political power play[26], despite the fact that women are the majority in Kenya at 51 per cent of the population, according to the 2003 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS).[27] Generally, political parties have women’s wings and gender desks, but these are separate from the mainstream political activity and do not influence the party nomination processes substantially. For this reason, political parties rarely nominate women for elective positions.[28]

In Kenya, however, the law prohibits the creation of parties on the basis of gender[29] and women must therefore contend with the structures in their political parties, even where these do not provide a level playing field or allow for fair competition between them and the male party members.

The women who survive the party nominations have to then contend with the challenges around the campaign period. In the campaign stage, there are gender stereotypes around the personal roles of the women. As already noted, men are seen as primary actors in conflict, whereas women are seen as victims and peacemakers.[30] A general perception shared by men and women is that the campaign trail is unsafe for the personal security of women. For this reason, the society does not encourage the active participation of women in campaigns. This view is not restricted to the participants, but also embraces the electorate.[31]

These activities happen under the prevailing gender relations in the society that influence the participation of the voters in the process. Participation in the voter education and registration activities is to a great extent influenced by the social roles of men and women. An example with regards to voter education is where the men and women have to choose between taking part in voter education activities and continuing with their day-to-day activities. As regards voter education, women shy away from attending sessions on voter education for the reasons of conflicting gender roles.[32]

In the voter targeting strategies in the campaigns, a lot of emphasis is on how the candidates hope to correct the pre-existing structural anomalies in the society.[33] These anomalies reflect the gender interactions in the society that are also evident during the campaign. Electoral campaigns involve large sums of money and are also a time of displaying societal leadership roles. Men are constructed as being superior to women in society and often given greater capacity than women to mobilise a variety of material resources and assume cultural roles of leadership.[34]

This capacity is reflected in various terms including control of land that rests with the men, especially where the land is communal or family land.[35] A woman would face strong resistance if she wanted to encumber the family land in order to raise money for the elections. On the contrary, men face less resistance and are able to use family and communal land as security to raise money for elections.[36]

Voters regard female and male candidates differently and gender biases can affect the electoral prospects of women candidates. The gender stereotypes in the society affect the substantive issues that female candidates emphasise in their campaigns.[37]

STRUCTURAL VIOLENCE IN THE POST-ELECTION PHASE

In the post election phase, several women were raped and men sodomised. Sexual violence was used as a weapon of war, where women are to be humiliated and conquered.[38] Even though women suffer the violations, sexual violence is used to subdue men and to humiliate them.[39] Sexual violence in the post election phase has also been described as a by-product of the collapse of social order in Kenya and a tool to terrorise individuals and families and precipitate their expulsion from the communities in which they live.[40]

Sexual violence impacts the social dimensions of the gender roles that are affected or recreated as a result of the conflict, at the personal level and at the national level. The cost of treatment of one female victim of rape weighs heavily on the health facilities when multiplied by the number of women victims of rape. This has consequences for the health budgetary allocation of the country.

Where these women bear children as a result, the cost of raising these children is transferred to the state. This includes the indirect costs of the psychological trauma that may be manifested through dysfunctional and delinquent behaviour of these children, owing to the circumstances surrounding their birth. Where the women die as a result of the rapes, the impact on the immediate families, communities and the family has economic and psychological connotations. In the final analysis there is the danger of societal retaliation, where the children born of or affected by such violations bottle up their frustrations which are easily triggered into renewed violence at a later date.[41]

The other aspect to be considered is in the arena of violent hostilities and the role of combatants. In most instances, it is men who take up arms and take part in the attack of the oppressor. Indeed, men are recruited to take part as frontline combatants.[42] In the Kenyan conflict, newspapers and television stations carried pictures of stone-throwing men, and women and children fleeing from the violence. This phenomenon is grounded on the various factors that include laws relating to security, censorship laws and restrictions in movement and expression that draw from the socially constructed lower status of women in the Kenyan society.[43]

When men go to the frontlines, the women are left to take care of the households, often without the benefit of the training or induction needed to enable them effectively take up the responsibilities of the men. Where the men are fatally wounded in the conflict, the above impact is long-term and quickly snowballs to impact the wider community and ultimately the state.[44] This leads to a secondary level of structural conflict. In the Kenyan conflict, the unresolved tribal clashes of 1992 and 1997 have contributed to the 2007 conflict, as communities seek to avenge the wrong occasioned on their people.

An example is given of a 5-year-old in 1992 whose family is victim of the clashes; such a child grows up blaming a certain group of people for the wrong occasioned to his family and therefore needed very little instigation to pick up arms to seek revenge for the wrongs done to his people.[45] The IDP (internally displaced person) camps exposed the women to further risk of sexual violations and victimisation, which were linked to camp design and services including sanitation and water availability.[46]

The response to the violence indicates omissions by police officers. An example contained in the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence (CIPEV) report notes:

‘According to a married woman living in Mathare, who was able to identify some of her attackers by name, she went to Pangani Police Station and the police ”told me that they do not want to listen to cases about rape. If it is about robbery I should report and I reported and they gave me an OB number.”

‘Similarly a married female resident of Kibera who had been gang raped, went to report at the Kilimani Police Station, she was told ”to choose between the two, either the issue of the house being burned or being raped.”

‘Although the woman had identified the men who gang raped her and looted her property, the police at the Pangani Police Station released the perpetrators without offering her an explanation. The police only said that ”this [was] about politics and that [she] should leave.”’[47]

The response of the police officers was a reflection of the prevailing gender relations, where the rape of a woman was not considered as meriting the intervention of the law, despite the existence of a judicial system supported by laws that would punish the perpetrators. According to women in Burnt Forest, the primary responsibility of a woman in such a situation was to her husband and children, and reporting rape was not an option.[48] A representative of a local non-governmental organisation also noted that women would not report rape because their husbands would leave them while the community would laugh at them.[49]

The response of the police could also be because certain police officers were also perpetrators of sexual violence, who failed to provide protection as they were supposed to. The actions of the police officers support the earlier assertion that rape and sexual violence are a means of humiliating women and subduing men.[50] The CIPEV report contains several cases of violations by security officers. In one case it is reported:

‘In some cases, the security agents attacked individuals, including teenagers, during flight. According to the statement of a 17 years old girl from Eldoret currently living in a children’s home in Nakuru, she was attacked by 7 Administrative Police Officers, who gang raped her. At the time of the attack, she was running away from her sister’s house which had been attacked by some raiders during the post election violence.’[51]

The violent conflict happened against an existing legal background at the national and international levels. Rape is a crime against humanity, according to the 1998 Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court, a principle that has been applied in the in the Akayesu[52] case. Under Article 7 of the Statute:

‘Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilisation, or any other forms of sexual violence of comparable gravity’, are crimes against humanity ‘when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.’[53]

At the national level, the constitution and several other statutes including the Sexual Offences Act, 2006 and the Penal Code[54] protect the citizens against the violations experienced in the post election phase. The application of the laws is not effective due to some institutional weaknesses, some with strong gender biases. In the investigations of the sexual offences committed in the post election period, a woman who was gang–raped by eight men was told by a Nairobi police officer after she reported to the police station that if she did not know who raped her, ‘she should “just” go to hospital and not to the police.’[55]

CONCLUSION

Recovering from violent conflict seldom follows a linear process. Latent conflict lingers and interpersonal violence and crime may actually increase. In such cases, it is often difficult to lay the groundwork for the reconstruction of the society from the point of view of development and human security. The success of any intervention undertaken is measured in terms of the quality of peace left behind, and the speed with which the benefits of such intervention reach the people in the community in conflict. Each post conflict recovery requires an integrated human security framework, developed in full partnership with the national and local authorities to ensure ownership and commitment to the objectives.[56]

Effective peace building should be based not only on power manipulation of peace by elites, but by empowering communities torn apart by war to build peace from below. In so doing, they complement international intervention and reconstruction.[57] Several peace processes in Africa have failed because they fail to include the local actors and rather focus on addressing the interests of the regional and international actors. Unfortunately, when the peace process failed, the regional and international actors abandoned the local actors, leaving them to their own devices.

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* Carole Ageng’o LL.B, MA–ICM, is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.

NOTES

[1] M.Mwagiru, ‘ Conflict in Africa: Theory, Processes and Institutions of Management’, ( Nairobi: CCR 2006)p.3
[2] A. de Reuck, ‘The Logic of Conflict: Its Origin, Development and Resolution’ , in M. Banks (ed) Conflict in World Society: A New Perspective on International Relations, ( Sussex: Harvester, 1984) p.99
[3] M. Mwagiru, ‘Conflict in Africa: Theory, Processes and Institutions of Management,’ op cit, p.3
[4]C.H. Ofuho , ‘Security Concerns in the Horn of Africa’ , in M.Mwagiru (ed) African Regional Security in the Age of Globalisation ( Nairobi: Heinrich Boll Foundation, 2004) pp 7-9
[5] L. Chweya, ‘Emerging Dimensions of Security in the IGAD Region’ op cit, pp 31-48
[6] O.Sana, ‘Good Governance as a Building Block towards Improved Human Security in the Horn of Africa,’ in M. Mwagiru (ed) Human Security: Setting the Agenda for the Horn of Africa, ( Nairobi: African Peace Forum, 2008) pp 35-36
[7] R. Mudida, ‘The Security-Development Nexus: A Structural Violence and Human Needs Approach’ op cit, p 12
[8] O.Sana,’Good Governance as a Building Block towards Improved Human Security in the Horn of Africa,’ op cit,pp36-37
[9] R. Mudida, ‘The Security-Development Nexus: A Structural Violence and Human Needs Approach’ op cit p14
[10] S. Nakaya, ‘Women and Gender Equality in Peacebuilding: Somalia and Mozambique’, in T. Keating and A. Knight (eds) Building Sustainable Peace (Tokyo: UN University Press, 2004) p.146
[11] P. Kameri-Mbote, ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security’ in M. Mwagiru (ed) African Regional Security in the Age of Globalization, (Nairobi: Heinrich Boll Foundation, 2004) p.83
[12] B.J. Risman, ‘Gender as a Social Structure: Theory Wrestling with Activism Source,’ Gender and Society, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Aug, 2004), pp. 432-434
[13] P. Kameri -Mbote , ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security’ op cit, p 85-89
[14] S. Baden, ‘Post-conflict Mozambique: Women’s special situation, Population Issues and Gender Perspectives,’ Report of a Consultancy for the Action Programme on Skills and Entrepreneurship in Countries Emerging From Armed Conflict , (Brighton: IDS , 1997) , p 1
[15] M Marini, ‘Sex and Gender: What Do We Know?’ , Sociological Forum, Vol 5 No 1(Mar.1990) p 96
[16] H. W Jeong, ‘Understanding Conflict and Conflict Analysis’ (London: Sage,2008) pp28-29. See also Chapter 2 , section 2.2
[17]S. Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa,’ in M. Mwagiru (ed) Human Security: Setting the Agenda for the Horn of Africa (Nairobi: Africa Peace Forum, 2008) p102 . See also note 4 above.
[18] Ibid, pp.103-104.
[19] See Chapter 2, Section 2.3
[20] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’ , op cit, p104
[21] The Constitution of Kenya, Chapter 5
[22] Ibid Section 41
[23] Ibid, section 82(4),(5) ,(6), (8) and (9)
[24] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’, op cit, p107
[25] Political Parties Act , 2007, section 2
[26] B. Schaffner, ‘Priming Gender: Campaigning on Women's Issues in U.S. Senate Elections,’ American Journal of Political Science, Vol. 49, No. 4 (Oct., 2005), p 804
[27] www.knbs.go.ke Accessed on 14th October 2009
[28] B. Murungi, ‘Women and Citizenship Rights,’ in A. Ghirmazion, A. Nyabera and E. Kamweru,(eds) Perspectives on Gender Discourse: Gender and Constitution Making in Kenya ,( Nairobi : HBF, 2002) p61
[29] Political Parties Act , op cit, section 14. Even though this Act was passed in 2008 after the last general elections, the principle was applicable in the last electoral cycle, albeit tacitly.
[30] P. Kameri-Mbote, ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security’, op cit , p85
[31] Interviews with nominated MP , op cit
[32] Interview on 5th June 2009 with Evelyn Opondo, Programme Officer, FIDA Kenya. FIDA Kenya undertook voter education activities in 2002 and 2007 elections. See also note no 12 above.
[33] See Chapter 2 , section 2.2 and note 8 above
[34] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’ , op cit, p105
[35] Ibid
[36] Note 21, supra
[37] P. Herrnson, J. Lay and A Stokes, ‘Women Running ‘as Women’: Candidate Gender, Campaign Issues, and Voter-Targeting Strategies,’ The Journal of Politics, Vol. 65, No. 1 (Feb., 2003), pp 245-246
[38] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’ , op cit, p102
[39] Ibid, pp 112-113
[40] J.Myrum, J.Ward. and M. Marsh., A Rapid Assessment of Gender Based Violence During the Post-Election Violence in Kenya, Interagency GBV Assessment Report, Jan- Feb 2008, p 4
[41] Ibid , pp 19-51
[42] P.Kameri-.Mbote, ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security,’ op cit, p 92.
[43] Ibid
[44] P.Kameri-.Mbote, ‘Gender, Conflict and Regional Security,’ op cit, p 92.
[45] M. Mwagiru, ‘The Water’s Edge: Mediation of Violent Electoral Conflict in Kenya,’ op cit, p 11
[46] J.Myrum, J.Ward. and M. Marsh., A Rapid Assessment of Gender Based Violence During the Post-Election Violence in Kenya, op cit , p II
[47] CIPEV report, op cit, pp 255-256
[48] J.Myrum, J.Ward. and M. Marsh., A Rapid Assessment of Gender Based Violence During the Post-Election Violence in Kenya, op cit, p6
[49] Ibid, p5
[50] S.Ssali, ‘Human Security, Conflict and Women in the Horn of Africa’ , op cit, p102 and pp 112-113
[51] CIPEV report , op cit, p 256
[52] Prosecutor vs. Akayesu, Case No. ICTR 96-4-T, Judgment (Sept. 2, 1998). In this case, Akayesu was found guilty even though he had not himself committed the actual physical acts of rape. He was found to have encouraged others to commit the offence or rape.
[53] Statute Establishing the International Criminal Court
[54] Chapter 63, Laws of Kenya
[55] J.Myrum, J.Ward. and M. Marsh., A Rapid Assessment of Gender Based Violence During the Post-Election Violence in Kenya, op cit , p23
[56] Recovering from Violent Conflict , Human Security Now ( New York: Commission on Human Security, 2003) pp.57-61
[57] H. Miall.,O. Ramsbotham and T. Woodhouse, ‘Contemporary Conflict Resolution’, op cit , pp 217-229.