Nelly Maina
My name is Nelly Maina and my nickname is "Mama Nnamdi". I have been one of ActionAid’s women’s rights workers for the last two years. I work in a team of eight spread out all over Kenya.
My real passion is improving the lives of women in my country. My work involves supporting programs which promote girls’ education and protect them from harmful practices such as early marriages. These practices often stop girls from finishing school and decrease the choices they have.
I also help women improve the quality of their lives at home. I do this by getting the government to make laws that protect women’s rights.
During my spare time I enjoy playing with my son and watching a good movie!
I like working for ActionAid. I like the opportunity to make a difference in women’s lives in my country and because of its unique focus on poor people. Very few other organizations truly do this.
Questions and Answers (April 16, 2007)
Q: [from Kayleigh] What has been the biggest improvement for women in kenya?
A: The biggest improvement is that women in Kenya are increasingly getting into positions of leadership within government organisations.
Women’s participation and representation in politics and decision-making has steadily been on the increase over the past 5 years.
But the level of involvement is still low compared to regional trends and international countries.
Q: [from Dave] why do girls marry early in kenya?
A: The issues of early marriage vary from region to region and girls are married off early for different reasons.
It is important however to note that the marriages are forced on the girls and it’s not their wish to be married early.
These are some of the reasons why early marriages are organised:
-the lack of money to educate them beyond primary level of education
-to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Sometimes when girls are not in school and are just at home, they are vulnerable to older men who cheat them into having sex. This sometimes leads to unwanted pregnancies and when a girl gets pregnant before she’s married, it casts shame on the family. In most cases the girls do not get husbands as they are considered immoral (and at fault) unless the person who got her pregnant is forced to marry her.
-to support the family through the dowry (money or property) that is normally paid by the groom’s family.
Often girls and young women entering into such marriages or unions have lower education levels. This often means that they often have no control over money coming into the household and can’t go out to earn any of their own funds. This makes them entirely dependent on their spouses/husbands.
Q: [from Izzy] what r women's rights?
A: Women’s rights are human rights - entitlements that we are given as human beings to enjoy a life of dignity without discrimination (unfair treatment) on the basis of sex.
Q: [from Jess] how many girls r in education in ur country??
A: According to the ministry of education in Kenya, there are approximately 3.7 million girls in primary schools who form 49% of all the children in primary school.
Q: [from TOm] Do girrls go to the same schools as boys or do they go to separate schoosl?
A: In Kenya we have girls’ only schools as well as what we call mixed schools at both the primary and secondary levels of education.
