Kenya needs more Phoebe Asiyos to end patriarchal politics
First Lady Margaret Kenyatta and former MP Phoebe Asiyo at State House, Nairobi, during the launch of Ms Asiyo’s memoir, It is Possible: An African Woman Speaks, on August 23, 2018.
What you need to know:
- Phoebe Asiyo’s story, as told in her memoir, It Is Possible, is an engrossing and motivational one.
- It is impressive that Asiyo’s husband could ‘allow’ her to become a public figure at the time she did.
Politics is roiling all over this nation right now. Be it in church, in school, at the marketplace, in the kitchen, at the riverside, by the roadside, all over the place, every Kenyan, from children to the old, is retailing some political story.
Even those who don’t have a voter’s card have something to say about the candidate of their choice and their opponent. Politicians are offering heaven on earth to the voters, without any tinge of irony. Promises of future development, present goodies and tales of unimaginable progress should one be elected MCA, MP, governor, senator, woman representative or president, are offered 24 hours, 7 days.
But there is that little question of gender representation. Can Kenyans elect more women to the county assemblies or the national parliament? Can society look at women in politics more favorably? Wouldn’t the country probably be more developed had Kenyans been electing more women to public offices since independence?
There is some evidence that elected women politicians deliver on their promises better than male politicians. So, why is it that since the days of Grace Onyango, Phoebe Muga Asiyo, Nyiva Mwendwa, Grace Ogot, Julia Ojiambo and Philomena Chelagat Mutai, Kenyans still struggle to elect women into political office? How does a country that counts Phoebe Asiyo among its pioneer women politicians, how could the country only elect three women governors in 2017?
Representation
If one considers that Chelagat Mutai was elected to Parliament at the age of 27 and Phoebe Asiyo at the age of 47, why don’t Kenyans vote for more women leaders?
Phoebe Asiyo’s story, as told in her memoir, It Is Possible: An African Woman’s Reflections on a Life-long Political Journey, is an engrossing and motivational one. But it is also a tale of what it takes for a woman to be successful in Kenya’s male-dominated political world. Phoebe Asiyo’s story is not just about breaking through the glass ceiling, it is also about setting individual standards for a life in politics, a life that in many senses should define politics for many Kenyan women.
It Is Possible takes the reader on a journey from the colonial days to today. In a society that has often been described as patriarchal, Phoebe Asiyo rises from being just a countryside girl, who most likely would have been married at a young age to become a teacher, a social worker, the president of Maendeleo ya Wanawake in 1958, a prisons officer – the first African woman senior superintendent in 1963, a Member of Parliament, a global goodwill ambassador for the UNIFEM, among other offices and responsibilities that she has and continues to hold. Born in 1932, Phoebe Asiyo got married to Richard Asiyo in 1952 and was elected as the Member of Parliament for Karachuonyo Constituency in 1979.
But Phoebe Asiyo’s election as the MP for Karachuonyo is instructive today, especially for women in politics but most important for all gender parity activists. In fact, Phoebe Asiyo’s story should be a lesson to Kenyan women and men who are concerned about progress in the country. Why? Consider Phoebe Asiyo’s achievements to date. Consider the age at which she was married, started a family, got involved in public life and became a successful national politician. These are not necessarily extraordinary accomplishments. Yet they are significant.
Surmounting socio-cultural restrictions
First, for a woman who was raised in a very strong religious environment, it is impressive that Phoebe Asiyo’s husband could ‘allow’ her to become a public figure at the time she did; or that she broke free of the socio-cultural restrictions of the day, which more or less expected a wife and mother to stay at home and raise children.
Indeed, it isn’t just an African thing, this expectation that a woman who is married and has children should make the home. It is a very widespread practice all over the world. It is a tradition that has held back so many women from pursuing their dreams and contributing to human progress.
Phoebe Asiyo’s case suggests that even though she was married to a man who could understand her and support her aspirations, she must have been a fighter from an early age.
Many Kenyans today have forgotten a political machine called the Kenya African National Union (Kanu). This was a complex outfit. It made old men – it was just men – weep in public during its disciplinary hearings. At some point, David Okiki Amayo was the chairman of Kanu’s Disciplinary Committee. This is a man who at the time was a confidante of President Daniel arap Moi. Okiki Amayo’s word could make or unmake one’s political and social life. His word was law, in whatever sense of the word, at some point in the history of this country.
This is the man who Phoebe Asiyo took on in the General Election of 1979. She beat him. Phoebe Asiyo was not even a child of Karachuonyo. Her ancestral land was Agoro, in Nyakach – this is why she is widely known among her people as; Phoebe nyar Agoro – Phoebe daughter of Agoro.
How could this happen? Was this a fluke? Was the electorate more discerning than many others in the country? Did Phoebe Asiyo have incredible charm? Was she supported by the system? Or was she just better organised and more determined than Okiki Amayo and the other competitors?
Remember that Okiki Amayo, even though yet to be the KANU Disciplinary Committee chairman at the time, had won the Karachuonyo seat twice. He just didn’t give up. He petitioned the election results and a by-election was ordered. Phoebe Asiyo beat him with even a higher margin of votes in 1980.
She would beat Okiki Amayo again in 1983. Yet, KANU had one trick up its sleeve. It organized the mlolongo elections in 1987. It was supposed to be a straightforward issue. The person with the longer queue was the winner. Phoebe lost. She would reclaim the seat in 1992 but lose it in 1997.
Today, Phoebe Asiyo remains involved in several activities meant to develop her people on the ground and women in particular.
Maybe at this time of elections, all women politicians, all Kenyans of goodwill who wish this country to become more national than tribal, who believe women can and should lead, who trust that Kenyans on their own can build this country in the image envisioned at independence to become a better, just and united society, then It Is Possible is the book to read, if not for inspiration then for lessons to be learned about elective politics for women in Kenya.
Tom Odhiambo teaches literature and performing arts at the University of Nairobi. [email protected]
