The name is absent

This ordinance was part of a much larger colonial effort that began in the early
1900’s with attempts to dismantle the dowry system and to recreate native
marriages to mirror British marriages. It is an example of how the colonial laws in
Kenya transformed gender roles over time. Some women turned to the colonial
administration for assistance. As noted by the District Commissioner, E.E.
Jackson, in a District Commissioner memorandum on February 27, 1958: “The
African women of Nairobi are coming to me in increasing numbers to protest or
enquire about their position in the community.”²² Increasingly, women began to
experience more rights, protection, and freedom.

Over time, women grew more and more conscious of economic, social,
and political stakes and used the changes of colonialism to redefine their own
identity and desires. Women grew into new roles, grasping issues and
parameters of modern Kenya along with an understanding of their rights to also
contest and select the best solution to fit their specific needs. They accepted
some colonial constructs like receiving a Western education, participating in
associations, moving from the rural to urban areas without scrutiny, and
embracing new legal protection.

Kenyan women also used the clutter and confusion of colonialism to
establish new political boundaries.²³ During colonialism women expressed
political awareness through labor protests and unrest. Individual women resisted
the new wage labor system and working for unpaid government road projects

²² Document from the Office of the District Commissioner, titled, “Rights of African Women,” on February
27, 1958 KNA PC/Grassa/14/8

²³ Kanogo, African Womanhood in Colonial Kenya, 245. This was a time of a lot of social, political, and
economic changes in Kenya that were complex and contested.

159

<<   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   >>

More intriguing information