It is difficult to know precisely how many participated in the rebellion based
on the available data, but they had a significant presence.81 Colonial reports
indicated there were random women involved; however, this appears to
contradict the testimonies of the forest fighters that suggest greater female
participation. Women’s involvement in the forests shows they were not simply on
the sidelines; rather, they were willing to uproot their homes in the towns or
reserves to support the efforts of Mau Mau by providing domestic service and
care for children and husbands and picking up guns for combat.
A Condition of Various War Roles for Women: Prisoner & Detainee
The Mau Mau oath and related activities were criminalized by the colonial
authorities as a means to regain control over Kenya. Women were arrested,
interrogated, beaten, raped, imprisoned, detained, and punished for their
involvement in the Mau Mau rebellion.82 The peak imprisonment period for
women was in 1955 with 13,265 women arrested. Out of this number 11,467
women were sentenced to prison.83 Between 1952 and 1958 a total of 34,147
women were sentenced to prison for Mau Mau related violations.84 However,
according to Elkins the number was higher, she states,
“The question of what to do with the hundreds of thousands of women who
took the Mau Mau oath plagued the colonial government from the
Emergency’s inception. Colonial officials would eventually detain the vast
81 Elkins, Imperial Reckoning, 219.
82 Elkins, Imperial Reckoning, 219-232. BBC On-line News, “Kenya Mau Mau Veterens to Sue UK,”
http://news.bbc.co.Uk/2/hi/8043442.stm; in the article the women in the case were subjected to “heinous
sexual violence”.
83 Presley, Kikuyu Women, TheMauMauRebellion, 137.
84 Presley, Kikuyu Women, The Mau Mau Rebellion, 504.
180