The name is absent

went mad in their attempts to deal with modernity. Thus, the British attempted to
utilize the violence against thethemselves, settlers, loyalists, and even women to
help paint the savagery of the conflict.

Although many African women embraced the movement, women were
portrayed as victims of Mau Mau. The official British records indicated the
numerous attacks on Loyalist women which created the illusion that women were
the principal sufferers of Mau Mau. This was done to help make the movement
appear more irrational. Similarly, the description of the females involved in Mau
Mau as prostitutes connected them to the movement and criminalized their
association. They were not normal women, according to Elkins they were labeled
by the colonial government as “hard core”.⁹⁰ In the minds of the colonial officers,
African women were stereotyped as “intellectually weak” joining Mau Mau
because of male inflences.⁹¹ As a result, their participation in Mau Mau
contradicted the British images OfAfrican womanhood.⁹²

The British creations of African women failed to provide the truth about
their involvement in Mau Mau. This was done purposely to undermine the extent
of the Kenyan economic and political grievances raised by the movement, which
clearly cut across gender. As a result, the political consciousness of the women
in the struggle and the unity that they had with their male counterparts in
overthrowing the colonial oppression was erased in the records.

The reality was that many women were consciously engaged in the fight
on all available fronts even though this contradicted the British’s notions of
⁹⁰ Elkins, Imperial Reckoning, 219.

⁹¹ Elkins, Imperial Reckoning, 221-222.

⁹² Elkins, Imperial Reckoning, 221-222.

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