A majority of women living in villages and slums don’t know their rights, a local non-governmental organisation has warned.
Lillian Plapan, chairperson of the African Coalition on Traditional Practices and Women Empowerment organisation said a lot of women were being segregated due to outdated believes and lack of exposure.
“It’s the responsibility of the society to ensure that women are taught about what is expected from them to ensure that they don’t feel segregated,” she said.
She spoke at the Sawela Lodge in Naivasha at the weekend during a women empowerment forum.
In her view, semi illiteracy and some retrogressive cultures that could be wiped out were the cause of the misery many women are being forced to survive under in our communities.
“Let’s offer equal opportunities to both women and men to ensure that the society becomes accommodative to both sexes for maximum service delivery,” she noted.
According to survey records conducted by the Ipsos Synnovate, 50 per cent of women in villages and local villages are still subjected to male chauvinism which has directly hindered their contribution to development issues.
She blamed early pregnancies, dropping out of school and early marriages as outdated practices in the African society that were forcing young girls out of class which according to he was disastrous for the next generations.
“Education is the surest way of ensuring the girl child gets to know of her rights so forcing her out of school due to our African traditional culture spells doom for the future,” the women rights advocate said.
The NGO is in the process of holding similar seminars across all the 47 counties to push for women rights and inclusion in positive transformation needed in a modern society.