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| Level playing field? |
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| Commentary | |
| Written by Dr. Agnes Odhiambo | |
             Affirmative action has always been a controversial subject, drawing intense debates both from its opponents and proponents in most countries that have tried to legislate and implement it. And as experience from these countries show, the debate is sometimes ensnared in rhetoric failing to shed light on a complex subject. Kenya is no exception and, unsurprisingly, the on-going debate on affirmative action carries different meanings for different people politically, cognitively and emotionally. Yet in the heat of the debate, the real subject matter gets cloudy. Indeed the debate about affirmative action itself has become a victim of slanted and negative arguments that only function to stifle it. Some of the criticism against affirmative action include: that it is reverse discrimination; it will promote tokenism in the name of fair representation and undermine women’s intellect and achievements; women are not a minority to deserve special consideration because there are other more deserving marginalized groups; it will discriminate against qualified people, with some naming it ethically and morally wrong. ... the on-going debate on affirmative action carries different meanings for different people politically, cognitively and emotionally. Yet in the heat of the debate, the real subject matter gets cloudy. Indeed the debate about affirmative action itself has become a victim of slanted and negative arguments that only function to stifle it. The difference between those who appreciate and those who are condemning affirmative action seems to be historical memory (or lack of it) and one’s situatedness in that memory. Most critics of affirmative action have memories (conveniently for them) that reach only to the free primary education era. It is therefore essential to acknowledge the legitimacy of affirmative action’s main claim: historically, women have been victims of discrimination. Let’s look at the plain facts: comparatively, women still make less money than men in similar positions, the proportion of women in public offices compares so poorly against that of men and most appointments are in lower administrative positions; policies on land ownership and family relations still disadvantage women: the list is endless. Granted, women are making inroads into diverse areas of our society including in education and employment. Nonetheless, they still must overcome male advantage and conferred male dominance that most men are not even aware of. The predominantly male leadership with its mentoring and networking already in place leaves women at a disadvantage. Even methods of evaluating qualifications and merit favor those in power. How then can we legitimately claim that the playing field is level without deconstructing male privilege and dominance? The claim that women will get more respect and credibility if they win their places on an equal footing with men is rather puzzling if not a play on women’s minds. The underlying claim here is that colleagues will not cooperate or that society will always doubt that they deserve to be in those positions if they are elected through affirmative action. A debate on one of the FM radio stations had women calling in arguing that women must compete on an equal footing with men. Letters to the editor and even opinion articles from both women and men sing to this tune. Some have even argued that saying women are systematically discriminated against is the same as saying they’re intellectually inferior. In other words, affirmative action sends a negative message to the people it was designed to help; a self-defeating philosophy. The credentials, qualifications and character of women have always been questioned in this country, and in many other parts of the world, even when they legitimately and competently secured their positions. The idea that affirmative action policies introduce prejudices that did not already exist into the life of women is illogical. Instead, it gives them opportunities to defy the pernicious stereotypes and discrimination cast upon them. Working as it should, affirmative action benefits only those demonstrably qualified to hold the positions in question. Affirmative action is not a handout to women as they have actively participated in the social, economic and political development of Kenya. Rather, it affords women and minority groups greater equality of opportunity to succeed in a social context marked by substantial inequalities and structural forces that impede a fair assessment of their capabilities. Should affirmative action programs force us to hire unqualified women? No. But affirmative action programs should cause us as a society to re-evaluate how we assess qualifications and how we measure the nebulous notion of merit, especially when considering minorities and women. This has been applied to other areas such as education. Why are we so resistant when it comes to politics? History shows us that we at times need to adopt radical and life-threatening strategies or methods to address imbalances. The Mau Mau war of liberation or the anti-apartheid struggles in South Africa are examples of such revolutionary approaches to change the society. Tired of official discrimination based on racial differences, Kenyans opted to fight the British in order to win their freedom. Otherwise, the British would still be happily lording it over us, telling us that with time, we will be able to compete with them effectively for public office. Why would we continue to ignore the fact that a majority of our population still fares poorly when it comes to access to resources and opportunity in comparison to the minority. If you support the fight against poverty and marginalization; if you are avowedly anti-racism; if you believe that the developed world pursues unfair trade practices against the developing world, then you should add the fight against gender discrimination on your CV. |
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| Kenya Audio Visual Archives Conference |
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The African Woman and Child Feature Service, the Kenya Archival Study Group and the Ford Foundation office in Nairobi, Kenya will hold the Preservation, Conservation and Restoration of Audio Visual Media Conference. The conference will be held at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi, from December 3rd – 5th 2008. |
| AWC at the Highway Africa Awards |
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| 2008 Accra High Level Forum |
| 2007 CHOGM |
| 2007 GEM Land Reform |
| 2005 GEM Beijing |
| 2003 GEM ICASA |
| 2003 GEM Bangkok |
| 2003 GEM Action |
| 2002 GEM WSSD |
| 2002 GEM Know How |
