This archive report was first published on 15 November 2019.
November 15, 2019, was a day I watched a video that left a sour taste in my mouth. An unnamed woman spent three agonizing minutes lambasting Kirinyaga Governor Anne Waiguru over her support for the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) and her declaration as the 'spokewoman' of Mount Kenya.
Waiguru's audacity was not the only target; the woman also questioned her morality and birthed a narrative of below-the-belt politics. This was not an isolated incident, as Laikipia Woman Representative Catherine Waruguru also employed similar tactics, urging Waiguru to focus on actual childbearing rather than delivering the BBI.
It's not just men who engage in such behavior; women have also been used by male politicians to insult and disrespect their male counterparts. Young women, like Waruguru, have taken on political heavyweights in a desperate bid to gain relevance, often resorting to vulgarity and crudeness.
As a country, we've seen politics become increasingly dirty, with women leaders driving and perpetuating this trend. They've taken it upon themselves to tear each other down, often in the full glare of the cameras. This is not only disappointing but also entrenches the patriarchal thought that women are their own worst enemies.
Women leaders must rise above petty politics and set a higher standard of conduct. They are already outnumbered and possibly outsmarted by their male counterparts. The least they could do is stick together as women, disagreements aside, and do for this country what they were elected to do.
Leadership should mean something for women, and this is an opportunity for them to show us what we've been missing so far. They are few and in this together, so they have no choice but to put their childish differences aside and work towards giving Kenyan women the representation they deserve.
Finally, women leaders cannot afford to buttress the toxic narrative that women are their own worst enemies. Men have used it to sideline women out of key decision-making. Women are capable of supporting each other, lifting each other up, and who knows, perhaps if they put all this nonsense behind them, they just might overwhelmingly elect the first female president!
