How gender bias killed Kisumu official's political dream

Farida Ahmed Salim's painful decade-old quest to penetrate the murky world of elective politics ended in 2017.

Thanks to frustrations and gender discrimination in the male-dominated field, Mrs Salim, 46, dropped her ambitions and sought alternatives in the policymaking spaces.

As a greenhorn in 2012, she received baptism of fire, having resigned as a lecturer at the Kisumu National Polytechnic after a 15-year-stint.

Prior to this, during her free time, she would work with Muslim women on education and economic empowerment matters, which made her weekends quite busy, having found that the plight of her people were more pressing than her classroom job.

Empowerment drive

Her desire to bring change in society and empower women informed her decision to contest the Kisumu Central parliamentary seat, which was then a new constituency created following the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution. The race attracted big names like Ken Obura, Abdul Omar and Ken Nyagudi.

Mrs Salim had never run for an elective post, but despite hoping to get the backing of her Muslim community, she was advised to shelve her ambitions and back her ‘brother’, Mr Omar, to avoid splitting the Muslim vote.

“When I joined the campaign trail, a Muslim, Abdul Omar, was among the contestants. There was pressure from my community to step aside for Abdul. I had a lot of difficulties explaining to my community that it was my democratic right as a woman to contest,” says Mrs Salim.

After failing to get the necessary protection within her religious confines, Muslim women have often remained exposed to attacks from outside, being dismissed by other residents as joleso, in reference to their mode of dressing.

But that was not the only challenge. Residents, including Muslims, believed a woman could not make a good leader, driving away possible financiers to male candidates.

“This is a journey I had decided to go through with and I promised myself that I would walk through the entire process to understand it and what it takes for a woman leader to be in those spaces,” says Mrs Salim.

She was a new entrant who did not understand so much and time was not on her time either. Worse still, she was struggling alone.

“Politics and campaigns need resources and it was not easy even affording election materials while my opponents were splashing money everywhere,” she says.

Her journey, however, ended when Mr Obura got the ODM ticket. She remained loyal to ODM and that earned her nomination to the first County Assembly of Kisumu in 2013.

Even so, challenges still abounded. There was a perception that nominated women got their positions on a silver platter.

“It was not easy, we worked from our vehicles or houses since we had no offices, I did that because of the passion I had for serving my people,” says Mrs Salim.

In 2017, feeling confident, capacity-built and more experienced, she ran again, this time for a smaller seat, Kaloleni/Shaurimoyo ward representative. And she lost again.

“The only thing that stood in my way from the seat was my party. I chose a smaller party and not ODM because of the high cost of contesting in established parties.”

Her journey in elective politics ended, at least for now. She serves as a member of the Kisumu City Board and the County Education Board.

“I didn’t make it but I said there are other decision-making spaces I can look for so that I can continue serving and that is where I am now. Muslim women should know that when you reach a river or a lake and you have to swim, you have to remove your clothes. They have to compete,” she says.

While she feels perception among Muslim men of women leadership has improved, she says much still needs to be done to level the playground.

Inspiration

Despite not making in elective politics, Mrs Salim has inspired other Muslim women, among them Mariam Abeid, who is seeking to succeed where her mentor failed. She, too, wants to be Kaloleni Shaurimoyo MCA.

Ms Abeid, a 38-year-old businesswoman with a degree in community development and conflict resolution, runs her foundation, which works with breast and cervical cancer patients and survivors.

She says the political space is male-dominated and for Muslim women, the challenges are double.

“We see a situation where you are judged by the hijab. One day I went to Kibuye market and I was told they like me but they are not comfortable with joleso, meaning one who covers her face with a scarf or hijab. They went ahead to tell me to drop my culture and religion and reconsider my dress code,” says Ms Abeid.

She has also been told she is only fit for nomination and not election as she cannot marshal the numbers. She has urged ODM to intervene and have more Muslim women in the county assembly.

Born of a Luo mother and Swahili father, she felt she would be the bridge to ethnic equality.

Having become a teenage mother at the age of 15, she is optimistic that she is the best placed to ensure young girls do not go through the same experience and young men do not engage in drugs.

“I feel like people in Kaloleni/Shaurimoyo are yet to enjoy the fruits of devolution. We have a very big problem of drug abuse and many young women dropping out of school because of early pregnancy, and I feel I am the one who can change this because I went through it,” says Ms Abeid.

Sacrificial lamb

Sheikh Musa Ismail Hajj, Kenya Muslims Association chairman, Kisumu, is aware of the challenges women from the community face and told Nation.Africa they have had to intervene to give direction.

He believes, however, that everyone, irrespective of gender, has equal opportunity to contest whichever seat, except the woman representative post.

“The Muslim community does not discriminate against either gender but focuses on who is best to represent their interests. In instances where we have two candidates, the community leadership has always weighed their strengths, sat with them and made a decision on who to fly the flag so as not to split our vote,” says Sheikh Musa.

He appealed to the community to rally behind their aspirants and stop demonising them even as they woo the other religious groups.

Sheikh Musa believes having one of them in county leadership will be a big boost as they will have a voice at the decision-making table.

For her part, Mrs Easter Okech, executive director at Kenya Female Advisory Organisation, advises Muslim women to be more aggressive in their campaigns and strive to speak to the heart of the electorate.

She points out that awareness and empowerment within the Muslim community would go a long away in enabling them to play a significant role in political leadership.

“The candidates need to interact with the community more, not as some Muslim women but those who coexist with neighbours, to make the voters have confidence in them,” says Mrs Okech, cautioning that they should not segregate themselves and choose to “hide behind their community or religion”.

In political parties, Mrs Okech urges, they should not expect favours but fight for their space and be good mobilisers.

[email protected], @rushdieo3