Prof Wanjiku Kabira: The scholar who turned women’s struggles into state policy
UoN Wee Hub leader, Prof Wanjiku Kabira, speaks during the launch of the Women's Business Incubation Project at the University of Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- Prof Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira has dedicated her life to redefining women’s place in society.
- As the director of the African Women’s Studies Centre, she leads efforts that merge academic research with national policy.
For Prof Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira, the pursuit of women’s equality has never been confined to classrooms or academic papers. It is a dynamic, decades-long crusade interwoven with scholarship, grassroots mobilisation, and national reform.
A literary scholar turned constitutional trailblazer, Kabira has spent her life translating research into action—from reshaping Kenya’s constitutional framework to spearheading policies that redefine women’s place in the economy. Her journey is a striking reminder that real transformation demands changing not only laws, but also mindsets, traditions, and systems of power.
Today, as director of the African Women’s Studies Centre at the University of Nairobi—home to the Women’s Economic Empowerment Hub (Wee Hub)—Prof Kabira continues to champion a vital mission: ensuring that the economic realities of Kenyan women, especially those in rural and informal sectors, influence national policy. In a reflective conversation, she traces the origins of her work, the detailed process of drafting Kenya’s first comprehensive National Policy on Women’s Economic Empowerment, and the lessons drawn from decades of activism.
The seeds of this mission were planted during one of Kenya’s most defining political moments. “I was a commissioner in the Yash Pal Ghai-led Constitution of Kenya Review Commission, which worked on the Constitution for five years,” she recalls. “We travelled across the country—from Wajir to Tana River, Rift Valley, the Coast, and Western—and through that journey, I learned a lot about Kenya and her people.”
Tasked with mobilising citizens to share their views, she collaborated with a formidable group of women leaders, including Phoebe Asiyo, Martha Karua, Martha Koome, Ida Odinga, Nancy Baraza, and Catherine Nyamato, to fight for women’s participation in constitutional reform.
This hands-on political experience built upon her academic foundation. Her PhD thesis, which examined the portrayal of women in oral literature, deepened her understanding of how language and culture reinforce disempowerment. “This made me realise how tradition and language have historically positioned women in subordinate roles,” she notes.
The constitution-making process became her testing ground for challenging those structures. Returning to the University of Nairobi in 2006, she carried a renewed determination to link scholarship to liberation. In 2011, with support from women scholars and the then vice-chancellor, Prof George Magoha, she established the African Women’s Studies Centre—a vibrant hub for research, teaching, and evidence-based advocacy.
From inception, the centre prioritised women’s economic empowerment and political participation as inseparable goals. “We didn’t want to produce research just for the library,” Kabira asserts. “We wanted evidence that informs policy and transforms lives.”
An early project on food security exemplified this approach. Collecting data from 21 counties, her team presented findings to Parliament that shifted the national conversation. “We demonstrated that food insecurity wasn’t just about poor land,” she explains. “It was also about land fragmentation and structural barriers.”
This research directly shaped budget allocations and draft legislation, proving that academically grounded advocacy can indeed influence policy. That same model guided the team’s most ambitious project—drafting the National Policy on Women’s Economic Empowerment (Wee Policy).
Kabira and her Wee Hub research team provided vital technical support throughout the process. “We offered evidence-based research, convened consultations, and worked with government and civil society to ensure that women’s lived experiences, especially in the informal economy, were reflected in the policy,” she says.
Their work reframed the national discourse on economic empowerment. “We wanted policymakers to understand that empowerment isn’t just about jobs or credit,” she explains. “It’s about recognising unpaid care work, ensuring access to land and technology, and giving women a voice in decision-making.”
Food security
Backed by extensive original data, the team contributed insights on food security, the Credit Guarantee Scheme, and Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO), among others. These informed six key policy pillars: agriculture and value chains, labour and employment, trade and entrepreneurship, access to and control of resources, the blue economy, and unpaid care and domestic work.
“This research shaped the thematic pillars of the policy,” Kabira confirms. “Today, the Wee Policy stands as a comprehensive framework precisely because it merged women’s lived realities with solid evidence.”
Under her leadership, the Centre has achieved impressive results. “In the last five years, we have produced research, policy recommendations, and contributed to reforms in 18 policies, regulations, and legislations,” she says proudly.
These reforms have had significant impacts. For instance, advocacy around the Credit Guarantee Scheme and AGPO has increased opportunities for women, fostering technology transfer and strengthening local industry. A major milestone came during the Covid-19 pandemic, when their lobbying secured 30 per cent of the Credit Guarantee Scheme for women, youth, and persons with disabilities, while also requiring banks to provide gender-disaggregated data.
Their persistence has also influenced the National Treasury and the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, leading to reviews of fiscal policies and budgets (2020–25). The goal: “to ensure increased budgets for sectors that support women’s domestic and unpaid care work, in line with Article 43(1) of the Constitution,” which guarantees economic and social rights.
Translating research into tangible benefits has not been easy, particularly due to funding challenges. “Many women we worked with — especially in cottage industries — had the skills but lacked equipment or seed capital,” Kabira says.
Cottage industries
Despite limited resources, the women’s resilience prevailed. “We established 12 cottage industries in different counties,” she adds. “What stood out was the overwhelming community support — from markets, churches, and local leaders — once these women began to thrive.”
This experience reinforced her belief that sustainable change demands synergy between research, responsive policy, grassroots action, and community leadership. After five years of intensive work on the Wee programme, Kabira’s biggest takeaway is clear: “Academic institutions must collaborate closely with government and other stakeholders,” she insists. “Universities bring credibility and evidence, while government has the power to implement change.”
She emphasises that policy transformation is the most effective tool for scaling progress. “Training a few women in a village is important,” she says, “but policy change drives transformation at scale. That’s why we focus on evidence-based advocacy and monitoring implementation.”
Looking ahead, Kabira draws hope from visible progress and the enduring resilience of Kenyan women. “We’re not yet where we should be,” she admits, “but I’m encouraged by the gains since the 1990s.”
She points to affirmative action as one success, opening leadership opportunities for women across counties, and the growing presence of women in Parliament, county assemblies, and the private sector. Yet her greatest hope lies with women’s collectives. “The resilience of women’s groups, their financial innovation, and emerging networks like the National Alliance for Women’s Economic Empowerment inspire me,” she says.
She recalls the unity women demonstrated during the constitutional review process — a unity that birthed the globally acclaimed 2010 Constitution. “If sustained, that solidarity will ensure women speak with one voice and influence policy reforms effectively.”
Her final reflection brings her decades of work full circle: “When women have resources, they prioritise food, health, and education for their families,” she says. “That aligns perfectly with Article 43 of our Constitution—the right to food, health, housing, water, sanitation, and education.”
For her, empowering women economically is not just good policy; it is an investment in Kenya’s collective future.
