The Samburu female chief defying community gender stereotypes
What you need to know:
- Hellen Lebasha became Assistant Chief of Leraata in Samburu County, three years ago.
- She leads in a community where girl education has historically been disregarded.
- When she was appointed, elders and community members raised concern over her age and gender, saying a man should have been considered instead.
Born and raised in a pastoralist community where girls are at high risk of being married off at a young age, Hellen Lebasha is grateful to her parents for supporting her education, all the way to university.
Becoming assistant chief of Leraata in Samburu County would have been a pipeline dream for her had she not had a chance at education.
She was appointed three years ago, to lead in a community where girl education continues to be disregarded due to the notion that they eventually leave their parents’ home to get married.
While she was elated after landing the job, at the age of 26, she was unaware of the challenges she would face, especially due to harmful patriarchal traditions that demean and portray women as the weaker sex, and require them to obey, respect and submit to men.
“My parents encouraged me to apply for the post but immediately after I was picked, elders and community members raised concern over my age and gender, saying a man should have been considered instead,” she says.
Resilience
Ms Lebasha says her first year of service was the most difficult. She faced blatant disrespect by men who either blocked her from holding public barazas, or deliberately disrupted her meetings.
It took boldness and resilience for the administrator to acquire respect from men and champion for women’s and girls’ rights in her community.
“I once convened a public meeting to discuss water issues only for one man to order me to sit down and let them speak first, while hitting me with a stick. I insisted that I was in charge of the meeting,” she recalls, saying the man was arrested and prosecuted for the offence.
Her strictness and hard stance on the need to abandon outdated practices, she says, has helped change the community’s perception towards women, paving way for their empowerment.
Ms Lebasha has been in the frontline in ensuring girls within her sub-location in Samburu East, are in school and those from needy families to access bursaries, and are not married off while young.
Marrying off young girls, pastoralists say, helps ease families' financial and economic strains. Teenage pregnancies could also be drivers of underage marriages.
Beating wives
“Men now respect me (as a chief) and this has been replicated to the household level. Husbands fear beating up their wives because they know I will have them arrested,” Ms Lebasha tells Nation.Africa.
The chief says women are now allowed to meetings and to contribute to various issues of public concern just like men.
“I ensure they (women) speak first before allowing men to contribute during meetings. I am happy that my position has helped reverse the issue,” she notes.
Ms Lebasha holds a diploma in social work and community development from the Alumnus of Cooperative University of Kenya and is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in the same field.
“I look forward to being promoted to a chief or an assistant county commissioner after completing my degree, as I seek to do away with retrogressive culture that has adversely affected women and girls,” she says.
