Navigating Marginalisation: A Case Study of Women’s Organising in Matinyani Sub County, Kitui County, Kenya

The marginalisation of women is a contemporary issue which bears significant social and economic implications. Widespread and long-standing, its manifestation and consequences varies across race, geography, and culture. However, the impact of marginalisation is more acute in developing countries, making life harder for deprived and underrepresented populations.

Using an ethnographic design to capture lived experiences in situ, the study uses Feminist Standpoint Theory, and African Feminism(s) as a lens to explore how a group of women impacted by the incidence of HIV in rural Kitui in Kenya, navigate their marginalisation in the context of Mwethya, a cultural practice where personhood is realised through communitarianism.

Living alongside the participants allowed a personal insight into their lives. The ensuing rich data elicited individual and collective experiences of stigma and gendered struggle. Social Constructionism has been applied in the analysis of data to reveal gendered dimensions of marginalisation and poverty that lie silenced behind walls of culture, tradition, hierarchism and patriarchy. The data demonstrates how the women, in an interplay of agency and structure, leverage Mwethya to support welfare in a collective attempt to overcome social and cultural barriers that impede their lives.

My interest in this topic stems from my personal heritage. The findings presented a mixed picture. On the one hand, women felt strengthened and empowered by Mwethya because it brought them together in a communal and powerful way. On the other hand, their capacity to navigate marginalisation was significantly limited by extreme poverty, illness and the context of a highly patriarchal society over which they had limited influence.