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"id": 237733,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Mr. Sungu",
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"speaker": {
"id": 324,
"legal_name": "Gor Eric Sungu",
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"content": "Mr. Speaker, Sir, for example it is not uncommon to find whole families going to farms to plough, and then men leave the farms after a short while. Such men expect their women to bring them breakfast to the farms. After farm work, women often collect firewood, fetch water and still are expected to prepare lunch for the family. This is a problem in our country. This House is in a good position to change some of these things, so that our women can also enjoy the privileges enjoyed by their men counterparts. In urban areas, the situation is different. In the search for jobs, women are discriminated against by employers. Even in promotions and educational opportunities, there is discrimination against women. I remember that when I was at the University of Nairobi, we went on strike because of discrimination against a woman. We were expelled from the university because of that. This problem is endemic. It is time that as a House, we took it seriously and made sure that discrimination is exposed and eliminated from our society. Even on the domestic front, we have discrimination against women. I was reading a magazine the other day which indicated that if one was to quantify and attach monetary value to the household work that women do, such as child care, taking children to school, washing clothes, bathing children and preparing food, they would find that women deserve twice what men earn. This shows how much women do. Women are the majority in our society and this sort of discrimination must not be allowed to continue. There is need for a legal framework to address these issues, so that we can protect our womenfolk against discrimination. We know that there is a lot of poverty in this country. The majority of those who are poor in this country are women. If you go to any social gathering, church, Harambee or polling station, you will find that women form the majority of those in attendance. Why then do we discriminate against people who form the majority in our society? We must eliminate discrimination and make sure that our womenfolk have equal access to resources such as credit facilities. Therefore, it is necessary for the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services to ensure that programmes affecting our womenfolk are mainstreamed. We should ensure that women affairs come to the attention of this nation so that women can benefit from whatever limited resources we, as a country, have. It is sad that our womenfolk are not allowed to inherit property. If their husbands die, most women have problems in inheriting what actually belonged to their husbands, because of discrimination. We must give women a chance to effectively participate in our legal system. Even in our courts, women are in the minority. We realise that there are many women lawyers, and that a lot still needs to be done to involve them in our legal system. The problem of gender-based violence is extreme. If, unfortunately, one of us falls into the hands of a hijacker, he may be shot. But they will never be raped. In hijacking incidents where 3212 PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES October 26, 2006 women are involved, invariably there is rape. Even during robberies in our houses women are raped. There was a case in the Press where a man was killed when he tried to defend his wife and children from robbers who had turned rapists."
}