General Secretary’s Remarks on Gender Justice

A.      PREAMBLE

Greetings

• Heads of Churches
• Chairmen, Presidents and General Secretaries of Councils of Churches
• Heads of Agencies of ACT Alliance

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my great honour to join you today to share my thoughts on the role that faith leaders can play in the campaign for Gender Justice as I see it from my perspective as the National Champion for Gender Justice.

As defined by Christian Aid, Gender Justice seeks to achieve a world with just and equitable power relations between women and men; a world in which gender is no longer a barrier to achieving one’s rights. It affirms that each gender should and can relate with each other without discrimination at all levels.

We recognize that culture, politics, religion, and socio-economic factors are some of the greatest drivers of gender injustice world over, and these are the issues that we must address through this campaign.

B.      GENDER JUSTICE IN THE SCRIPTURES

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am convinced that amongst all religious writings in the world, Bible presents the strongest affirmation of gender justice both in principle and practice. The equality and equity of both genders flows from the beginning to the end of the Bible, as we find in the following examples beginning with Genesis 1: 27 – 28 which reads:

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’.”

From the beginning, we find that God created men and women as equals. Even the original assignment was given to both of them equally. God did not recognize a difference between the role of men and women in caring for and ruling the earth.

However, this divine design collapsed when sin came into the world. Greed, wickedness, exploitation, oppressive structures and negative politics drove mankind to perpetuate injustice of all kinds including gender injustice. 

God therefore put in place a process of restorative justice which is demonstrated throughout the scripture. A strong example of this is in Isaiah 58: 6 – 7 which reads:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.”

God is here declaring that injustice in every form is totally incompatible with righteousness. He actually makes a very clear connection between justice in the land, righteousness and prosperity.

Another passage in the Bible that brings out the relationship between gender and injustice is Zechariah 7: 8 – 10 which reads:

“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other’.”

This commitment of God to justice and equity is re-emphasized in Luke 4: 18 – 19 where Jesus declared His mission on earth:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”

We find once again that God is concerned about and committed to justice, wanting no one to be oppressed or in bondage.

As I conclude these reflections on the Bible, allow me to remind you of Galatians 3: 26 – 29 which stamps the equality of the sexes by declaring that:

“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

This text teaches that those who have clothed themselves with Christ should no longer uphold injustice – racial (Jew nor Greek); socioeconomic (slave nor free man); gender (male nor female) and any other that may arise. All persons are therefore equal before God. This is a strong affirmation of the original design of God – where there are no divisions among the people.

As the custodians of faith, religious leaders must therefore work towards the realization of gender justice as envisaged in the scriptures. 

C.      ROLE OF NATIONAL CHAMPION FOR GENDER JUSTICE

Brothers and Sisters,

During the 62^nd NCCK General Assembly held from 10^th – 13^th August 2013 at Kanamai, Kilifi County, NCCK committed to establish a faith network for gender justice and mobilize the Kenyan populace to support it. I was consequently commissioned National Champion for Gender Justice.

My role as the National Champion has been to inspire confidence among faith leaders on the role they need to play as gender justice champions so as to promote equity.

Secondly, I have a responsibility of steering the NCCK to double its efforts towards promoting gender justice through its governance structures and programmatic approach.

I am therefore pleased to inform you that the National Council of Churches of Kenya in its current Corporate Plan envisions scaling up the faith contribution towards creating an enabling environment and structures for equal rights and opportunities for both genders and to promote just and equitable power relations between women and men.

One of the strongest indicators of the NCCK’s commitment to gender justice is the provision that in all our governance organs, there is special representation for women. I am especially proud that it is during my tenure that for the first time in more than one hundred years, the General Assembly in 2012 elected a woman to be the Chairperson, this being Canon Rosemary Mbogoh. Canon Mbogo was re-elected this year in August to serve a second three-year term.

We are also proud that this year, Upper Eastern Region made history by being the first NCCK Region to elect a female chairperson, this being Bishop Catherine Mutua.

This is in addition to the growing trend we have witnessed of more and more officials elected to other positions in the county, regional and national committees being women.

Step by step, Brothers and Sisters, NCCK is increasingly becoming less patriarchal and embracing gender equity in its structures of governance.

Further, NCCK has been campaigning against Gender Based violence (GBV), and has over the last three years facilitated advocacy on the implementation of the Prohibition of Female Genital Mutilation Act. The national level advocacy has been buttressed by extensive conversations within communities that have high prevalence of FGM.

On the Economic front, the NCCK is currently engaged in the promotion of economic empowerment of women in communities through an initiative named Jamii Thabiti project. This project is being implemented in four of regions of NCCK reaching more than 400 Households and with a revolving fund of KShs 3.42 Million. Their capacities have been built on financial literacy including savings, bookkeeping, credit access, management and investment among others for enhanced and improved livelihoods.

D.      NCCK PROGRAMMATIC INTERVENTIONS

Through her programmatic interventions, the NCCK has over the years been on the frontline campaigning for greater women participation in the economic, social and political spheres.

Currently, we are undertaking an intervention aimed at contributing to the attainment of the Two Thirds Gender Principle in the Constitution of Kenya 2010. We are doing this by organizing and facilitating a National Movement aimed at increasing women participation in political leadership during elections.

In this endeavor, we are using our national, regional and county level structures to mobilize faith leaders, council of elders, existing women organizations and youth networks to create a critical mass that will be coordinated to influence the quantity and quality of women political participation as we approach the 2017 general elections.

The following are the steps being taken to build up the Movement:

1. Initially NCCK undertook a study titled ”Political Economy Analysis of Women Political Participation in 7 Counties”. The study sought to establish the critical drivers and inhibitors to participation of women in political processes in Kwale, Kitui, Homabay, Embu, Kiambu, Bomet and Kisumu counties. It focused on the structural factors, institutions and agents or actors for change influencing the participation of women in political processes. In essence this study mapped out the critical areas to engage in as the Church seeks promote gender justice in political participation.
2. After intelligence gathering, NCCK has facilitated county level forums reaching more than 1,400 women leaders in the process of building a critical mass that is engaging the top five political parties and other stakeholders in the target counties. During these forums, aspiring women politicians were identified and they will be profiled, mentored and supported to compete in the male dominated Kenyan political landscape. The county level forums also identified and commissioned Women Movement leaders.
3. In addition, the women leaders are being facilitated to lead local-to-local dialogues for the identification of Men For Women champions as well as interacting with political leadership and other stakeholders. This is a perpetuation of one my key roles as National Champion whereby I am facilitating the development of Men-for-Women champions by building the capacity of respective Male faith leaders within the inter-religious organizations structures at the ward, county and national levels. The mandate of the Men-for-Women champions is to promote the political participation of women. This campaign is modelled along the He-For-She global solidarity campaign for gender equality developed by UN Women to engage men and boys as advocates and agents of change for the achievement of gender equality and women’s rights. The campaign encourages them to speak out and take action against inequalities faced by women and girls. Involving men in this initiative is critical for a buy-in and for support to the women agenda in politics. The Council is therefore committed to identify various Heads of Churches who demonstrate passion on gender justice and work with them to champion the national faith movement on Gender Justice.
4. Moving forward, NCCK will facilitate County Level Conferences to strengthen Networking and advocacy by reaching out to other stakeholders to promote gender justice in political participation. The conference for Homa Bay County is scheduled for 30^th November 2015 and the one for Kiambu County will be on 8^th December 2015. Other Counties will follow thereafter.
5. This will be followed by a process to mentor the aspiring women candidates in the 2017 General Elections, whereby women aspirants will be identified and profiled to enhance their visibility using media and other national and local networks. In this, we are using the member churches to identify and mobilize their women leaders who are members of Kenya Women Parliamentarians, Women Members of Parliament and Women Members of County Assembly to act as mentors for aspiring women candidates.

E.      CALL FOR A UNIFIED APPROACH

The success of these interventions, brother and sisters, is being hinged on the nation-wide grassroots level governance structures of the Council. The efficacy of these structures has grown over the decades and today, other faith institutions readily partner with us as we undertake social interventions.

We easily cooperate and work within an inter-faiths framework that ensures that our interventions go beyond our member churches so that we are forever true to our motto: For Wananchi (For Citizens).

However, it is regrettable that the current engagement is limited to only seven counties and covers political participation exclusively. The Council is therefore appealing to Christian Aid and other partners to support this movement and mobilize both human and financial resources to reach more counties and to expand the scope to cover other gender injustice aspects including economic, social and cultural.

F.      CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I once again thank you for the efforts that you individually and through your institutions put into the campaign for gender justice. I look forward to working with each one of you more closely as we build gender equity and justice in our nation and region. And I assure you that the NCCK will remain fully committed to researching, designing and implementing interventions in collaboration with likeminded partners that are geared towards creating awareness, and building capacities of the various constituents on gender justice.

Thank you.

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