I do not claim to speak for men, but did we start a gender war with affirmative action? The National Policy on Gender and Development (2019) provides for equal opportunities for men and women, leveling the playing field that for long disadvantaged girls and women. Affirmative action was intended to correct historical injustices against women and girls, providing a tool for equity. And there is no denying it, there has been massive results! The number of girls in school has soared, while opportunities for economic growth and leadership for women have opened up in all spheres. However, a quick look into the conversations happening today particularly around femicide and GBV raise a crital question; did we, inadvertently, start a gender war in our quest for gender equity?
It feels like the average young man today is walking around with a sense of injustice. He went through school listening to ‘Girl Child Empowerment’ rhetoric. He grew up to attend college with girls who had their grades ‘affirmed’. He watched as scholarship opportunities prioritised girls. He kept being left out of job opportunities because in almost all of them, ‘Women are especially encouraged to apply’. When he tried entrepreneurship, he realised most funds and grants are specifically tailored for women.
The girls, on the other hand, thrived. Empowered by the policies and cheered on by all, they took up every chance presented to shoot past the glass ceiling. While girls received targeted interventions to spur them to excellence, it seems like boys were left to navigate with little support.
The assumption has been that boys will find their way through the maze, but many did not. As a result, the school dropout rates among boys went up and rising unemployment thrust them into a world of frustration, despair, substance abuse and even crime. While girls continue to thrive, thanks to affirmative action, boys, watching from the sidelines, have grown increasingly resentful.
Should we then be surprised when men view GBV and femicide as exaggerated women issues and yet another platform to further advance the women empowerment agenda? Majority of men are approaching this issue with a ‘them versus us’ lens making it impossible to incorporate them in the war against the vice.
Most men, I presume, feel judged for simply being men and because of that, have retreated into defensiveness. Because of years of feeling unheard, ignored and ridiculed, with conversations around GBV unfairly portraying them as perpetrators, they have disengaged and made dialogue around the vice impossible.
I believe we dropped the ball with the implementation of affirmative action. While the Constitution mandates affirmative action to ensure no more than two-thirds of any public body is of one gender, we focused our policies on girls and women so much so that we missed it when the curve started going down for boys. For each policy geared towards empowering women, there should have been one to ensure that men adapt to the new landscape. Proper monitoring and evaluation would have ensured that impacts of affirmative action on both genders are noted and action taken to identify and address whatever gaps arose. This way, an enabling environment would have been created for both genders to thrive.
True gender equity means empowering both genders to actively participate in dismantling systemic and cultural barriers that have pitted them against each other. The goal was never to replace ‘male privilege with female privilege. We may have lost direction but there is room to redeem the noble cause that informed affirmative action. Right from a tender age, we need to integrate boys into gender discussions to dispel long held uninformed beliefs. We need to review some of the policies in existence and create others that reflect where we are, as a society, and offer solutions that are forward looking.
Maybe the boy child, girl era is actually over and done with. Maybe this is the call we needed to embrace holistic gender equity that embraces merit and offers equal opportunities for both men and women. At no point should either gender feel left behind. Only then will we claim to have achieved gender equity.
Ms Wekesa is development communication consultant. fnwekesa@gmail.com
