Women have been urged to boldly come out and join politics to articulate women issues and address the challenges faced by a Girl child and women in the society.
According to Maureen Katila a nominated MCA in Bungoma County Assembly, gone are days when women were looked down upon and its their time to shine and beat the odds in the society in general.
Katila says women in politics have a soft heart for a girl child and women at large because they understand the problems they face and can quickly solve them at the right time.
Maureen Katila who is an alumnus of Chwele Girls and proceeded to the Kenya Polytechnic says as a woman it wasn’t easy for her to rise because of the challenges about a girl child’s education and therefore had to undergo fees challenges plus lack of essential needs to make it, but this did not stop her from pursuing her goals.
She says she had to indulge in various casual jobs and activities to make ends meet because as a woman she did not want to imagine the trauma of being mishandled by men who looked down upon women for lack of providence.
She asks women to rise up beyond expectations, hold each other’s hands and achieve what has been thought to be impossible for them.
As a nominated MCA and woman says she has started a Bungoma Mulembe Women association to help empower women achieve common goals and rise in society.
She urges women to fear not but courageously face the outside world.
Women have challenges to acquire empowerment and some of the greatest barriers she mentions are age, religion, lack of education plus even marital status and some cultural practices in some families.
She says some religions have been a hindrance in women empowerment because of offering teachings of not empowering a woman, some living in unfavorable environments that don’t enable them rise.
She says when a woman is courageous and fights like a warrior, there can be insults and allegations about their rising but this should not demoralize them as long as they know what to achieve in life.
She is also quick to mention that there are few men who still speak for the bush and feel women shouldn’t be empowered despite the hard economic times citing that such men should be given black outs by the women, though says there are also those supportive ones who have made sure their women shine.
The woman leader says women should go for all kinds of jobs, shouldn’t choose as long as they bring food on the table and also stop depending on their men for everything.
She says they should go for what is theirs, fight for their rights, and also take loans to boost their businesses as they partake in chamas, Saccos and even table banking.
She encourages women to open companies that will enable them secure tenders and also get money that will enable them to fend for themselves and raise a better generation.
She has also encouraged other women leaders to organize seminars that will include all kinds of women from the grassroots, empower them and also enable them to be self -reliant in taking part in farming activities by doing mixed farming, rear chicken, turkeys and keep both cows for milk and beef.
This will greatly improve their lifestyles.
