• Policies made not to bring the boy child down but to give everyone an equal chance.
The debate about gender equality has seen a portion of the boy child go up against heightened girl child empowerment initiatives. There is demand for equal access to resources and opportunities, economic participation, decision-making, aspiration and needs, with many of the male gender feeling insecure.
For example, despite the failure of the two-thirds gender bill to pass in Parliament, some men feel insecure about the courts allowing married women to inherit their fathers' lands . The men feel that women are ignoring their patriarchal boundaries.
What the boy child has to understand is that when the term gender is brought to light it involves both genders. The male gender has also been discriminated against on economic and social lines. It’s not just the females who have been discriminated against socially and based on physiology. Men are discriminated against emotionally. They are, for instance, not allowed to express their feelings just because stereotypes don’t favour men showing emotions openly.
When we talk about gender equality it’s trying to give equal chances to both the male and the female. The Kenyan government is one of the countries in the United Nations Act that does not allow any form of discrimination against women according to Sustainable Development Goal Five.
Kenya has tried to fill the gaps by formulating policies not to bring the boy child down as some perceive, but to try and give everyone an equal chance. Boys are favoured by culture from birth. The celebration of the birth of a male child is different from that of a female child. So right from home the African culture gives a male child the upper hand in the community.
Creation of policies helps girls by giving them power, until such a time that society's mindset changes. Women are fighting for the two-thirds gender Bill to go through to allow for more space in Parliament. The men should not feel insecure but identify the purpose of these policies and support them for equality.