ENA International Women’s Day Celebration

This years theme is “Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress”, an urgent call to action that time is running out i.e., we aren’t making significant progress towards the sustainable realization of gender equality goals as set out in Agenda 2030. For the past three years, our partnership with ENA has been centered on unearthing, motivating and empowering women leaders across Kenya from ten key sectors. This work has been captured in publications titled “Women Changing the Way the World Works” Vol. I, II, & III, which can be found in ENA’s offices/ website. The primary goal of these publications was to give undeniable evidence that women leaders existed and were doing commendable work across all sectors in existence within Kenya’s economy; and has become an essential part of ENA & HSF’s way of celebrating and commemorating International Women’s Day & Month.
This year’s publication, Vol. III, primarily captures the story of “ordinary” (outliers) women leaders. The women tell their own stories firsthand, to ensure that their triumphs, weaknesses and sometimes the injustices they faced would not be mis-told or misinterpreted.
Why is this important? First off, stories of women are significantly missing from our literature- they are simply not being actively recorded or preserved. As a result, we are missing out on many valuable and important messages, stories, and lessons that could have assisted women and gender equality allies to significantly “move the needle” in as far as gender equality gains are concerned. Secondly, understanding why they made the choices they made, their perceptions, motivations, and hopes, peeling back the curtain, provides invaluable insight for the women of today, yesterday and tomorrow.
This year’s celebration of International Women’s Day & Month, and the launch of this publication is a testament that Kenyan women hold a shared dream to be “free”. Freedom to be, to thrive and to exist to the best of their ability with nothing holding them back just because they are a woman. It is our hope that this publication and the stories told will invoke a rapid desire for change and activism for women’s rights as we continue to gain valuable insight on women’s journey, their experience and value as we work towards a better, equal and more inclusive world. These stories will last forever and will be read for many generations to come, and our hope is that they will raise the collective power of women to challenge the status quo and ultimately embrace the power to be “free”.
Happy International Women’s Day & Month!