Cultural Norms

You are the change

As a girl growing up in Kenya, a patriarchal society with a strong cultural heritage, I knew from the onset that achieving my goals was not going to be a walk in the park. Most of the time...

The Limitless Power of Girls

I first uncovered the inequalities and challenges that girls face at a very young age. When I was a girl, I loved basketball. It made me feel free, fast, strong, and in control of my own...

The Voice of a Survivor

During the three decades I have lived as a woman, I have experienced, felt, and witnessed many discriminatory practices, especially harmful traditional practices such as female genital...

Every Woman is Powerful

I believe that every woman is powerful, and just needs to explore her inner strengths. This is a story of an ordinary woman who opened her eyes in the very normal middle class family, where...

A Few Little Words

It was a Saturday morning. I was 16 and had just finished my morning chores and was in my room, getting dressed to meet up with a girlfriend and walk together to the Woolworth’s...

father-daughter

A Breakthrough Moment, Thanks to Dad

One moment does stand out for me. When I was a teenager, my father told me I couldn’t do something because I was a girl. I can’t even remember what it was but still remember standing at...

There but for the grace of God go I

Everyone has heard that expression at one time or another. By no means am I a religious person, but one day, when on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to India with my dad, its meaning became...