The persistence of female genital mutilation and its impacts on women access to education and empowerment : A study of Narok West Sub-County , Narok County

Abstract

The overall policy goal of education for the Kenyan Government is the provision of education and training to all Kenyans as it is fundamental to the Government’s overall development strategy. This emphasis means that every Kenyan has the right to education and training no matter his/her socio-economic status. The Government has therefore allocated substantial resources and there has been notable achievements attained, but the sector still faces major challenges related to access, equity, and quality amongst others (Session paper no. 1 (2005). One of these major challenges to access the existence and persistence of retrogressive traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM). The first concern of this study is that despite the immense awareness of the dangers on the victims in many aspects in life, and efforts to stamp it out, FGM still persists and thrives in many parts of the country to date. Secondly, there is an ever growing gender disparity in Narok Weet Sub-county, whereby women professionals are hard to come by. Even in the teaching profession which is associated with females in Kenya, there are a negligible number of Nar female teachers. There is therefore need to liberate these girls from the persistent “senseless genital mutilation” by proper and relevant socialization and empowerment against cultural practices. The Cultural Lag theory of sociologist William F. Ogburn (1964) will be the underlying theoretical perspective of this study to explain the phenomenon, focusing explicitly on the 12 fact that all parts of culture do not change at the same pace. When change occurs in the material culture of society, nonmaterial culture must adapt to that change. However, the premise of this thesis is that the rate of change in elements of non-material culture is frequently uneven, resulting in maladjustment of these elements to societal development. In this study such a non-material cultural relationship refers to FGM practices and education of the Narok girl child. One part of the non-material culture (attitudes to FGM) lags behind education (another part of non- material culture). The researcher will employ qualitative research methodology, based on the theoretical foundation of the study to gather and analyze data in order to answer the research questions and to make final conclusions, policy implications and recommendations for further research.