Wasoni Women Cooperative Center
Wasoni Women Cooperative Center is a Community Based Organization, started in 2008 with funding from Pangea Giving for Global Change. The organization was started with a mission to address the plight of the millions of women and girls across the county who experience economic and social deprivation after due to gender inequality and harmful traditional practices.
In our villages, thousands of widows and their children are known to needlessly suffer from disease, illiteracy and poverty. Many also suffer from violence and sexual abuse, and some cultures even consider widows accursed or accuse them of witchcraft. In addition, widows in many societies lack inheritance or property rights and become dependent on charity or even homeless once their husbands die.
Women and girls in Kenya are among the most vulnerable groups exposed to the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. First, women in Kenya are overrepresented at the front lines of the response to the pandemic—meaning women, as direct caregivers, are more directly exposed to the virus. Over 60 percent of Kenya’s health workforce and essential social service providers are female. Second, back at home, women shoulder far more care work than men—up to 11 times more in places like Kiminini, Sabot and Endebess Sub Counties of Trans-Nzoia County. Additional care needs from school closures as a result of the lockdowns and elderly relatives who need to be specially taken care of mean that women have to provide even more care services at home while still working, mainly because of entrenched traditional norms on gender roles in many African homes. The extra care work at home from the lockdowns is estimated at around 4 hours per day.
Compounding these difficulties, women are at a higher risk of job and income losses during the pandemic as it primarily affects the types of jobs often done by women in service sectors such as hotel industry, hair dressings, food and beverage, and retail services in general. Due, to our close to the Kenya-Uganda border, the impact of border closures and lockdowns on industries along the supply chain are further exposing women to income losses. Furthermore, women’s generally weaker positions in the labor market—for example, with lower earnings and less seniority than men as well as higher informality in their work (89 percent of women in our locality are employed informally) with no employment security and benefits—leaves them more vulnerable and easier to lay off by employers than men in the wake of COVID-19.
A further distressing challenge facing women during the pandemic is that the risk of intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, and abuse of women and girls is exacerbated under lockdowns. Lately, domestic violence indicates a spike in the number of women and girls searching for help dealing with domestic violence and sexual harassment since the start of COVID-19 Generally, calls for help against domestic violence have increased by 34 percent in the first three weeks of the 7 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew.
Wasoni Women Cooperative Center comprises of the following women groups:
1. Tears of Joy
2. Mbai Widows Group
3. Mbao Widows
4. Baraton Women Group
5. Anga Sisters
6. Daughters of Charity
7. Big Tree women
8. Mboji Women Group
9. Angaza Central
10. Tasamana Women Group
11. Koini Women Group
12. Sabata Widows
13. Matunda Widows
14. Ushindi Women Group
15. Wiyeta Women Group
16. Joyful Women
17. Muchangare Women Group
18. Mbolele Women
19. Masaba Widows
20. Pambazuka Youth Group
21. Kinasi People With Disability
22. Mama Mboga
23. Chanuka Women
24. Cereal Women Group
25. Mama Samaki Women
You can support this initiative by:
In our villages, thousands of widows and their children are known to needlessly suffer from disease, illiteracy and poverty. Many also suffer from violence and sexual abuse, and some cultures even consider widows accursed or accuse them of witchcraft. In addition, widows in many societies lack inheritance or property rights and become dependent on charity or even homeless once their husbands die.
Women and girls in Kenya are among the most vulnerable groups exposed to the negative impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. First, women in Kenya are overrepresented at the front lines of the response to the pandemic—meaning women, as direct caregivers, are more directly exposed to the virus. Over 60 percent of Kenya’s health workforce and essential social service providers are female. Second, back at home, women shoulder far more care work than men—up to 11 times more in places like Kiminini, Sabot and Endebess Sub Counties of Trans-Nzoia County. Additional care needs from school closures as a result of the lockdowns and elderly relatives who need to be specially taken care of mean that women have to provide even more care services at home while still working, mainly because of entrenched traditional norms on gender roles in many African homes. The extra care work at home from the lockdowns is estimated at around 4 hours per day.
Compounding these difficulties, women are at a higher risk of job and income losses during the pandemic as it primarily affects the types of jobs often done by women in service sectors such as hotel industry, hair dressings, food and beverage, and retail services in general. Due, to our close to the Kenya-Uganda border, the impact of border closures and lockdowns on industries along the supply chain are further exposing women to income losses. Furthermore, women’s generally weaker positions in the labor market—for example, with lower earnings and less seniority than men as well as higher informality in their work (89 percent of women in our locality are employed informally) with no employment security and benefits—leaves them more vulnerable and easier to lay off by employers than men in the wake of COVID-19.
A further distressing challenge facing women during the pandemic is that the risk of intimate partner violence, sexual harassment, and abuse of women and girls is exacerbated under lockdowns. Lately, domestic violence indicates a spike in the number of women and girls searching for help dealing with domestic violence and sexual harassment since the start of COVID-19 Generally, calls for help against domestic violence have increased by 34 percent in the first three weeks of the 7 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew.
Wasoni Women Cooperative Center comprises of the following women groups:
1. Tears of Joy
2. Mbai Widows Group
3. Mbao Widows
4. Baraton Women Group
5. Anga Sisters
6. Daughters of Charity
7. Big Tree women
8. Mboji Women Group
9. Angaza Central
10. Tasamana Women Group
11. Koini Women Group
12. Sabata Widows
13. Matunda Widows
14. Ushindi Women Group
15. Wiyeta Women Group
16. Joyful Women
17. Muchangare Women Group
18. Mbolele Women
19. Masaba Widows
20. Pambazuka Youth Group
21. Kinasi People With Disability
22. Mama Mboga
23. Chanuka Women
24. Cereal Women Group
25. Mama Samaki Women
You can support this initiative by:
- Fight FGM with a donation of Kshs. 25 to traditional attendants
- Support with legal fees
- Mentorship and training