LETTER FROM NAIROBI: Mothers mobilise for women’s rights using social media

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LETTER FROM NAIROBI: Mothers mobilise for women’s rights using social media
by Muthoni Maingi
18 November 2014

KENYA is no stranger to the mobilisation of people through social media for protest and opposition over various social justice matters.

This Monday was no different, with hundreds of Kenyans taking to the streets to protest the brutal beating and stripping of a woman at a busy bus station. This inhumane act happened in broad daylight on November 7 and the protest under the hashtag #mydressmychoice was sparked when a video of the violent act made its way onto social media.

Kenya’s women’s movement is historically relevant and continues to be. The movement has and continues to fight for rights that expansively span a social, legal and economic spectrum.

What is unique and interesting about this particular case was the genesis of the online and offline protest. The protest was planned by a Facebook group of mothers in Nairobi called Kilimani Mums. While I am not a member of the group (as I am not a mother) I am privy to some of the conversations held there through friends. The group is a social forum that allows women to share a common space to engage with other mothers on a wide range of topics, including marriage, health, baby tips and salacious gossip here and there....

MORE at http://www.bdlive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2014/11/18/letter-from-nairobi-mothers-mobilise-for-womens-rights-using-social-media