Women athletes emerging from the shadow of men ...

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Women athletes emerging from the shadow of men in Kenya: evidence from the Commonwealth, Olympic and World Athletics Championships W. W. S. Njororai To cite this article: W. W. S. Njororai (2015): Women athletes emerging from the shadow of men in Kenya: evidence from the Commonwealth, Olympic and World Athletics Championships, Sport in Society, DOI: 10.1080/17430437.2015.1096254 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2015.1096254

Published online: 19 Oct 2015.

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Date: 29 October 2015, At: 03:36

Sport in Society, 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2015.1096254

Women athletes emerging from the shadow of men in Kenya: evidence from the Commonwealth, Olympic and World Athletics Championships

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W. W. S. Njororai Department of Health and Kinesiology, University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, TX, USA

ABSTRACT

The academic interest in women’s roles in sports in Kenya reflects the concern to level the playing field in a major social cultural phenomenon such as sport and its overall significance to social development. It is therefore not surprising that, in Kenya, women were late in establishing themselves in the sporting world. Underrepresentation of females in sport within the African set-up, Kenya included, is attributed to the inappropriate western-oriented games, the conflicting values of sexual beauty and sporting competence, and the divorce between women and the warrior tradition of indigenous Africa. However, as data on Kenya’s athletes to various international events demonstrate, women have slowly but steadily emerged out of the shadows of men. In some editions of the games, women have not only been the majority, but also have won more medals than men.

Introduction Sport plays a key role in shaping collective identities in the modern era. Indeed sociologists have invested efforts in understanding the sport’s functionality in maintaining stability in society since the 1950s and 1960s. From this perspective, modern sport is a mechanism for the integration of social categories within one national entity. This meritocratic integration has been criticized for its indifference to gender, class and ethnic characteristics, among others, and for relying solely on athletes’ achievements on the playing field (Perets, Levy, and Galily 2011). According to these authors, this view was phased out, and during the 1970s and 1980s, it was replaced by more critical theories that focused mainly on national and economic aspects of modern sports. These theories stimulated extensive discussion on sport as a cultural field, subject to control and power relations. The past 25 years have witnessed the consolidation of feminist theories in sport, thereby creating an awareness that sport is a central cultural institution, directly related to gender identity and male hegemony (Burke 2010; Coakley 2009; Cooky, Dycus, and Dworkin 2013; Knijnik 2013; Perets, Levy, and Galily 2011; Wadesango et al. 2010).

CONTACT W. W. S. Njororai © 2015 Taylor & Francis

[email protected]


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The feminist theories argue that sport creates and recreates ideological support of the superiority of men over women, and glorifies women in fields perceived as contrary to their biological ‘nature’ (Burke 2010; Mean 2001). This ideology, which is deeply associated with the evolution of sport, draws its justifications from assumptions that attribute fragility and physical and mental weakness to women, thereby assuming that the female body is unable to attain physical feats in athletics compared to men (Burke 2010; Sabo 1993). This assumption, which is very prevalent in the patriarchal societies, including Kenya, therefore underpinned the policies that often left women on the margins of sport engagement and development (Achola and Njororai 1999; Burke 2010; Coakley 2009; Nanayakkara 2012; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003). This marginalization goes back to the early times of the revived modern Olympic Games as the founder, Pierre De Coubertin stated, as cited by Chatziefstathiou (2008) that the Olympic Games must be reserved for men. Chatziefstathiou (2008) further asserts that women were never originally seen as equal partners, nor indeed as any kind of partners, in Coubertin’s view of modern sport, and consequently in his project to revive the Olympic Games. Indeed it was against Coubertin’s will that 22 women out of a total of 997 athletes competed in five sports (tennis, sailing, croquet, equestrian and golf) in the 1900 Olympiad (IOC 2014). It should be observed that the link between sport and gender extends the discussion to a national dimension that the state apparatus and dominant organizations in the state have the power in their hands to shape and establish different social assumptions and perceptions, including gender perceptions (Burke 2010; Perets, Levy, and Galily 2011). This is because the mechanisms employed by the state and the various dominant sporting agencies serve as social agents shaping national identity. Indeed they are perceived as central agents in the production and reproduction of gender relations (Burke 2010; Hobsbawm 1990). In the modern era, sports organizations and institutions, which are more often than not sponsored by the state, serve as agents that function as tools for the distribution of the ideology that women are inferior, and as a means for reproducing women’s marginality in sport in general and in fields considered male (Burke 2010; Perets, Levy, and Galily 2011). However, the realization that women in most countries constitute more than half the population and that they play a significant role in the transformation of societies and nations, has forcefully challenged this hitherto patriarchal view of women (IEA 2008; Knijnik 2013; Nanayakkara 2012; Satterfield 2013). According to IEA (2008), ‘empowering women and enabling them to actively participate and contribute to social, economic, and political activities is important for sustainable development’ (1). One medium that has witnessed a rapid change in accessibility, participation and empowerment for women is sport, especially track and field. Sport is one of the most universal representations of a modern global popular culture and it provides opportunities for women to challenge the masculine world (Nanayakkara 2012). Mega sports organizations such as the IOC are now committed to gender equality (IOC 2014) because of the realization that the gender order of society and gender equality balance are closely intertwined with the structure of sport and the conditions of participation around the world. It is now an accepted observation that ‘when women and girls are able to fully participate in and contribute to society, whether in sports, school or the workplace, it creates stronger economies and more stable communities’ (Satterfield 2013). This article, therefore, aims at using the ideological framework of patriarchy and Mazrui’s conception of the demilitarization of African women, to contextualize the gradual emergence into the international sporting limelight, status and accomplishment of women in

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Kenya’s sporting history. The article relies on data pertaining to Kenya’s participation and performance in the Commonwealth Games, Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships.


Theoretical framework: patriarchal ideology and women in African sport The underlying causes for the low visibility of women in active sports can better be understood from the ideological framework of patriarchy. The ideology of patriarchy refers to a constellation of concepts, norms, values and institutional and behavioural patterns that uphold male superiority in society. Patriarchy is therefore at core an ideology that promotes a male-hegemonic world view (Bryson 1993; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003; Theberge and Birrell 1994). The theoretical thrust of patriarchy draws attention to the intimate connection between women’s lives in other social spheres and their status in sports. The latter is no less valued an activity as is politics, dance, and even the production of food and other economic goods and services. In a male-dominant world view, such valuable social activities are gender contested. Since sport is, for a variety of reasons, a valued social activity, the ideological perspective of patriarchy views the activity as a cultural domain in which values, meaning and norms are contested along gender lines (Achola and Njororai 1999; Gill 1992; Ikulayo 2003; McPherson, Curtis, and Loy 1989; Njororai 1996; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003; Theberge and Birrell 1994). According to Theberge and Birrell (1994), the ideology of patriarchy recasts the whole arena of sports as being a male-dominated institution; dominated by sexist ideology; there is a bias in the study of women in sport; sport sociology is dominated by sexist research paradigm; and women are ineluctably and irreversibly different from men and are inferior. These characteristics of patriarchal practices in sports are alluded to by various investigations in the African sporting context including Burnett (2014), Burnett and Mkonto (2003), Mazrui (1986), Mwisukha and Rintaugu (2013), Shehu (2010), and Shehu, Kasale, and Moreri (2012). For example, Shehu, Kasale, and Moreri (2012) attribute the under-representation of females in Botswana sport to the ‘patriarchal ordering of social space, gender relations and cultural formations’ (183). It is apparent that the structural positions and traditional sex roles define and shape access to sport opportunities, privileges and resources. Thus in the African context, Kenya included, women were overwhelmingly excluded from active sport not only on the basis of patriarchal ideology but also from a number of structural constraints (Njororai 1996; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003). This condition of the African woman is traced to both pre-colonial and post-colonial periods where they had fewer opportunities to participate in sports. Shehu (2010) highlights the various ways in which sport norms, policies, practices and representations pervasively interface with gender and other socially constructed categories of difference in African countries. The different authors in Shehu (2010) edited text argue that sport is not only a site of competition and physical recreation, but also a crossroad where features of modern society such as hegemony, identities, democracy, technology, development and master statuses intertwine and bifurcate. They further point out that, in many ways, sport production, reproduction, distribution and consumption are relational, spatial and contextual and, therefore, do not pay off for men, women and other social groups equally. This is an appropriate description of the sporting landscape on the African continent where women are under-represented in sporting as well as other economic and political sectors. This inequality in accessing sport,


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although sustained in both the colonial and post-colonial societies, has deeper roots within the African cultural practices. According to Mazrui (1986), the warrior culture of pre-colonial society linked sports to physical combat. Since the warrior culture was male hegemonic, sports were in turn male specific. This militarization of sports in the face of demilitarization of women effectively shut out the women and therefore limited their sporting engagement. Additionally, the kind of sports introduced to African indigenous people namely soccer, athletics, rugby, boxing, basketball, field hockey and golf were male-specific even if race-centred. During the immediate post-independence period, Mazrui (1986) argues that some efforts were made to correct the bias in sports that were introduced by the colonialists. However, gender role socialization and practice continued to exclude many women from meaningful involvement in sports and especially those that accrued monetary and related material rewards (Nauright 2014; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003). The women under-representation in sport is therefore a social problem that has not been completely resolved over time. According to Theberge (1994), sport as a gender cultural form bears significant relation to gender segregation and inequality in other realms of social life. Sport has therefore been taken as a male preserve for a long time. Male dominance in sport is evidenced by the lower rates of sports participation by women in different countries, fewer events available for them in international competitions such as the Olympic Games, and fewer opportunities for women in professional sports (Capranica et al. 2013; Nanayakkara 2012; Theberge 1994). Additionally, the administration and organization of sport is dominated by men at both institutional, national and international levels (Achola and Njororai 1999; Coakley 2009; IOC 2014; Nauright 2014; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003). The low levels of involvement of women both as participants and more significantly as leaders demonstrate their relative exclusion from an activity that is culturally valued and to a considerable degree publicly supported (Achola and Njororai 1999; Anders 1986; Bennet, Howell, and Simri 1983; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003; Theberge 1994). According to Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha (2003), the under-representation of women in a socially valued phenomenon like sport demonstrates their unequal access to the valued goods and resources of society. This unequal allocation and access to national resources is best captured by Roberts (2010) regarding the 2010 World Cup in South Africa: Amidst the euphoria, nationalism and strong positive feelings for South Africa’s beautiful new stadiums and our hosting of Africa’s first football World Cup are the hopes, dreams, ambitions of thousands of girls and women in sport, at most times, left shattered, broken and in pieces. And there’s no way I am being dramatic about this state of affairs, I am just being real, honest and feeling hard done by a system of power which controls financial allocation and hence the progress and development of women in sport. These are no ordinary dreams like when we sleep: these are real, human dreams from the hearts of girls, of all colours and all communities, who want to have that one chance just to participate in sport, of talented teenage girls who expectantly believe in a larger presence on the sports stage and our elite sportswomen who struggle to participate in the sports pyramid.

Roberts (2010) raises legitimate concerns which pertain to African countries lacking sustainable programmes tailored to the improvement of women in sport. But in a situation where men dominate the decision-making organs of the state, resource allocation is bound to be driven by the masculine bias. Feminist scholars argue that sport and masculinity are social realities that support, inform and reinforce each other and together contribute to


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the traditional polarization of sex roles. Scholars of this persuasion argue that resistance by men to have women take part in sport on an equal basis is rooted in: (1) A desire for men to maintain sport as a socialization agency that prepares them for adult roles in the public sector, particularly the work place and political life; (2) Maintain the hierarchical ranking of sex roles, specifically in the valuation of masculine over feminine roles, and (3) Preserving an exclusively, male realm that allows for expressiveness and intimacy qualities that are generally absent from appropriate behaviour of men (Theberge 1994). Despite the persistent male dominance, women have slowly but steadily continued to make an impact in sport. The sports competition that mirrors the marginalization as well the gradual acceptance of women in sport is the Summer Olympic Games. Whereas no woman participated in the inaugural modern Olympic Games in 1896, a total of 1247 did take part in the 1980 edition which accounted for 21.2%, and rose to 42.4% in 2008 and 44% in 2012 of all participants (Bennet, Howell, and Simri 1983; Capranica et al. 2013; Coakley 2009; IOC 2014). Apart from the increase in the female participants, there are additional events in which women now take part. Examples include the triple jump, pole-vault, steeple chase, 5000, 10,000 m, marathon in athletics, and popular historically male-oriented sports like soccer and cricket (IOC 2014; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003). Thus, there is need for consistent opening up of sporting spaces for women to participate in sports at national as well as international levels as girls and women can be important agents of development. This viewpoint was best articulated by US Secretary of State, Clinton (2010), who argued that the lack of opportunities is a main barrier facing women both within and out of sport. According to Secretary Clinton: There are girls and women around the world who have a burning desire to participate in sports. They have the talent, the drive, the sheer love of the game. What they don’t have is the chance to play, the chance to compete, the chance to prove themselves. So we want to support opening up more doors for girls and women in sports. So we want to find ways to get more women and girls on the field, the court, the track, in the pool, the mat, wherever their interests and talents take them, so that they can discover their strengths, develop their skills, experience that special satisfaction that sports can bring, win or lose. And we believe in the positive effects that can flow out of that experience for girls and women across their lifetimes and, by extension, for their families and communities. (Clinton 2010)

Indeed the lack of opportunities for women to participate in sports both locally and internationally characterizes the gradual emergence of Kenyan women in various sports, including distance running where they have become internationally visible.

Women sport in Kenya Kenya’s athletes, especially in middle and distance running, are a dominant force internationally. Although this dominance started in the mid and late 60s, the athletes responsible for the success were all males. Women, on the other hand, started winning at the global level in mid and late 90s. This slow emergence of Kenyan women athletes at the national and global level and their constraints has been highlighted in various studies (Achola and Njororai 1999; Mbaabu 1997; Munayi 2003; Munayi and Njororai 2000; Mwisukha and Rintaugu 2013; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003). The academic interest in women’s


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roles in sports in Kenya reflects the desire to provide and promote their participation in a major social cultural phenomenon which is also significant to social development. It is also apparent that girls and females participating in sport in Kenya have to resist and negotiate gender stereotypes in a society where patriarchal ideology is dominant (Burnett 2014). It is therefore not surprising that in Kenya, women were late in establishing themselves in the sporting world. Under-representation of females in sport within the African set-up is attributed by Mazrui (1986) to the inappropriate western-oriented games, the conflicting values of sexual beauty and sporting competence, and the divorce between women and the warrior tradition of indigenous Africa. Thus, the absence of women on the battlefield meant that even in the sporting sphere, they too were excluded (Mazrui 1986). Similarly, Ring (2013) advances this warrior and war tradition as the cause for the marginalization of women in the American past time of baseball. This military role was also at the core of Coubertin’s resistance to women’s admission into the Olympic Games. To Coubertin, according to Chatziefstathiou (2008), physical exercise, in the form of the Anglo-Saxon model of modern sport, would produce a stronger generation of men, and thus a French army. But despite the contradictions that sports women face in the world, it should be appreciated that they have started asserting themselves in the various sporting spheres. Indeed, they are strongly but steadily emerging from the hitherto shadow of men. In Kenya, for example, women were only incorporated in the national teams for international competitions in 1956. Since then, women have consistently represented Kenya in Athletics at all Olympic Games that Kenya has taken part in since 1968; in All Africa Games in 1965, 1973, 1978, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011 and the Commonwealth Games since 1966 (Bhusian 1988; Mbaabu 1997; Njororai 2013; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003). According to Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha (2003), it is worth noting that Kenya had more women participants at the 2003 All Africa Games than men. Women teams have also been champions of Africa in volleyball, both at national team and club levels; the ladies hockey and basketball teams have also featured well in continental competitions (Njororai 2013). Women who participate and excel in sports in Kenya have to overcome many cultural and structural constraints. However, some women, like men, do not live up to their full potential as members of their societies, while others do for a variety of reasons (Musandu 2012). Indeed, the women that have achieved success in Kenyan sport are just like others in the wider society, who are ‘symbolic of women who have the ability to actualize themselves within their societies’ (Musandu 2012). The period that Kenyan women broke through to gain worldwide attention was in the mid and late 90s. Two of the athletes that best illustrate the arrival of Kenyan female athletes on the international stage include Tegla Loroupe and Catherine Ndereba (Switzer 2013). The story of Tegla Loroupe is particularly fascinating as she hails from an ethnic grouping that emphasizes the warrior tradition. According to Switzer (2013), when ‘she was born, Tegla Loroupe was so tiny that her father called her useless’ (63) yet she went on to open Africa to the world of women’s running when she won the New York Marathon in 1994 and 1995. She was the first African woman to win a major marathon. However, this accomplishment in 1994 was not celebrated in her Pokot ethnic group. But when she repeated the feat in 1995, the ultra-conservative community honoured her by making her a warrior – something that was unheard of for a woman. Switzer (2013), who singled out Tegla as one of the top 10 marathon women runners of all time further states that:

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Loroupe had to fight ancient traditions, cultural restrictions, and athletic bureaucracies just to run, but inspired by her heroine, Mother Teresa, Loroupe endured and prevailed, thus opening doors for the flood of Kenyan women to follow. She broke Ingrid Kristiansen’s 13-year-old world record twice and won London, Berlin, and Rotterdam, always pushing to break the 2:20 barrier. She came close, with a PR of 2:20:43. Loroupe is now organizing races to promote peace. The tiny body has a mighty voice that has been heard even at the UN General Assembly. In time, Loroupe’s legacy of peace may well outshine her athletic accomplishments.

Tegla epitomizes a spirit of resilience and drive for success despite cultural and structural challenges. These attributes resonate with the observation by Mazrui (1986) that Black African women ‘often do more physical work than their men … women often walk longer distances, carry heavier loads and have to learn a greater variety of balancing skills than their men’ (125). Given the physical exertions in their childhood years, the girl child learns to exert and strive, attributes that are much needed in sport. This contradiction where African women physically exert themselves on the domestic front, yet are not successful in sport elicited a question and commentary from Mazrui (1986) thus: If the culture of work does indeed help to condition the culture of sports, if African women can be so ‘physical’ in their economic activities on the land, why have they been so slow in excelling in the physical world of sports? One reason may be that decision-makers in Africa have been encouraging the wrong kind of sports. Perhaps more attention should be paid to the possibility of promoting marathon walks as a major sporting activity in Africa. Children begin to walk long distances to school quite early. Women have been walking longer and longer distances to diminishing supplies of firewood and water. The tradition of long-distance walking could be used to detect talent and structure new patterns of competitive sports. The very chores of collecting firewood could be given a new enthusiasm and liveliness as they are purposefully linked to training young girls for competitive walking. (120)

Thus, distance and especially marathon running became the launch pad for international success for both Tegla Loroupe and Catherine Ndereba, who are a symbolic representation of Kenyan women that overcome challenges and that balance many social roles even as they strive to excel in distance running.

Evidence of increasing participation and performance of Kenyan women athletes The following examples from Kenya’s participation in the Commonwealth, Olympic and World Athletics Championships points to an increasing level of participation by women athletes (see Tables 1 and 2). Table 1 reveals clearly marked sex disparities among the participants at the Commonwealth Games. The table reveals that Women participant numbers fluctuated heavily but were also consistently below 30% of the contingents to the various editions until 2014 when women comprised 40% of the participants. Since Kenya’s first delegation that had women in 1966, to date there have been 760 men and 217 women. This constitutes only 22.21% excluding the delegations from 1954 to 1962 that were all men. This disparity is evidence of the resource allocation that directly impacted women’s growth in sporting engagement at international level. On a positive note, the 40.10% women in the athletes’ contingent reflects an increase in the number of women being given an opportunity to compete internationally. Coakley (2009) was therefore correct when he argued that there has been a phenomenal increase in females participating in sports in many developing nations. According to him, ‘despite

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Table 1. Percentage of Kenya’s women athletes in the Commonwealth Games 1966–2014. Year 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Total

Men 35 37 53 63 58 42 63 47 62 82 109 109 760

Women 6 0 5 12 16 3 13 7 16 20 46 73 217

Total 41 37 58 75 74 45 76 54 78 102 155 182 977

Women % 14.63 0 8.62 16 21.62 6.66 17.10 12.96 20.51 19.60 29.60 40.10 22.21

Table 2. Evidence from Olympic Games regarding participation trends for Kenyan women. Year 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 Total

Men 24 28 37 36 55 55 70 40 41 37 22 28 27 500

Women 1 0 0 3 2 5 5 9 10 25 24 18 20 122

Total 25 28 37 39 57 60 75 49 51 62 46 46 47 622

Female % 4 0 0 7.7 3.5 8.3 6.7 18.4 19.6 40.3 52.17 39.13 42.55 26.69

resistance against change, more girls and women now participate in sports than ever before’ (232). The increase in Kenya’s women participation in the Commonwealth Games since their first entry in the Games in 1966 is reflected in Figure 1. Figure 1 clearly shows the slow but upward trend that best captures the progress that women have made in representing Kenya at the Commonwealth Games. It is clear from this figure that the numbers for women dramatically picked up from only 7 in 1998 to 73 at the 2014 Games. This is a 942.9% increase in 16 years. Table 2 further illustrates the initial de-emphasis on women participation in international sports competitions. Table 2 shows the positive and accelerated increase in the number of women athletes representing Kenya at the Olympic Games. Indeed in 2004 edition of the Games, the women participants represented 52.17% of the delegation. For the first time therefore, the women surpassed the number of men in the contingent of athletes. The proportions of 39.13 in 2008 and 42.55 in 2012 in Beijing and London Olympics, respectively, reflect a consistent trend of emphasizing and encouraging female participation in elite sports in the Kenyan nation. Kenya’s women participants at the Olympic Games increased from only 3 participants in 1968 to 25 in 2000, which is an increase of 733%. This surpasses the global trends where women at the Olympics increased from 781 (14.2%) in 1968–4676 (44.2%) in 2008,

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200 182

180 160

155

140 120 102

100 80 60


40

41 35

58 53

0

1966

0 1970

5 1974

76 63

74 58

37

20 6

75 63

12

16

1978

1982 Men

45 42

3 1990 Women

13 1994

78 54 47

7 1998

109

82

109 73

62 46 16 2002

20 2006

2010

2014

Total

Figure 1. Trend of Kenya’s women participation in the Commonwealth Games 1966–2014.

which amounts to a 498.72% increase (IOC 2014). The 42.55% women participants at the 2012 Games in London for Kenya is very close to the 44.2% of all women participants. Comparatively, therefore Kenya as a nation has made tremendous strides in facilitating women participation in international sports. The Summer Olympics games are the pinnacle of all sports competitions and therefore having women participate in numbers that are very comparable to the men is a gratifying development. The progress of women’s participation in the Olympics worldwide, and Kenya in particular, reflects the Olympic charter’s ideal of encouraging and supporting the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures, with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women (IOC 2014). The progress in Kenya is in tandem with the Olympic Games participation. At the Olympic level, female participation has also increased steadily with women accounting for 44% of the participants at the 2012 Games in London, compared with 23 and about 13% at the Games in Los Angeles and Tokyo in 1984 and 1964 respectively (IOC 2014). Data regarding Kenyan women participants at the World Athletics Championships reflect the initial limited opportunities allocated to women participants and the current shift to have more women. In the inaugural event in 1983, there was only 1 (4.9%) woman athlete from Kenya, but increased to 7 (23.3%), 4 (13.3%), 3 (10%) and 5 (16.1%) in 1987, 1991, 1993 and 1995 championships respectively. This figures contrast with the participation trends from 2007 to 2013. In the recent past four editions in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013, Kenya’s women participants were 16 (43.23%), 19 (44.19%), 22 (46.8%) and 21 (42.9%), respectively. There was 2100% increase from one woman athlete in 1983 to 22 in 2011. Table 3 shows Kenya’s medals won at the Commonwealth Games since 1958 and the contribution of women athletes. Table 3 illustrates the fact that the more opportunities were given to the women to compete at international level, the more they were able to win medals. In fact, from 2006, the returns in medals were higher from women than male athletes. For example in 2006, 2010 and 2014, the percentages of women athletes were 19.6, 29.6 and 22.21 but the medal contributions in percentage form were 33.33, 39.39 and 48%, respectively. Table 4 clearly shows

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Table 3. Kenya’s Medals at the Commonwealth Games 1954–2014. 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Total

Gold 0 0 2 4 5 7 7 4 6 7 7 4 6 12 10 81

Silver 0 0 2 1 3 2 6 2 9 4 5 8 5 11 10 68

Bronze 0 2 1 3 6 9 5 4 3 8 4 4 7 10 5 71

Men 0 2 5 8 14 17 17 10 18 17 14 12 12 20 13 179

Female 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 4 6 13 12 41

Total 0 2 5 8 14 17 17 10 18 17 14 12 18 33 25 210

10 9 8 7 6 5 4

Men

3

Female

2 1 0 1968 1972 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 1964 Men

1

9

9

3

9

8

7

Female 0

0

0

0

0

0

1

6 1

5 2

9 5

7 4

Figure 2. Increasing role of women as medal winners at the Olympic Games.

a progressive increase in medals won by women compared to men in the recent editions of the games. Figure 2 similarly captures the vital contribution of women in winning medals at the Olympic Games even as men seem to have plateaued or in some cases declined. Figure 2 shows that the men have consistently won medals at the Olympic Games since 1964 and have gone on to win as many as 9 medals in 1968, 1972, 1988 and 2008. However, women did not win a medal until 1996 and increased to 5 and 4 in 2008 and 2012 respectively. Percentage-wise, women won 28.57, 35.71 and 36.36% of Kenya’s medals in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Athens, Beijing and London Games, respectively. It appears that whereas Kenya may have plateaued at winning more medals by men, there is more room for growth and increase from women participants. Table 4 and Figure 3 illustrate that when it comes to the Track and Field World Championships, the women athletes have surpassed the men in medals won. Both Table 4 and Figure 3 reveal that women athletes have in the past two editions of the Championships won more medals than the men including 10 in 2011 compared to 7 for the men and again 7 in 2013 compared to only 5 for the men. These accomplishments have made women, such as Susan Sirma, Cartherine Ndereba, Tegla Loroupe, Linet Masai, Sally Barsosio, Vivian Cheruiyot, Edna Kiplagat, Janeth Busienei, Milcah Cheywa and Pamela

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Table 4. Medals won by women at the Athletics World Championships 1987–2013. Years 1987 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Total

Gold 3 4 3 2 3 1 3 2 1 5 4 7 5 43

Silver 0 3 3 1 2 4 3 1 2 3 5 6 4 37

Bronze 0 1 4 3 2 1 2 1 4 5 2 4 3 32

Men 3 7 9 5 6 5 8 2 5 8 6 7 5 76

Women 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 2 2 5 5 10 7 36

Total 3 8 10 6 7 6 8 4 7 13 11 17 12 112

Source: Compiled by the author from Njororai (2013) and Rintaugu, Mwisukha and Munayi (2011) and other sources.

Kenya's medal winning trends at World Athletics Championships 18 17 16 14 13 12

12 11

10

10 9

8

10

8 7

8

6

6 5

4

7 6

8 7

6 5

5

7 5

6 5

7 5

4 3

2

2 1

0

1

1

1

2

1

0 0 1987 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 Men

Women

Total

Figure 3. Medals won by men and women at the Athletics World Championships 1987–2013.

Jelimo among others, national and international figures. These accomplishments and international recognition are counter to the assertion by Nauright (2014) who lamented that while male athletes have succeeded in becoming household names, those of African women athletes are much less known. Both Tegla Loroupe and Catherine Ndereba were listed by Switzer (2013) among the 10 most important female marathoners in history. According to Switzer (2013), Catherine Ndereba was arguably the greatest of all female distance runners, and could be the greatest female or male Kenyan runner of all time. Alongside, Tegla, they changed the landscape on high-performance longevity. Catherine performed at the highest level from 1995 to 2011 (with a break in 1997 to give birth), thereby win her two Olympic silver medals (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008), two golds and two silvers in four World


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Championships, and setting a world marathon record (2:18:47, 2001) in the same stride as winning the Utica Boilermaker. This success and longevity by Catherine is attributed by Switzer to training focus, faith, determination, and a consequence of ‘isolating herself for months at a time from home and family to train alone near Philadelphia and to live a plain life devoid of e-mail and entertainment’. (65). Catherine Ndereba, at her peak, ran 21 sub-2:30 marathons and won the Boston Marathon four times, Chicago three times and hundreds of shorter road races. In addition to running, she also hosted a huge extended family while serving as a responsible, elegant, lively and devoted wife and mother (Switzer 2013). Thus, the emergence of sporting women celebrities in the early twenty-first century emphasizes the tremendous sacrifices that they have made at individual levels as well as the potential that women have when they are given an opportunity and resources to compete at the elite level.

Dynamics behind the change Thus the structural imbalance in sports participation between men and women in Kenya that was prevalent in twentieth century (Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003), seems to have changed for the better in the early part of the twenty-first century with beneficial outcomes as evidenced by increased medals won in the Commonwealth, Olympic Games and World Athletics Championships. However, these increases in participation by women at international level have not come easily. One can therefore state that progress has been remarkable, but gender equity is far from being achieved in Kenyan sports, just as it has not been attained in places like the USA and worldwide (Capranica et al. 2013; Coakley 2009; Mirsafian, Dóczi and Mohamadinejad 2014; Nanayakkara 2012). Change of this nature is a challenge because it takes place at the expense of men who control power in sports organizations and other government agencies. Such men believe that girls and women getting more opportunities would threaten their positions of privilege and challenge their cultural belief system (Achola and Njororai 1999; Coakley 2009; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003; Perets, Levy, and Galily 2011). In the aftermath of Kenya’s poor showing in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, a conference was hosted at Kenyatta University where Athletics Kenya and the National Olympic Committee of Kenya were called upon to allocate more slots to Kenya’s women (Njororai, Asembo and Kubai 1996). In a subsequent study, Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha (2003) wrote: In the field of athletics at least, one would expect strong female presence in the Kenyan contingent. The country has become a household name in the area of athletic competitions and, in any case, sends a large team of competitors to international athletics tournaments. Unfortunately, even in athletics, female representation among Kenyan competitors, to say nothing of officials, is far from satisfactory.

The ideology of patriarchy presented earlier in this paper drew attention to the fact that valued social activities such as sports are gender contested with a male-hegemonic framework (Achola and Njororai 1999; Coakley 2009; Gill 1992; Nanayakkara 2012; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003; Perets, Levy, and Galily 2011; Theberge and Birrell 1994). From this view point therefore, one can notice that Kenya’s contingents to international competitions were steeped deeply in that framework where women were nominally represented. However, leading up to and in the early years of the twenty-first century, there were changes in various


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aspects of Kenyan life including politics where a one party rule was replaced with multiparty politics with women playing a significant role. From a social cultural and feminine empowerment viewpoint, Kenya hosted the 3rd International Women’s Conference in 1985 Nairobi and followed up with an active role in the 1995 Beijing Platform Conference. At the Beijing Women’s Conference, Sports and Physical Education participation for women was incorporated in the final resolutions. Indeed there was a specific call for new efforts to provide sport and physical education opportunities to promote the education, health and human rights of girls and women in countries around the world and the Kenyan nation became more proactive in promoting gender equality in various spheres of life including sport. The same time witnessed not only increased female participation in international sports, but also quality performances and medals. As a nation, athletic success has always been a rallying point for national unity and identity. Thus, women winning medals in international contests elevated them into national heroines and role models for young girls and other women. Coakley (2009) quotes Serena Williams, who stated that ‘It’s important to hear from women who overcame stereotypes, ignorance and inequality … to be an athlete, (to be) strong’ (231). Thus witnessing and celebrating women athletes in international competitions serves to challenge and inspire young girls to follow their example. And creating this awareness is not just for the women athletes themselves. For women athletes to have the platform to express their athletic talent, it also took the efforts of women activists who came together to form the Global Women’s Rights Movement. This movement played a pivotal role in the changes in the occupational and family roles for women. Some of the changes enabled women to acquire the time and resources they need to play sports. This changes have also involved the weakening of men’s control over women’s affairs and more access to sports participation opportunities. Some of the global declarations that emphasized the rights of women include the 1994 Brighton Declaration in England which discussed ‘women, sport, and the challenge of change’. This was followed up and reaffirmed at the World conference on women in sport in Windhoek, Namibia in 1998; Montreal, Canada in 2002; and Kumamoto, Japan in 2006. All these declarations are used to pressure governments and sport organizations to create new opportunities for women in sports (Coakley 2009). The IOC also has taken steps to host a world conference every four years focusing on women and sport. The primary objective of the conference is ‘to analyze the progress made in this field within the Olympic movement and to define a prioritized plan of action to improve and increase the participation of women in sport’ (IOC 2014). Indeed at their 2012 conference in Los Angeles over 700 delegates from 121 countries recommended using sport as a tool to improve the lives of women around the world. They also emphasized pushing to have more women in sports leadership positions as well as increasing partnerships to enhance and promote gender equality. Therefore, the upward trend of women’s participation in international sport, and especially for Kenya, cannot be divorced from the worldwide push for change by women rights activists and movements. Thus, the Global Women’s Initiative has been vital in promoting and guaranteeing sport participation opportunities for girls and women (Coakley 2009). For women athletes in Kenya, other dynamics also played out in their favour. One aspect that changed the role of women was the mass exodus of Kenyan male athletes to compete for other countries such as Qatar, Bahrain and USA, thereby narrowing the chances of Kenya winning medals in middle and distance races at international level


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(Njororai 2010, 2012). Thus diversification of Kenya’s teams including having more women and other sports disciplines became a huge priority. Thus, women were able to represent Kenya in events such as volleyball and boxing in addition to track events. This reflects the prioritization of women to encourage their participation by the IOC, who decreed, in 1991 that all new sports wishing to be on the Olympic programme must feature women’s events (IOC 2014). This broadening of the Olympic programme thus also accounts for an increasing percentage of women athletes at the Olympic Games. But whereas Kenya’s women are starting to emerge from the shadows of men in the realm of competitive participation, there remain questions about their role in leadership (Achola and Njororai 1999; IOC 2014; Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha 2003). According to Njororai, Achola, and Mwisukha (2003), In recent years, especially the late 1990s, Kenyan female athletes have started to make an impact in international competitions. Perhaps this impetus will translate into more Kenyan women being attracted into athletics and other sports as they emulate these role models. This fact combined with greater calls for gender equity in many areas of social life, may witness improved representation for females in sports generally and sports administration in particular. Involvement by females in administrative positions and hence decision making, may be the key ingredient required to bolster female involvement in sport. The scenery in the twenty first century looks promising for greater female participation in sports not only in Kenya but perhaps the rest of Africa as well.

Conclusion Sport is endowed with a great deal of significance and influence in various countries. In Kenya, sport is at the core of national identity. Sporting success in international competitions is well celebrated by citizens as they identify themselves with the national colours worn by winning athletes. Athletes too embody the achievements of their country of origin hence their feeling of pride to wear the national team colours. Indeed, the uniforms worn during international competitions bear the nation’s symbol and flag’s colours, and their victories are crowned with raising the flag accompanied with the singing or playing of their national anthem as all present stand still to acknowledge the singular achievement. The political symbolism of that accomplishment is enormous and therefore Kenya’s women who have managed that feat have re-shaped the cultural attitudes of many in the world as a whole but even more significantly, in the Kenyan nation. For a long time, Kenya’s podium celebrity athletes were all males as they constituted the bulk, if not all, of the national teams taking part in international events. But over the years, women athletes have steadily emerged from the shadows, initially as token representatives, and now as a competitive force expected to win medals. In some events such as the World Athletics Championships, women have even surpassed the men in terms of medals won in the last two editions. In the process, women athletes from Kenya have penetrated the national and international psyche and are now celebrated as national heroines as evidenced by their medal hauls in the Commonwealth, Olympic Games and World Athletics Championships. Indeed, women athletes have demonstrated their worth, while representing Kenya in international competitions. They have dominated World Cross Country Championships and regularly win international marathons. Kenya has been the most dominant nation in African volleyball both at club and national team level.


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In retrospect, a number of factors influence the probability of a woman’s participation in sports. The dominant factor is government policy concerning sports as effectively demonstrated by the Title IX legislation in the USA and the various international proclamations that virtually transformed the access to sports by women. Indeed, with Kenya’s prioritization and push for gender equity in sports, there is higher influence on community culture, family socialization, peer influence and institutional opportunities available for involvement in sports. Community milieu and values and family socialization have a strong influence on peer values regarding orientation to sports. Family socialization and peer influence both have an impact on one’s reactions to significant others involved in sports either as active participants or as sports administrators; furthermore, family socialization and peer group values mediate one’s gender role orientation and inclination to utilize existing sports opportunities provided by various institutions. Perhaps more significantly, it is one’s peer group context, gender role orientation and reactions to significant others in sport that have a more immediate bearing on one’s proclivity to utilize sports opportunities offered by clubs and similar institutions and one’s actual participation in competitive sports generally. But whereas the women’s participation and quality of performance in international events is on an upward trajectory, there remains to be ascertained whether the level of participation in leadership roles is also on a similar trend. This is because an increase in women’s participation does not necessarily translate to increased opportunities to join the administrative, technical and other leadership roles as witnessed around the world especially in the USA, where men still dominate those roles.

Declaration This paper has not been presented to any other Journal for Publication.

Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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