Reflect and discuss: Gender inequality in Mercy’s story

[Phelomena Mwasi]

at mercy life submissiveness and femininity plays a role,
she believes in her roles and was not allowed to play football like boy, school was not important for girl child
because they will marry and get children.
at community level she suffered stigma, shame and silence and wished she had gone to school

[Gillian Njika]

In this community Mercy (and we can assume many other girls) are unable to complete school and this limits the opportunities that they can access later in life. Mercy dropped out of school due to lack of school fees to proceed beyond primary, but she also indicates that boys’ education is prioritized as girls are only seen as wives and mothers. She would like for her daughter to complete her studies but she already knows they cannot afford it so she opts to teach her how to be a good wife and mother. This will in turn lead to economic violence as the men will have access to more opportunities and because they may control the household budget then this can be a trigger of violence. Mercy had no choice in marrying Clinton after she got pregnant so that he could look after her and he frequently beats her.

[Author]

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