the other side

kenya: planting trees of hope
wangari maathai

The republic of Kenya on Africa’s eastern fringes is a world apart from ours — a patriarchal society where men are exalted and women are denigrated, traditional practices and government corruption have had a devastating impact on women’s rights and the environment.

Women constitute 60% of the agricultural workforce and yet own just 5% of the land. Inheritance laws preclude female property ownership, forcing many women into retrogressive sexual practices with their in-laws, including wife “inheritance.” In Kenya, women are six times more likely to be infected with HIV.

Born into a rural village in Kenya in 1940, human rights activist Wangari Maathai has pledged to fight for greater democracy in Africa. The first Kenyan woman to get a PhD and the first woman to become a professor at the University of Nairobi, Maathai defies hyperbole. In October 2004, she became the first African woman and the first environmental campaigner to win the Nobel Peace Prize.