HEFORSHE CAMPAIGN
HeForShe is a solidarity campaign for the advancement of gender equality, initiated by the UN. It is a global campaign that seeks to marshal men’s support for women and girls. . Its goal is to achieve equality by encouraging all genders as agents of change and take action against negative stereotypes and behaviors, faced by people with feminine personalities/genders.
The campaign was globally launched by UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki Moon on 20th September, 2014.It calls for concerted efforts to safeguard women and girls against violence and uphold gender equality. It is a campaign that seeks to engage men as allies and supporters for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.
It is grounded in the idea that gender equality is an issue that affects all people-socially, politically and socially. It seeks to actively involve men and boys in a movement that was originally conceived as a’ ’struggle for women by women’’
The objective of the HeforShe campaign is to engage men and boys as agents of change for achievement of gender equality by encouraging them to take action against negative inequalities faced by women and girls.
The other objective of the HeforShe campaign is to strengthen the call for Gender Equality, this will go a long way in supporting our children.
As a country, we have made great strides in closing the gender gaps in social, economic, political and cultural spheres. However, as noted in the 20 year review of the Beijing platform for Action, no country in the world, not even Kenya has achieved full gender equality.
Gender disparities persist in different spheres including women’s participation in high levels of decision making and gender based violence which is more often perpetrated against women and girls. Women also often bear the brunt in situations of conflict and humanitarian crisis but they rarely sit at the negotiation tables.
For Kenya, the HeForShe Campaign was timely, as the agenda for gender equality has all through been driven by women. The need for change calls for HeForShe Campaign as one of our approaches by calling on men to journey with women on this road.
The agenda has clearly been demonstrated by the highest leadership of our country, His Excellency the President, who was the second African president, to sign onto the HeForShe campaign, in November, 2014signaling a break from the past and enlisting men to support gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The Deputy President, H.E Hon. William Samoei Ruto also signed up as a HeForShe Champion in July 2016.
The Kenyan government is encouraging the men, boys and the youth to embrace the campaign and be agents of change in support of eliminating of all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls.