Women are still disadvantaged in leadership and property ownership even as the world marks International Mother's Day, a Kenyan Hindu religious woman leader has said.
The Hindu Council of Kenya Chairperson Sujatha Kotamraju appealed to Kenyan women to break the barriers and take up leadership positions at all levels.
Speaking at the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Thika, Kiambu County during a women empowerment session to mark the global day, Sujatha said it is unfortunate that Kenya is yet to achieve the constitutional one-third gender requirement in leadership.
Also Read:
She said even globally, women are still disadvantaged in leadership positions and property ownership, particularly land which is largely controlled by men.
"Globally women still trail men in positions of leadership, be it political or administrative. It is time we break the barriers and lead from the front," she pointed out.
Sujatha who is also a member of the recently formed religious task force said religion is the people's identity, but should not be used by some leaders in the sector to manipulate or mislead followers.
Role of mother tongue on Mother's Day
She also emphasized the need for mother tongue to be taught at the junior learning level, observing that many Kenyans were abandoning their languages for English.
"Surprisingly, most of our communities ignore their languages like Kikuyu, Luhya and others and adopt Western ideologies. We have a duty to teach the young their mother tongue," said Sujatha.
Sonali Thakrar, a volunteer at the Hindu temple hailed its leadership for encouraging girls to take leading roles and be strong and assertive, adding that boys too were not left behind.
"We want to nurture children of both sexes to be able to embrace good morals early in life, among other virtues," she stated.
A female student pharmacist Dharti Patel who is also a volunteer said young women need to be nurtured to rise to leadership in all spheres of life as many were shying away from fighting for elective positions with men.
"I want to urge fellow young women to be courageous and take on various positions of leadership starting at an early age," Ms Patel said.
The BAPS Temple priest Sadhu Amrutswaroopdas said the organization was spearheading cultural and religious harmony in the country as well as reaching out to marginalized communities.
