PLAIN TRUTH: Not everything about women is about gender

I was surprised last week when the impeachment of Governor Anne Waiguru by the Kirinyaga County Assembly sparked a gender debate. It started with the Public Service and Gender CS Margaret Kobia who felt that the good Governor was being targeted because she is a woman, and then the debate moved to spats amongst politicians before morphing into the online forums.

I was startled because when most counties barely had women running for MP, Kirinyaga County had two women battling for the governor seat in the last elections. Come three years later and the integrity of the governor is questioned and the gender card is suddenly flashing. Did the Kirinyaga people suddenly realise that she is a woman?

Let me just say here that gender imbalance is still a big problem on this side of the world. That said, the campaign to get us to be viewed as people before we are seen as women, where everyone is valued for their ideas and contributions has led us to read sexism even in instances when it isn't there. The gender card is the first thing we instinctively reach for these days when a wrong has been done, when a crime had been committed or when public funds have been misappropriated.

I encountered arguments to the effect that countless male politicians have gotten away with the same sins that the Kirinyaga Governor is now facing the axe for. While this may be true, it does not mean that if it is a woman perpetrating it, corruption is okay.

Or that we should all turn a blind eye because men have gotten away with it. If you ask me, playing the gender card in this instance is an attempt to deflect from the problem at hand. Believe it or not, if indeed the governor was involved in corrupt dealings her gender was the last thing on her mind while at it. So why are we making it a gender issue now?

Before you accuse others of sexism, slow down and look at the facts. Shake off those assumptions you may harbour about someone because of their gender. Sometimes a situation, while involving a man and woman, will have nothing to do with gender. Issues are not always about the sex-divide.

This is something we also seem to forget in competitive situations (read politics). A lot of times, you will hear, 'vote for your fellow woman, and if you do not, then you will be slapped with the 'women are their own worst enemy' claim. If indeed we are seeking to get to level ground, we should be saying, 'vote for so and so, they are the best' regardless of this person's gender.

It's true; we are still a long way from attaining gender equality. If the woman card is the first thing you throw when faced with a challenge, you are shifting blame and responsibility to others. This means that women will be stuck at the position of victim and will take much longer before they are ready to compete at par with men.